Nearly 150 accept U. retirement package

Roughly one-third of the 460 employees eligible for the University's Voluntary Incentivized Retirement Program have decided to pack it up and call it a career, The Times of Trenton reported Saturday morning.

Most of the 145 employees will retire by Oct. 16, though some will stick around until June 30.

Administrators said earlier this summer they hoped to save $22 million in personnel costs, mainly through the retirement program and a vacancy management program. The latter program has already saved roughly $11 million in costs.

Vice President for Human Resources Lianne Sullivan-Crowley told the Times it was too early to tell just how much the retirement program would save the University. First, officials must look at the vacancies created by the new retirees and decide which ones to fill or eliminate. Administrators said earlier this year they would likely fill no more than 60 percent of them.

The retirement program was announced by administrators in a June 11 e-mail to U. staff. Retirement incentive programs, or what have been called "buyouts," have been offered at several peer institutions. At Harvard, 531 staff members participated in such a program, while 423 staff members at Cornell and roughly 80 at Dartmouth took offers as well.