Emerit Status
Emerit status should be established prior to the employee’s retirement date to maintain continuity of UWM IT services, including Office 365 email. Setting emerit status in PAWS is a manual process that only occurs after the emerit letter is sent. If emerit status has not previously been established, UWM IT services will be discontinued.
Timing is critical:
- Don’t make the request too early. The directory listing will change as soon as the emerit request is entered into PAWS (e.g., Professor John Smith will become Professor Emerit even if it will be three months until he retires).
- Don’t wait too long:
- Academic and university staff will lose all access to IT services, including email, the very next day if emerit status has not been established.
- Faculty will have access to IT services for 90 days after their last teaching day.
- Start with an eye toward completing the process near but prior to the retiree’s final day of employment. For faculty, the window can be extended to the 90-day period following their last day of teaching.
Late Requests:
In the case of a late request, or other obstacles that delay or impede completion of the process prior to the date of retirement, the department or unit may request general guest sponsorship. This sponsorship can extend out several weeks or more to allow time for the emerit approval process to be completed. The retiree retains account access under this sponsorship, which expires when emerit status is granted.
Obtaining a General Guest Sponsorship:
- A responsible person from a department or unit may request sponsorship using this form: https://www-ssl.uwm.edu/uits/ePanther/sg/
- The form allows the requestor to provide justification for sponsorship, which can simply be “to retain UWM account services pending approval of emerit status.”