by Jennifer Schaffer Leone Amid an aging American workforce, a maturing professoriate is particularly notable. According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of professors age 65 and older has more than doubled in the past decade. This statistic signals an impending generational shift in higher education through retirements (and gradual transitions) and rehirings. As colleges and universities look to the future, they recognize that their older faculty, many of whom have had a significant longevity of service, are much more than numbers. They are—at their quintessence—the faces and reputations of their institutions. Their careers span decades and thousands (sometimes hundreds of thousands) of alumni. They provide institutional memory, scholarly depth and valuable understanding of teaching and collegiality. What follows are profiles of two beloved Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine faculty members who are beginning their transitions into retirement.
Rosemary B. Mennuti, EdD, NCSP In July, Dr. Mennuti, professor and director of School Psychology programs, relinquished her full-time administrative duties, opting to continue direct services to students only: teaching, managing dissertation work and serving as a core faculty member on a part-time basis. Her action, accepted in non-belief (if at all) by many among the PCOM community, has signaled a shift in the degree programs she developed and implemented in 2003 (PsyD program) and 2004 (MS and EdS programs). For nearly a decade, 64-year-old Dr. Mennuti has been the face of School Psychology at PCOM. Yet, she cautions, 18
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“merely the face. The heartbeat of the School Psychology programs belongs to my colleagues and students. Our unique collaboration is what makes our degree programs invariably sound.” Dr. Mennuti, who enjoyed a 30-year career in New Jersey public schools as a fourth-grade teacher, guidance counselor and school psychologist, came to the helm of the PCOM programs when she fulfilled requirements for respecialization in clinical psychology under the tutelage of Arthur Freeman, EdD, ABPP, clinical professor and former chair, department of psychology, PCOM, graduating on the lawn outside of the Levin Administrative Building in 1999. Dr.