Iowa college students today are more likely to learn from older, more experienced professors than students a decade ago, but as baby boomer faculty members approach retirement, some professors worry that their classrooms and laboratories could be filled by second-rate replacements.

The number of faculty members older than 50 has increased by nearly 200 at Iowa State University, the University of Northern Iowa and the University of Iowa in the past five years, while the total number of faculty hired in that time has increased by only 100, data from the universities show.

At ISU alone, the average age has increased 10 years since 1990. Today, the average age is 57, data show.

Iowa is not alone. The number of professors nationwide in 2003 who worked past the age of 65 increased by more than 10,000 from 1992, U.S. Department of Education data show.

The aging of professors creates a challenge for universities as they plan for the next wave of retirements.

Baby boomers are more likely to work past retirement age, which prevents turnover and can be costly, because full professors, who earned about $97,500 on average at ISU in 2005-06, command higher pay. That year, a lecturer at ISU made an average of $38,100. At the same time, universities in Iowa are struggling with declining state appropriations, which makes it difficult to offer competitive packages to attract great replacements for the senior faculty who leave, leaders said.

"We've been replacing senior faculty, perhaps not as quickly as we want to," said Jim Lubker, UNI's interim provost and vice president for academic affairs.

As ISU considers a new budgeting process, some discussion has already focused on whether the proposed process could prevent administrators from hiring the best possible replacements. Some say the budget model, which ties department budgets to the number of students taught, could cause more department leaders to hire lecturers, who do not have the job protection that tenured faculty members have, because they are easier to let go if a major loses students.

Lecturers bring workplace knowledge to the classroom, rather than the cutting edge research that tenured faculty are often expected to produce. At ISU and the U of I, the number of tenured faculty employed has already been on the decline since 2002, while more nontenure-track instructors and lecturers have taken the helm, a trend leaders blame on declining state appropriations.

At the U of I, more than 80 percent of faculty employed in 2002 was either tenured or on a tenure track, compared with 76 percent in 2006. At ISU, 57 percent of faculty were tenured in 2005, compared with 59 percent in 2002.

Several undergraduates interviewed at ISU said they preferred tenured professors with expertise in their discipline. Many underclassmen said too many of their classes are taught by teachers' assistants, rather than by professors.

"In the summer I got taught by all TA's and I absolutely hated it - I didn't learn anything," said ISU junior Mary Buenaventura of Grimes, who recalled having a particularly hard time with a teacher who taught economics.

She said she preferred experienced, tenured professors who offer more knowledge and context regarding their subject matter.

Leaders at U of I and ISU said they have worked to hire exceptional faculty members by securing private money for endowed professor positions, which recognize exceptional leaders in a field, and give professors more spending power for research.

The endowments are not used for entry-level faculty positions.

Endowments are used to "make the overall position more attractive, not to replace the general fund," ISU President Gregory Geoffroy said.

The decline of tenure or tenure-track faculty hired has worried ISU professors who see retirement in their future and trouble for the next generation.

"The tenured faculty are what make Iowa State University a good university," said Bob Stephenson, an ISU professor of statistics who expects to retire in about 10 years.

"They're the ones that have chosen to stay here; that really add value to the university through teaching students, through doing research, through economic outreach, through all those things. Without them and the students, you wouldn't have a university," he said.

Lately, it has been more difficult to make long-term hiring plans based on expected retirements, because more professors are working past their mid-60s, said Brenda Behling, assistant to the ISU provost.

She said faculty members in their 70s have applied for a phased retirement program that allows them to leave academic life slowly.

The number of faculty members who are 80 at ISU also has increased. There were four as of 2005. A year ago, there was one. Before that, there were none, Behling said.

At the three state universities there are 59 professors age 70 and older - 10 more than there were in 2002, data show.

"I hear things like the baby boomer generation wants more flexibility: They are at retirement age, but not wanting to retire yet," Behling said.

When senior faculty retire, it creates a vacancy, which might make way for a new Ph.D., or someone with a fresh view on a discipline, she said.

"This would be a fear - that we had a surge of retirements and wouldn't be able to hire people quickly enough," Behling added.

The number of faculty who choose to work past retirement has crept up since retirement plans for faculty have changed.

In 2001, the Iowa Board of Regents voted to abolish an early retirement incentive program, which provided incentives in retirement contributions and payment of health, dental and life insurance to those who retired between the ages of 57 and 63 with the required number of years employed by the university.

The board voted that way after employee groups and university administrators complained that low unemployment rates and the need to replace the employees who participated in the incentive program made it unattractive.

At the time of the vote, ISU advocated continuing the program, which allowed for some turnover for planning purposes.

"There are many, many older faculty members who are fantastic, and there may be some whose best days are behind them," said Jacqueline King, director of the center for policy analysis at the American Council on Education.

The perfect professor would be one who identifies with students and has all the wisdom that years of experience bring, said ISU freshman Brandon Baccam of Des Moines.

Still, Baccam said he believes more experienced professors often bring the passion that is lacking in today's new academics.

His older professors, "grew up in an age where society cared," he said.

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