September 30, 2020

We are grateful for and proud of your extraordinary work in sustaining Penn’s educational mission in the first weeks of this semester. We also know that faculty members continue to face professional and personal challenges resulting from the ongoing pandemic. 

We are writing today to let you know that the deadline to participate in the special faculty retirement incentive plan, which we announced last month, has been extended to November 30. The announcement (with the new deadline) is included below. As before, we encourage you to discuss your personal situation with your dean or chair and to consult the experienced counselors in HR. 

Thank you on behalf of our students and our entire Penn community. We will keep you updated as plans move forward this fall. 

—Wendell Pritchett, Provost
—Laura Perna, Vice Provost for Faculty

The University of Pennsylvania announced a special one-time faculty retirement incentive plan (Special Incentive Plan). While the Special Incentive Plan is similar in some respects to Penn’s long-standing Faculty Income Allowance Program (FIAP), it is a separate program and is only being offered for a short and specific period of time. Like FIAP, the Special Incentive Plan is available to standing faculty and standing faculty clinician-educators. Faculty members who elect to participate in the Special Incentive Plan will receive 200% of their academic base salary or 200% of the average academic base salary for full professors in the faculty member’s School, whichever is higher, but not exceeding 200% of the faculty member’s total salary. This amount will be paid in equal monthly installments over the two-year period following the faculty member’s retirement date. In addition, eligibility for the Special Incentive Plan is open to all faculty members over the age of 60 (or who will turn 60 on or before June 30, 2021), provided they have 10 or more years of full-time continuous service as a standing faculty member (including standing faculty clinician-educators) and meet the “Rule of 75” (the combination of a faculty member’s age and full-time continuous service as a standing faculty member equals or exceeds 75) as of June 30, 2021. It is important to note that the Special Incentive Plan is being offered not only to faculty members who are eligible for FIAP but also to standing faculty and standing faculty clinician-educators over the age of 69 who are no longer eligible to participate in FIAP.

Participation in the Special Incentive Plan must be elected between August 1, 2020 and November 30, 2020, and a faculty member’s retirement date must be no later than June 30, 2021. Any eligible faculty member who has retired or is scheduled to retire between March 1, 2020 and August 1, 2020 will also receive the enhanced benefit if it is more than they would have received under FIAP. Please note that, as Special Incentive Plan benefits are funded from the benefits pool, they do not impact funding for other academic priorities on campus.

If you have questions, you can learn more about the Special Incentive Plan benefits in the detailed brochure from Human Resources, and you can contact Jennifer Salwach at HRbenefits@upenn.edu.