2019 Annual Conference

Colleges and Universities

Roundtable (45 minutes)

Emeritus Colleges were important for higher education institutions, as they allowed  retiring faculty to continue to share their expertise. Following the rapid growth of higher education in the 1960s, these 'colleges' all but ceased to exist. There is a new trend in using them to keep senior faculty engaged.

This session will be of interest to those working in faculty development, continuing education, and community education programs. These individuals will particularly find intresting and helpful trendline data on how retired faculty are used to teach non-credit classes in the community, and, how their experiences are used on campus to fill in for absent faculty.

Upon the completion of the session, participants will:
1. Have a more comprehensive understanding of how Emeritus Colleges were developed and grew, and, how and why they disbanded and were closed;
2. Will have a strong understanding of how retired faculty programs are now being used to staff non-formal, non-credit education related to higher education;
3. Be able to identify the advantages and disadvantages of retired faculty programs, including instructional expertise and peer mentoring in the community; and
4. Begin to engage in a conversation that will extend beyond the conference about retired faculty programs.

This session will begin with a brief overview of the literature and background research on the evolution of Emeritus Colleges, particularly noting appropriate milestones that led to the creation and closure of these organizations. Following this brief introduction and distribution of bibliography, participants will enter into a structured dialogue about retired faculty members as teachers and members of adult communities that continue to engage in higher education. Questions focusing on how to best use retired faculty as an instructional asset will be offered, along with questions that probe participants knowledge of other similar pgorams. The discussion will be formative in nature, and will conclude with the sharing of contact information for all participants with a listserv being an product of the discussion so that participants can continue sharing ideas and findings with others with a similar interest.

This will be a roundtable discussion with handouts that detail some of the major writings and findings about Emeritus Colleges and other similar retired faculty programs. As noted, the session will begin with a critical discussion (5 minutes), followed by a briefing on the literature and practice documents (5 minutes), and then a group discussion (35 minutes).