Emeriti Faculty--An Underutilized Resource or a Spent Asset?

The issue of emeritus faculty remains an object of conversation in may institutions.  On the one hand, older faculty can be seen as an impediment to the hiring of "new blood" and on the other they can be viewed as a highly exploitable commodity by deans and other unit administrators whose budgets, to of whack, can be served by the re-hiring of emeriti for course teaching at very very favorable rates.

(Pix (c) Larry Catá Backer 2012)

This post summarizes a very interesting piece by Seth Matthew Fishman a visiting lecturer in the higher education program at the University of North Texas. The article appeared in the May-June, 2012 issue of Academe, Volume 97, Number 3, published by the American Association of University Professor (AAUP) [http://www.aaup.org/AAUP/pubsres/academe], The Merits of Emeriti: Providing Campus Community to Retired Faculty.  The COMMENTS are also worth reading.