Temple is offering more than 260 eligible tenured faculty members a voluntary retirement option.

To be eligible, a faculty member must be tenured, 65 years-old or older and have 10 years of continuous service.

"During the last round of budget discussions, we heard from a number of faculty members who said they would be interested in a voluntary retirement plan to help the university save salary dollars while maintaining our focus on excellence in education and scholarship," said Senior Vice President and Provost Richard Englert.

The amount of savings the university could realize will depend on how many of the eligible faculty accept the voluntary option.

Those who elect to be in the program will receive a lump sum payment of 50 percent of their base salary, plus $1,000 for each year of service at Temple.

Faculty can elect to retire at the end of either June or December 2012, and they must make an election by March 30.

A packet of detailed information will be mailed to all eligible faculty in the next week. Those with questions should contact the office of Human Resources at 215-926-2281.