The Emerita/us Title and Academic Senate Membership
All members of the Academic Senate continue to be Senate members after they retire. They retain their Senate voting rights and the right to hold Senate office and serve on Senate committees.
Senate members with the title Professor or Associate Professor automatically gain the right to the Emerita/us suffix upon retirement. At UCLA Senate members with other titles (e.g. Professor-in-Residence, Professor of Clinical Medicine) also qualify for the Emerita/us suffix upon retirement.
Academics who are not Senate members (e.g. Adjuncts, Clinical Professors) can apply for conferral of the “Emerita/us” suffix to use with their non-Senate titles. The criteria and procedures for conferral are summarized in Appendix 29 of the UCLA CALL (https://www.apo.ucla.edu/policies-forms/the-call/appendices/appendix-29-non-senate-emeritus-conferrals).
Four important notes:
--The Emerita/us title is an honorific title which in itself provides few actual privileges beyond the right to add “Emerita/us” to the job title held at the time of retirement. Most important professional rights often associated with the Emerita/us title actually emanate from continuing membership in the Academic Senate.
--Among the few tangible benefits emanating from conferral of the title are the inexpensive Emeriti parking permit and the right to apply for Emeriti Association membership. Both these benefits are automatic for members of the Academic Senate upon retirement.
--Conferral of the Emerita/us title to non-Senate academics does not convey the rights of Senate membership; only those retired academics who were Senate members at the time they retired have those rights.
--The Emerita/us title is not required for a retired academic to be recalled to part-time academic service (see section below on Recall to Service).
Departmental Membership and Participation After Retirement
Retired Senate faculty – often referred to as “emeriti professors” -- continue to be listed on their departmental websites, often in a separate Emeriti listing. They also retain their departmental email addresses. Some departments provide time-limited and/or shared office space and some other basic services, though these depend on departmental resources and traditions.
At UCLA, emeriti professors have the right to receive notice of and participate in non-personnel departmental meetings but not the automatic right to vote. Some departments have extended the right to attend personnel meetings to emeriti and a few have extended the right to vote on personnel and/or policy matters. Check your department’s bylaws for details.
Emeriti professors can continue to serve on dissertation committees, as members or as chairs. You do not need to be recalled in order to serve on a dissertation committee.
Recall to Service
Retired UC academics -- whether or not they have the Emerita/us title -- can be recalled for teaching, research, administrative service or some combination of the three. These appointments can be either unpaid or paid; if the latter, then payment is limited to no more than 43 percent of your salary at retirement. The 43 percent limit includes all UC recall salary sources (teaching, research, administrative) and applies to any one month, not just the entire year. This includes summer months; there is no such thing as additional “summer ninths” for retired academics. If you exceed the 43 percent limit, then you may have to suspend your UC pension and other retiree benefits for the duration of the appointment. Paid recall appointments cannot begin until at least one month following retirement.
Approved Recall status is required if you teach a class, serve in an administrative capacity, or manage a research team or facility. This is true even if you are not being paid. Recall – paid or unpaid – is not just an administrative formality: it protects both you and the University (https://www.apo.ucla.edu/policies-forms/the-call/appendices/appendix-28-recall-appointments).
