Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

UM To Offer Early Retirement To Some Missoula Faculty

University Hall at The University of Montana
Josh Burnham
University Hall at The University of Montana

The University of Montana will be presenting its voluntary early retirement plan to eligible faculty Friday.

UM President Sheila Stearns says early retirement will be offered, “exclusively to a subset of full-time tenured faculty at the university’s main campus and Missoula College.”

In a letter to faculty and staff, Stearns says some will be disappointed to hear that voluntary retirement won’t be available to all employees. She says the program’s scope is being limited by funding from state lawmakers, and guidance from the Board of Regents and Commissioner of Higher Education on bringing UM’s faculty-to-student ratio “in line with other units in the state university system.”

In April, Stearns announced a $3 million budget cut for UM.

Enrollment at the school has dropped by about 3,500 students since 2009.

Copyright 2020 Montana Public Radio. To see more, visit Montana Public Radio.

Eric Whitney is NPR's Mountain West/Great Plains Bureau Chief, and was the former news director for Montana Public Radio.