In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the graying of America's college and university faculty coincided with new federal regulations that prohibited mandatory retirement. So in order to both encourage faculty retirements and assume better control of when positions would be vacated about half of all U.S. colleges and universities adopted various retirement incentives and processes. "Phased retirement" was one of the most popular of these strategies. Because of its prominence, in 2003-04 the authors conducted a study of the experience of individuals and institutions with phased retirement. They began by analyzing data from the 1999 National Survey of Postsecondary Faculty. They then interviewed 105 faculty and administrators on 12 widely varied campuses, and an electronic survey drew responses from another 45 individuals. This article is an overview of some of their key findings about how phased retirement works for individuals who participate in these plans and for the institutions that offer them. (Contains 6 resources.)