Update from Chief Engagement Officer Marshall Stewart
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We have had many changes over the last several months due to COVID-19. Students began taking courses online, faculty members worked quickly to get their classes ready for virtual learning and staff moved to telework. Everyone has gone above and beyond to make a difficult situation more manageable! The Four-Campus Retiree Association Leadership Team partnered with the UM System on a virtual town hall for retirees earlier this month. The panelists included UM System leaders who discussed HR and financial questions that retirees submitted either prior to or during the town hall. There were over 970 retirees who joined the town hall with 150 questions. A recording as well as questions and answers from the town hall can be viewed here. |
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Virtual Retiree Town Hall meeting on May 6 featured UM System leaders: Chief Human Resources Officer Marsha Fischer, Chief Engagement Officer Marshall Stewart, Human Resources Director Jessica Baker, Chief Financial Officer Ryan Rapp, Controller Eric Vogelweid and President Mun Choi. |
I also met with the leadership team this month. We discussed many items, one of which was distributing information to retirees from the UM System. We reported during the town hall that updates could be made to your email addresses in myHR. We asked our HR team to look into this further as there were more issues reported. It has been found that the system only allows your UM System email address to receive communications from the University. We learned that if you try to change your email preference to an outside personal email address in myHR, the system will automatically default back to your system email address. HR and IT are working on a solution. Thank you for your continued support of and advocacy for the University of Missouri System. Please let us know how we can assist you as engaged leaders in your communities! Sincerely, Marshall Stewart, Ed.D Chief Engagement Officer, UM System |
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They were our colleagues, our friends, and part of our UM family. Together we remember those who shared their lives with us. Please keep their families in your thoughts. View current list…
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Campus Association News & Announcements
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MU Retirees Association…Serving UM System and MU retirees since 1990! The MU Retirees Association (MURA) serves UM System and MU retirees as well as faculty and staff who are nearing retirement. Retirees from other universities may join as associate or non-voting members. New members are welcome throughout the year. Information on becoming a MURA member can be found at the end of this update. What does MURA do? We advocate for the needs and interests of retirees, as well as offer educational and social programs. MURA leaders monitor retiree issues and meet regularly with administrators of the campus and the system to advise on these issues. A newsletter is published 3-4 times each year to keep members informed. It contains information on current MURA activities, reports on issues about retirement, and interesting information, targeted to members. In addition, members receive regular electronic updates via email with timely information from a variety of sources. A good source of information about MURA’s activities is on our website at www.mura-missouri.com as well as our Facebook page. Copies of the newsletters are available on the website. |
Updates: Providing Scholarships for Dependents of UM/MU Staff – We are delighted to report that this year we increased the amount of our Kitty Dickerson MURA Scholarships to $1,000 each, with three awarded this spring. Recipients are: Inhan Kim, Brianna Wittenborn and Darius Lee. These scholarships are for dependents of UM/MU staff in honor of the day-to-day support they provide to the University. For the first time, MURA hosted a benefit concert with proceeds going to the scholarship fund. In celebration of MURA’s 30th year anniversary, a 30 for $30 fundraiser is underway throughout 2020 to continue to grow the endowment. Since its inception in 2016, eleven scholarships have been awarded to Mizzou undergrads. To donate to the scholarship fund, go to https://tinyurl.com/kittydickersonMURAscholarship. If you’d prefer to donate by check, indicate that it is for the Kitty Dickerson MURA Scholarship and send to: Mizzou Gift Processing, 407 Reynolds Alumni Center, Columbia, MO 65211. Promoting Lifelong Learning and Service – MURA committees and leaders work hard to ensure that retirees stay active, both mentally and physically, which has become a particular challenge during the pandemic. Our usual activities that would have been reported include a monthly breakfast series with a speaker, the annual business meeting and our spring social. Although the pandemic forced cancellation of many events, two of our breakfast series programs were held. In February, Ruth Tofle, Ken Hutchison and Gary Smith presented “Photos and Footprints: Celebrating MURA’s Past." In March, Chancellor Alexander Cartwright presented “Update from the Flagship.” Information on costs and pre-registration for breakfasts can be found at our MURA website: http://mura-missouri.com/. Our September and October speakers are confirmed. We are following the university strategy of opening up in the fall for face to face meetings and being ready to pivot as needed. The program and education/breakfast committees are seeking ways to provide alternative learning opportunities. Osher Lifelong Learning Institute: MURA partners with the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute to help mid-Missouri adults age 50+ stay active, learn new things and build social connections. Programs are open to all, with a wide variety of topics and talented instructors. New courses are offered in winter, spring and summer terms. For a full list of course titles, fees, dates and times, visit http://extension.missouri.edu/learnforlife or call the Osher staff at (573) 882-8189. Questions? Barbara Schneider is MURA’s Liaison to Osher. She can be reached via email at: tigermom.barbara@gmail.com. Volunteer Opportunities—Serving the Campus and Community - MURA works with partners to promote volunteer opportunities for retirees who want to stay engaged. The usual spring activities were cancelled and we will notify MURA members when new opportunities arise. Looking Ahead: It is easy to focus on all that did not happen, the emptying of our calendars, the impact on very important life events and the social isolation. It has been a time for personal reflection and reprioritizing. It is clear that MURA is much more than scheduled events on a calendar. MURA is an organization alive with generous volunteers who work hard throughout the year. Our mission is to represent and protect the interests of the retired MU community and promote the welfare of MU. Our members include UM system retirees as well. We take our mission very seriously and all aspects will need our attention in the coming months, as not only retirees, but also the MU campus and University of Missouri are facing incredible challenges. In these uncertain times we wish you well and encourage you to stay active and remain cautious, to seek out the best evidence to help with choices, and continue to reach out to others- we truly are all in this together. |
JOIN US! MURA dues are $12.50 per year for annual members and $100 for a lifetime membership. You can join at any time, but sooner is always better! For more information and a membership application, visit http://mura-missouri.com/membership or contact Dick Otto, Membership Chair, at OttoR@missouri.edu. |
UMKCRA Leadership The following UMKCRA Officers attended the May 14, 2020 Four Campus University of Missouri System Leadership Meeting via Zoom: Rose M. Bell, President; Linda Breytspraak, Vice President/President Elect; Gail Metcalf-Schartel, Past-President, 2nd Term. On May 6, 2020, President Mun Choi and his staff conducted a Virtual Town Hall for University of Missouri System retirees. The recorded webinar can be found at the following link: https://www.umsystem.edu/president-blog/virtual-town-hall-may6. All of the UMKCRA Board Members listened to the town hall. Our staff sent out information to all of our association members prior to the event. Campus Outreach The university-wide UMatters E-Newsletter selects one feature per edition. The following two (2) announcements were published in the April 20, 2020 edition. UMKCRA Donated $2,000 to the UMKC Student Emergency Relief Fund This fund was established to help meet the current needs of our most vulnerable students. The Harry Wilson Loose Trust, Bank of America Private Bank, NA, Trustee is supporting students by offering a total of $5,000 through a matching grant challenge. The matching grant challenge has doubled the UMKCRA contribution to $4,000 for our students. UMKC Student Emergency Relief Fund. UMKCRA Excellence in Retirement Awards Normally the awards are presented at the association’s spring luncheon. However, the event will be rescheduled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. | 1. | Faculty Award – Jakob Waterborg, Ph.D. is no stranger to UMKC as many individuals from virtually all the university units know him. Waterborg is one of the 11 founding members of the Emeritus College and currently serves on its board. His contributions are wide-ranging — from maintaining the college’s website, to serving as both secretary of the board and membership chair of the college. Waterborg also monitors the finances of the college. Waterborg was chair of the Emeritus College Committee that developed the new Early Career Faculty Award that provides travel funds to faculty just starting their careers. The workload that Waterborg took on to facilitate the success and growth of the Emeritus College has been substantial. Additionally, he served as chair of the UMKC Institutional BioSafety Committee (without pay) after he retired in 2014 until August 2018. He remains a member of this committee. Waterborg is regularly seen at campus events. He is a regular at the weekly seminar series where he actively participates, asking questions and making observations on the guest speaker’s work. | | 2. | Staff Award - Patricia Hovis-French, Ph.D. retired in 2001 and has been involved both in the School of Graduate Studies and UMKCRA. Hovis-French excelled at implementing education programs for international students on American culture in the classroom. She would individually counsel international students on teaching techniques in the context of our culture. She developed the Preparing Future Faculty Program and the certificate program in college teaching. The program has since grown to include an online version, which she developed. The online adaptation resulted in a surge of enrollment in the program. In retirement, she has worked tirelessly on advocating for underrepresented students in terms of the fellowship and scholarship in the School of Graduate Studies. Hovis-French is always available as a retiree in advising graduate students in their programs of study, research and career goals using her own life experiences as a model. She has also become very active in UMKCRA, serving as secretary and president of the Association. Many times, she was called out of retirement to help the School of Graduate Studies in developing policy and serves as an “institutional memory” of the division. |
AROHE “Group Organizational Bundle Membership” Jakob Waterborg has worked extensively with the Association of Retirement Organizations in Higher Education. He facilitated a UMKCRA bundle membership with the UMKC Emeritus College. Benefits include: AROHE’s members-only directory, Knowledge Center, start-up kit, Idea Exchange webinars, AROHE briefs, program ideas and publication samples. UMKCRA retirees will receive individual letters of invitation from AROHE leadership regarding enrollment procedures. UMKC Forward In this time of crisis, UMKC has an opportunity to fundamentally re-imagine its mission as a public research university serving the Greater Kansas City and beyond. More than 115 faculty, staff and community members are tasked with developing far-reaching ideas to re-imagine the operations of UMKC to both save money, generate new revenue and create an innovative and sustainable future for the university. Read more about UMKC Forward. Programs/Speaker Series Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are cancelling all summer events. Turn out for the February and March events was fantastic! | • | February 21, 2020 -- Breakfast/Tour of the UMKC Geology Museum, UMKC Library. Dr. Richard Gentile, presenter. | | • | March 10, 2020 -- Tour of Black Archives of Mid-America Permanent Exhibit "With My Eyes No Longer Blind" Dr. Carmelita Williams, Executive Director and "State of Black Kansas City - Education," Gwen Grant, President and CEO, Urban League of Kansas City. Lunch at Historic 18th and Vine restaurant’s. |
UPCOMING EVENTS: To celebrate your retirement and meet you, we are planning a New Retirees Reception on Friday, September 24, 2020, 4:30-6:00 p.m. at the Diastole Scholars Center. Due to current health concerns, we will inform everyone closer to the time of the event whether or not it will occur. To RSVP, please call Dee Evans at 816-235-6010 or evansvd@umkc.edu. We look forward to seeing you soon!! |
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UPDATES: The UMSL Retirees Association held its Annual Holiday Luncheon and General Membership Meeting on December 4, 2019 at Glen Echo Country Club. Over 70 retirees and guests attended. Members reviewed the previous general meeting minutes. RA Treasurer Steve Spaner provided a treasurer’s report along with membership highlights. The luncheon goal was to highlight and encourage committee work. Chairs and co-chairs (Dave Ganz, Dave Garin, and Helene Sherman) briefly described their committee activities for the 2019-2020 academic year. Tom Schnell and Helene Sherman highlighted tentative plans for a visit to the Gateway Arch Museum on March 31. After the lunch, UMSL Provost and then Interim Chancellor Kristin Sobolik described university achievements and challenges. Service by current board members was acknowledged: Debbie Kettler for organizing the luncheon, and Brenda Shannon-Simms and Ericka Webb for registering and assisting luncheon attendees. Human Resources Executive Director Jim Hertel was thanked for his support of the RA. President-Elect Clark Hickman described the Retirement Association’s staff/faculty awards program, suggesting that members nominate retirees. Clark also noted the organization’s Facebook page and website, managed by Lol Barton, and acknowledged the work of the Communications Committee (Dave Garin, Melissa Hattman and Lol Barton) for regularly producing the RA Newsletter. Over a dozen RA members had a Mexican lunch and guided tour of Cahokia Mounds on Saturday, October 19 at 2:30 p.m. This Illinois tour was organized by Helene Sherman, Tom Schnell and Zuleyma Tang-Martinez. One ambitious team of RA explorers led by Melissa Hattman and Cindy Vantine made it to the top of Monks Mound, the highest peak in Cahokia. They were encouraged by Clark McMillion and Mike Murray. In addition to the Holiday Luncheon, RA fall activities included a photo-enriched talk by Dr. Charles Schmitz, retired Dean of Education, presented on November 7, 2019. Charlie and his wife Liz discussed their trip to Antarctica with "National Geographic," one in which they spent over two weeks traveling by ship while documenting the trip with photos and interviews. Their presentation included artifacts from the trip. The talk was very well received. |
This spring, the Board met via Zoom to discuss upcoming events and activities. The RA Annual Meeting and Spring Luncheon normally takes place the first week of June. Due to the pandemic, that luncheon was postponed. The RA organized volunteers who offered to help the campus during the COVID-19 crisis. President-Elect Clark Hickman met with then Interim Chancellor Kristin Sobolik. Understanding that some of our RA members are considered among the most vulnerable, RA members still reached out to the campus and offered to help in any way we could. The RA is pulling together a list of retired faculty and staff who are willing to be contacted should a critical need arise. We acknowledged the chances the campus would need to contact a retiree would be very slim, but the Interim Chancellor enthusiastically embraced the idea as providing another resource for the campus.
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UMSL retirees enjoy the breathtaking photos of Antarctica taken by Dr. Charles Schmitz on his recent trip with National Geographic. Dr. Schmitz is a retired Dean of UMSL’s College of Education. |
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The deadline for the Retiree of the Year Award is rapidly approaching. Two awards are given per year, one to a retired faculty member and one to a staff member. Each award comes with a plaque and a $1,000 honorarium. Nominees must have been fully retired from the University for at least five years and must have made significant contributions to either the campus and/or community since retiring. Examples of significant contribution include volunteering to benefit campus, mentoring, fundraising, community-activism or contributing to the benefit of the larger community. Nominations are being accepted until June 30, 2020. Nomination forms are in the online RA Newsletter. The RA Activities Committee detailed what they had planned for the postponed March 31, 2020, Spring Gateway Arch/National Park Museum Tour. It was noted that university classes had moved online, as with most major institutions, due to concerns over the spread of the COVID-19 virus. The faculty worked hard to modify course work as needed. The RA Board decided to conduct the officer election by email with a mid-May turn-around. The Board invited nominations. The chair of the nominating committee, Debbie Kettler, was able to present a slate. President-Elect Clark Hickman and Treasurer Steve Spaner, with assistance from Ericka Webb, worked out details. In spite of some unusual challenges, the RA Board has continued to sponsor the 2nd Annual Retiree Award and promote the 4-Campus RA leader telemeeting for today. Clark Hickman will take over as president, as planned, and Mike Murray will assume position of past-president. The Board also congratulated Kristin Sobolik on her appointment as Chancellor and Marie Mora on her appointment as Provost of the UMSL campus. UMSL Retiree Membership Renewal/Recruitment Information | • | The UMSL Retiree Association annual renewal recruitment begins June 1, 2020. They invite you to renew your membership or apply to join the UMSL RA. Click here for more information. |
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Miners Retirees Association
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Updates The Miner Retirees began a series of interesting lunch meetings this year. In January, Ashley Brooks introduced us to a relatively new program in our community – The Rolla Mission. Located in a local church, “the Rolla Mission exists to be a refuge for the disadvantaged. We offer practical resources that meet physical, social, and emotional needs. In a culture of love and non-judgement, The Rolla Mission aspires to be a refuge for people who are marginalized and to be a unifying force in the community; providing opportunities for advocacy, service, and support.” February brought Dr. Chris Ramsey and members of the Student Design Center’s Rocket Design Team. They introduced us to their work learning a NASA-like process for building rockets, produce their own rocket fuel to launch a high-powered rocket to 30,000 feet, then enlisting middle- and high-school students to design scientific payloads. Their motto: Keep your eyes on the sky. March, unfortunately, brought our meetings to an end as response to the COVID-19 pandemic would prevent further gatherings. This last program had Andy Careaga of Public Information bring us up to date on plans for the campus’s upcoming 150th Anniversary Celebration. Chartered as the Missouri School of Mines and Metallurgy in 1870 and having classes chartered in 1871, the 2020-2021 celebrations will celebrate the growth of what is now Missouri University of Science and Technology. Our April meeting and annual picnic in May were lost due to “the bug.” For more information, contact Richard Miller, President at 573-364-7608 or dick@mst.edu |
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Miner Retirees Association Richard Miller, president dick@mst.edu |
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