Policy Statement
The highest priorities for space in academic departments are offices for regular faculty, research space for regular faculty, and offices for administrators, graduate student instructors, lecturers, and temporary teaching faculty. Space is also used for study facilities, computer rooms, departmental shops, commons, and other special uses that support particular departmental needs. Of necessity, the assignment of research space to emeritus professors is discretionary and it should not adversely affect the quantity or quality of research space provided for regular faculty members.
Who Is Affected by This Policy
Emeritus Professors
Who Administers This Policy
Deans and Department Chairs
Why We Have This Policy
The campus recognizes the significant value and contributions of emeritus professors to the academic life of UC Berkeley and intends to support emeritus professors in their ongoing scholarly and professional activity. Emeriti can and do contribute significantly to University research and public service. They constitute an important segment of the academic community and represent a unique asset for the campus.
However, the increase in enrollment and the concomitant addition of faculty positions have added to the intense pressure on campus space already created by the seismic strengthening and facilities renewal program. The pressure is particularly evident when incoming faculty need specific research space, such as wet or dry laboratories (over and above the traditional faculty office), currently occupied by emeriti for their ongoing research and often still supported by grants and endowments.
Hence there is need for policy guidance for departments and schools in the allocation of research space to those emeriti who are able and wish to pursue or conclude their research. The goal should be to preserve and enhance the research activity of our various departments and schools without endangering the campus’s expected growth.
Research space is defined as space in addition to the individual faculty office; continued assignments of the latter after retirement are covered in the Policy on Allocating Office Space to Emeritus Professors, available at http://smcp.vcbf.berkeley.edu/policy/emeritioffice.html. Assignment of animal research space is under the direction of the Committee on Animal Research Space Assignment (CARSA).
Responsibilities
Deans and Department Chairs:
- Allocate research space to emeritus professors in accordance with this policy.
Procedures
Deans and department chairs are responsible for the equitable distribution and optimal use of space for academic programs. They must evaluate research space assignments to emeritus professors in comparison with alternative uses and determine priorities within available resources. Departments should evaluate annually all assignments of research space to emeritus professors. Campus-wide space assignment committees and officers will similarly evaluate such assignments when considering reassignments among units.
The assignment of research space to an emeritus professor should be considered an exception to policy. However, as a campus standard, emeritus faculty may be provided with research space on campus, as necessary and appropriate, when actively engaged in substantial ongoing work that serves the university. Shared rooms and support spaces, or the functional equivalent thereof, should be considered the norm for an emeritus professor with an active research program (see note). Eligible work that could justify the need for research space is as follows:
- Research – active research, usually evidenced by some financial support for the research.
- Publication – where the on-campus location is essential for the emeritus professor to continue to be productive in the publication of archival research reports and monographs.
- Research that significantly involves students and postdocs as well as collaboration with active faculty.
Departments are expected to accommodate the completion of research that is actively funded and to which the department has made a commitment of space prior to the retirement of the faculty PI. Thereafter, emeritus professors may be offered research space according to this policy and the specific policies of the unit of which they are a part.
To implement the policy in an equitable manner, departments should formulate their own internal policy in accordance with campus policy. The policy should be developed through broad participation of ladder faculty and active emeritus faculty. When implementing this policy, if disagreements arise, or if it is otherwise advisable, the dean or chair may appoint a faculty committee to review the professor's request.
It is recommended that deans or department chairs review space assignments annually and whenever an application for extramural funding is being prepared by an emeritus faculty member. It is also recommended that the departments formulate policies related to emeritus supervision of graduate students, and how supervision of all students (graduate and undergraduate) and postdocs relates to the provision of research space. Departmental policy may consider status as Professor in the Graduate School as relevant to space allocation decisions (see note).
Note: Various departments define the criteria for research space differently. For example, one department defines its criteria using a standard unit of research space that is ½ the norm for regular faculty; recalled emeritus faculty appointed to the Graduate School may have up to the norm. In another department, research space is assigned on the basis of numbers of researchers (undergraduate and graduate students or postdocs), up to a defined limit, that are working with the faculty member; to supervise graduate students, the emeritus faculty member must be appointed as Professor in the Graduate School. Other units have different versions of these types of policies.
Glossary
Emeriti: members of the UC-Berkeley faculty who have retired and have received the title of Professor Emeritus in accordance with Standing Order of The Regents 103.5.
Related Documents
Standing Order of The Regents 103.5: http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/regents/bylaws/so1035.html
UC Systemwide Policy on Space Allocations for Emeriti: http://www.ucop.edu/ucophome/coordrev/policy/1-29-91.html
Campus Policy on Office Space Allocations for Emeriti: http://smcp.vcbf.berkeley.edu/policy/emeritioffice.html
Revision History
On September 21, 2009, the Responsible Executive was changed from Executive Vice Chancellor & Provost Paul Gray to Vice Chancellor-Administration Nathan Brostrom, and the contact information was changed from Thomas Ventresco (tjv@berkeley.edu) to Paula Milano (pmilano@berkeley.edu). The broken link to the Campus Policy on Office Space Allocations for Emeriti was fixed. The web site address for the policy listed on page 4 was changed from http://smcp/vcbf/berkeley.edu.