<p>If you’re in the middle of your PhD or master’s, what would happen to the grad students if their advisor retired or was fired? I assume they have to find a new advisor? Wouldn’t their research change completely if none of the other professors were doing research in a related area?</p>
<p>Generally a professor won’t retire out of nowhere on their students. They’ll typically wind down their research program and graduate off their last couple of students. What happens more often is a professor will either get hit by a bus or leave for a different school. The options open to you depend on where you are in your PhD program. If you’re just starting you’ll be expected to find a new advisor. If you’re somewhere in the middle, you can either find a new advisor, find a co-advisor, or follow them to their new univeristy (sometimes getting a degree at the new place, it depends on the rules of each school), or try to stick around to finish. If you’re towards the end you can usually finish up your PhD without too much of a problem.</p>
<p>Usually they either won’t retire at a time that leaves their students hanging or else will stay under emeritus status to finish supervising student. Generally, professors care very much about their PhD students and do quite a bit to avoid screwing them over.</p>
<p>Tenured professors have to do something pretty bad to get fired. However, let’s say your advisor fails to get tenure. You then either need to essentially start over with a new advisor or move institutions with that professor. If you are lucky there is someone that would be able to advise you on your current research and you don’t need to start over.</p>