In anticipation of a series of professors retiring, the UVA College and Graduate School of Arts and Sciences established the Legacy of Distinction Fund to help recruit new faculty. The College hopes to attract $5 million in private funds.
According to UVA Today, the College counts 88 tenured faculty age 65 or older, and 33 older than 70.
The mechanics of the fund are simple: Departments can make “bridge hires,” where new faculty members are paid for the time their teaching commitments at UVA overlap with those of retiring professors.
"As institutions across the country struggle with their own budgetary pictures, we saw a short-term opportunity to gain an advantageous hiring position—if we could muster the resources to make hires," said Meredith Woo, dean of the College.
"We like to think we have a strong hiring position every year, but in these next couple of years, with these resources, that position is going to be even stronger."
Four professors hired as part of the Legacy of Distinction fund are starting the transition: Timo von Oertzen, in the Psychology Department (following John Nesselroade); R. Craig Group, in Physics (following George Hess); Elizabeth Varon (following Joe Kett) and William Hitchcock, both in the History Department.