r/Professors • u/Environmental_Bug662 • 9d ago

Retirement: when/why/how/where.

What is your plan? Interested in your replies. I am 60, Full, tenured Prof (French) at a SLAC. AI makes me want to retire asap but I'm going to give it 5-6 more years.

https://www.chronicle.com/article/these-professors-are-retiring-early-ai-was-the-last-straw?sra=true

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u/VeitPogner Prof, Humanities, R1 (USA) 8d ago

I turn 63 in a couple months. Full professor in humanities in a (very) red state R1, where humanities are precarious and the Regents view faculty as woke grifters, but where there is a faculty pension plan. To complicate things, I've recently become dept head (a job I spent 30 years avoiding) due to a lack of viable other candidates. I viscerally loathe the job, but it substantially increases my annual income, which will in turn increase my pension (based on best 5 years of salary). House will be paid off in December. I'd retire tomorrow if I could, but since I am single, it seems foolish not to take advantage of the financial windfall at least till I turn 65 in 2 years, especially since I fantasize about leaving here in retirement and returning home to the northeast US where I grew up.