Excerpt from the Chronicle of Education
Not long after Diane Lee retired from the University of Maryland-Baltimore County, she ran into the university’s president, Freeman A. Hrabowski III. How’s retirement going?, he asked her. "It’s harsh," she said. She explained that she had lost the sense of close community she experienced at the place where she had worked for 30 years, most recently as vice provost and dean for undergraduate academic affairs, and the ending felt too abrupt.
With that encounter was born the idea of reviving the Wisdom Institute, which helps UMBC’s retirees stay linked to the university community as volunteers and occasionally as temporary workers, as well as providing them with opportunities to continue teaching and learning. Lee now runs the institute part time from South Carolina, where she moved to be near her grandchildren.
In resurrecting the institute, UMBC joined colleges around the country that have programs to help retirees stay engaged. The programs that are campus-funded are often run by people like Lee, who are filling a role after their own retirement from the institution.
"It’s been a wonderful opportunity and a great way of bringing to life the whole notion of lifelong learning," says Lee, who became director of the institute when it restarted, in early 2018. She looked to the Association of Retirement Organizations in Higher Education, which offers guidance to its more than 100 members through conferences and newsletters. Among the members are many volunteer-led retiree associations that may collaborate with the university but operate separately from it. Others are campus-supported centers, like the one at UMBC, which is run through the provost’s office. Several others are emeritus colleges, which promote continued scholarship and research by professors emeriti.
The Wisdom Institute can help former faculty and staff members accept the losses that make retirement scary — loss of engagement, a sense of belonging, purpose, and identity, says Lee. At UMBC, retirees teach first-year seminars, judge student-essay contests, and mentor students. The admissions office has asked retirees to be budget coaches for students dealing with financial independence for the first time. While much of the retirees’ work is done on a volunteer basis, some of it is paid. "We don’t expect everything to be done for free," says Lee.
Not only does the institute keep retirees involved, but it’s also a resource for full-time faculty members who need experienced assistants in the classroom and for students who hope to find a mentor. "People support us, and people come to us for support," says Lee.
The Wisdom Institute was founded in 2012 by two professors, Leslie Morgan and Craig Saper, with the help of a grant, but was discontinued less than two years later, after funding ran out. Backing from UMBC’s provost and president as well as from departments including human resources and IT has made the revival possible, Lee says. Through IT, for instance, retired staff members gained the option to keep their university email accounts.
