UC Santa Cruz Retirement Association Report
April 2022 Report
Submitted by Frank Trueba, UC Santa Cruz CUCRA Representative
The UCSC Retirees Association (RA) Board meets bimonthly and in conjunction with the Retiree and Emeriti Center focuses on providing social and educational programs for all UCSC retirees as well as fund-raising for scholarships on behalf of veteran & staff pursuing a degree at UCSC. The RA Board publishes a quarterly newsletter, The Silver Slug Newsletter and maintains a website (https://retirees.ucsc.edu/). While we represent all retirees, our "official" membership currently hovers around 250.
Due to the COVID pandemic we have had no in-person events since March, 2020. However, we continue to communicate with our members through on-line newsletters and direct e-mails.
Scholarships:
The Retirees Association continues to sponsor and fundraise for two scholarships, the Bruce Lane Memorial Scholarship for UCSC students who are Military Veterans and the "Silver Slug Award" for current and retired staff and their dependents studying at UCSC who need financial assistance.
Programs/Events: (unless otherwise noted, these events were virtual, using zoom):
- Holiday "Lunch" (December 7, 2021) annual get-together with the Chancellor making remarks on the state of the campus.
- Out-of-Towners Happy Hour (March 1, 2022) with the experience of using Zoom, we organized a virtual meeting of out-of-town members.
- Fall "Picnic" (September, 2021) including "breakout rooms" with topical discussions.
- Guest Speaker Series (March 23, 2022) Photographer Robin Ove discussed taking better photgraphs with our digital cameras.
- Scheduled: Scholarship "Luncheon" (May 10 , 2022) where Bruce Lane Memorial Scholarships for veterans and Silver Slug Awards for employees or dependents were presented.
- Scheduled: Campus Staff Appreciation Day Booth (May 23, 2022) where we staff an info table informing staff about our Association and recruit new Board members.*
- Scheduled: "Welcome to Retirement" event (June 28, 2022) including remarks by the Chancellor.*
Retiree & Emeriti Center (REC):
We continue to work jointly with our REC contributing to the REC newsletter and co-sponsoring information blasts and events.
Other Notables:
We continue to use Zoom for our quarterly Association Board meetings.
We continue to offer a free initial year membership to new retirees who attend the Welcome to Retirement celebration.
*Signifies events Co-Sponsored with the Retiree & Emeriti Center (REC)