St. Thomas is set to send nearly 100 employees into retirement this year as 22 faculty and 70 staff members take advantage of the university’s retirement incentive. Executive Assistant to the President Susan Alexander said these numbers are higher than the university anticipated.

In all, 92 employees will leave the university by the end of the school year. St. Thomas is facing a new challenge: filling the positions left by faculty and staff members who are taking advantage of the university’s retirement incentive.

“The staff (leaving) is bigger than we anticipated it being,” Alexander said. “We were thinking maybe 50, and it’s 70, so that’s a little hefty to manage.”

History department Chair Catherine Cory said that when the department hired an early modern Europe professor fall semester, there were more than 100 applicants. Departments losing faculty and staff may also experience a large applicant pool as well.

Cory said the hiring process for faculty is lengthy. The tenured professors in a given department form a committee and look over the applications. They then select a group of people to interview over Skype. Once those interviews are conducted, the department brings three candidates to campus for an in-person interview.

“We had a pretty good sized pool,” Cory said. “I know for philosophy and English (departments), their pools are usually bigger, as many as 300 sometimes, and then they have to do that same sorting process.”

Alexander said that while some departments should anticipate a large number of applicants, the process will not be overwhelming.

“That part isn’t a problem,” Alexander said. “It’s unit by unit. So if there’s a history professor being hired by the history department, it’s decentralized.”

Cory said the hiring process for staff will be more difficult.

“There’s about 70 staff people who are retiring, and they have a similar process,” Cory said. “Those will take a little bit longer and that’ll be a little bit more labor intensive, just because there’s so many of them.”

Sophomore Steven Dorumsgaard said he thinks the large number of applicants will make the hiring process easier.

“I don’t think it’ll be that overwhelming because there are a lot of people looking for jobs right now,” Dorumsgaard said. “I think they’ll have an easier time finding people.”

Freshman Catherine Stanley said she thinks enough people will be involved in the hiring process to prevent difficulty.

“I think if they have a big enough team, it shouldn’t be a problem,” Stanley said.

Alexander said it’s important to focus on the present and show appreciation for the people who are retiring.

“First, we’re going to celebrate for the people who are leaving,” Alexander said. “You got to think about who you are right now and celebrate.”

Grace Pastoor can be reached at past6138@stthomas.edu.