Retirement & How to Retire

Link to Information about retiree drug benefit update

 

Retirement – Thoughts from UMD Staff and Recent Faculty Retirees

This page has information and ideas about how to retire as well as information about retirement itself. These are presented by summarizing, and providing information from, past UMRFA events focusing on information and ideas from UMD units that work with future retirees. We also include thoughts about “how to retire” from retired colleagues.

Our information supplements the excellent resources  on the “mechanics” of retiring provided by the UMD Human Resources department and the UMD Office of Faculty Affairs.  We strongly encourage faculty, in their first steps to retirement, examine the HR and FA web sites and then consider some of the ideas on this page.

January 22,2025 – Revitalizing Retirement –

Is your retirement as fulfilling as it could be?  Be ready to learn about a key factor underlying your best retirement. You’ll also be able to check where you stand on this factor, address your psychological profile, and make sure you are on the path to maximizing your retirement experience. These issues, and more, were addressed by UMD Professor Emerita, Nancy K. Schlossberg, a counseling psychologist and noted expert on retirement. Nancy is the author of several prominent books on retirement, as well as the consultant and collaborator behind a recent retirement booklet produced by Hartford Funds based on her work.

You can view the whole webinar by clicking here. The slides are on this page as well and you can just view them if you like. If you would like to view the slides, click here

November 4, 2024 – Preparing for an Intellectually Active Retirement

To assist faculty in planning an intellectually satisfying retirement, UMDRFA (University of Maryland Retired Faculty Association) offered its annual presentation that focused on perspectives, ideas, experiences, and suggestions of faculty and administrators from different disciplines who have retired recently from the University.

Our panel included Associate Provost for Faculty Affairs John Bertot and Benefits Coordinator Stacy Sims who provided an overview of the retirement process. The panel also included active retired faculty members who discussed how they have stayed engaged and review the kinds of support that have enabled them to carry on their intellectual work. They discussed tips for negotiating this major life transition, share thoughts about what they wish they had known beforehand, and suggested resources from the University and its academic units that can help to sustain intellectual engagement in ongoing research projects, in teaching, and in new directions of inquiry on and beyond the campus.

Below are the Power Point presentations from the meeting. If you want to see the video of the meeting, that includes further discussions as well as Q&A, please go here.

Dr. John Bertot, Associate Provost for Faculty Affairs

Stacy Syms, Benefits Services Counselor, University Human Resources

Outlines of Faculty Presentations : Kathryn Bartol, Prof Emerita, Smith School of Business; Marie Howland, Prof Emerita, School of Architecture; Robert Gold, Professor Emeritus, School of Public Health

October 10, 2023 – Preparing for an Intellectually Active Retirement 

To assist faculty in planning an intellectually satisfying retirement, UMEEA  offers the perspectives, ideas, experiences, and suggestions of faculty and administrators from different disciplines who have retired recently from the University. Our panel included Associate Provost for Faculty Affairs John Bertot (link to presentation) and Benefits Coordinator Stacy Sims (link) who  overviews of the retirement process. The panel also included active retired faculty members who discussed how they have stayed engaged and review the kinds of support that have enabled them to carry on their intellectual work (link to presentations). The speakers discussed their tips for negotiating this major life transition, share thoughts about what they wish they had known beforehand, and suggest resources from the University and its academic units that can help to sustain intellectual engagement–in ongoing research projects, in teaching, and in new directions of inquiry on and beyond the campus.

Click here for a link to the video of the presentation.

December 7, 2022 –  Preparing for and Engaging in an Intellectually Active Retirement

To assist faculty in planning an intellectually satisfying retirement, UMEEA offered perspectives, ideas, experiences, and suggestions of faculty and administrators from different disciplines who have retired recently from the University.  The presentations and a reading list are linked to below.

Our panel included Associate Provost for Faculty Affairs John Bertot and Benefits Coordinator Stacy Sims who provided overviews of the retirement process. The panel also included active retired faculty members who discussed how they have stayed engaged and review the kinds of support that have enabled them to carry on their intellectual work. They discussed their tips for negotiating this major life transition, share thoughts about what they wish they had known beforehand, and suggest resources from the University and its academic units that can help to sustain intellectual engagement–in ongoing research projects, in teaching, and in new directions of inquiry on and beyond the campus.

To see the video of the presentation go to this link (note, you must have UMD user name and password).  This site has the video and other materials.

Panelists:
Stacy Sims, Benefits Coordinator, University Human Resources; John Bertot, Associate Provost for Faculty Affairs and Professor and co-director of the Information Policy & Access Center in the iSchool; Arthur N. Popper, Professor Emeritus, Department of Biology, former Associate Dean of The Graduate School, former chair of University Senate; Elaine A. Anderson, Professor Emerita, Department of Family Science and former Department Chair of Family Science; David R. Segal, Professor Emeritus, Department of Sociology; Moderator: Jane E. Clark, Professor Emerita, Department of Kinesiology, former Department Chair of Kinesiology, former Dean of the School of Public Health and in the first ADVANCE professor cohort.
Presentations & Reading List: You can download the presentations of each panelist here (and from above link). The material is copyright and should not be shared in any way without permission of the presenter. John BertotStacy SimsFaculty PanelRetirement reading list
 
October 11, 2021 – How to Retire
            Remaining intellectually active during retirement takes planning ahead of time. Part of this is preparing how to most “effectively” leaving the university and dealing with retirement benefits, having access to UMD space and facilities, and a myriad of other details.
           A second issue directly deals with thinking about preparing to be engaged in activities once retired, including continuing scholarship developed over years as a member of the faculty.
          The program continued a series started several years ago about preparing for post-retirement (see our past meeting page). The UMEEA goal for these programs is to serve both faculty who are (or who are considering) retirement in the next few years (do plan early!) and faculty who are already retired.  The goal is to  assist faculty in planning an intellectually satisfying retirement.
          The October 11 program included representatives from Human Resources and Faculty Affairs who gave a brief overview of the “mechanics” of retiring.
        This was followed by a panel of recently retired faculty who offered perspectives, ideas, experiences, and suggestions on retirement. You can find a summary of their presentations here.
           During the program, topics addressed included: tips for negotiating this major life transition, ways in which to remain engaged with the university, and resources from the University and its academic units that can help to sustain research and intellectual engagement.
   
Resources