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Emeritus titles are granted to eligible faculty via a retirement memoir submitted to the Regents for adoption. SPG 201.80 and Academic Human Resources provide detailed information about emeritus status, faculty eligibility and the internal unit approval process that needs to be complete prior to the submission of the memoir to the Office of the Vice President and Secretary. Since emeritus status cannot be granted prior to the date of full retirement (Regents’ Bylaw 5.19), we encourage units to submit retirement memoirs at the Regents’ meeting that is closest to the final retirement date. The submitted draft version of the memoir will be reviewed for length, style, accuracy and clarity. If a faculty member dies during their active service to the university, a memorial statement will be adopted by the Regents in lieu of a retirement memoir.

Retirement memoir and memorial statement submission checklist:

  • The faculty member’s retirement/termination PAR must be in place and approved prior to the memoir submission.
  • Departments, units, and schools/colleges have unique, internal approval protocols for emeritus status recommendations, which often includes their executive committees. These internal approvals must be obtained prior to the submission of the memoir to the Office of the Vice President and Secretary.
  • The retirement memoir template and the memorial statement template have 1” margins (top, bottom, left and right) and use 12 point Times New Roman font.
  • Sample memoirs (PDF) and memorial statements (PDF).
  • The MS Word draft version of the memoir, the faculty member’s most recent C.V., and a copy of the retirement agreement letter must be submitted to memoirsandmemorials@umich.edu by the deadlines listed below.

Regents’ Meeting Date Memoir/Memorial Deadline
No Jan 2023 meeting No Jan 2023 meeting
February 16, 2023 January 13, 2023
March 23, 2023 February 17, 2023
No April 2023 meeting No April 2023 meeting
May 18, 2023 April 7, 2023
June 15, 2023 May 12, 2023
July 20, 2023 June 9, 2023
No August 2023 meeting No August 2023 meeting
September 21, 2023 August 11, 2023
October 19, 2023 September 8, 2023
No November 2023 meeting No November 2023 meeting
December 7, 2023 October 20, 2023