UC Riverside Retirees' Association Report
October 2022 Report
Submitted by Andy Plumley, Riverside CUCRA Representative
Fundraising / Scholarships
The UCR Retirees' Association will be participating in a campus-wide Giving Tuesday campaign for the month of November. This campaign is targeted to UCR staff to raise funds for the UCRRA Undergraduate Student Scholarship Endowment. UCRRA is currently receiving student applications for this scholarship, which will be awarded by the end of fall quarter. Scholarship requirements include recipients being a child, grandchild or close relative to a UCR staff member or retiree and express a financial need.
We continue to work closely with Development in discussing our fund raising goals, setting the appropriate size of our endowment fund and establishing the correct fund to provide us flexibility in how we manage our operations.
By-Laws
UCRRA continues to review our By-Laws to update them to better reflect how we are currently operating. While we have had difficulty recruiting some board positions, this year we do have a full slate of board members. However, we need to review and update term limits and duties. Additionally, we will be reviewing our standing committees in terms of composition, duties, and the appointment process.
Retirement Center
With the support UCREA, a budget proposal was made to increase our Retirement Center Director from a half- time position to a full-time position. This budget proposal was successful and we now have full-time Director. We continue to press for creating a physical space for the Center. While a location has been identified and we have garnered support from the Provost and the Vice Chancellor for Planning, Budget and Administration, we have been stalled in starting the planning phase. While we recognize staffing issues within the department of Planning, Design & Construction, we will press to launch the planning phase of this project by January 2023.
Membership
UCRRA membership is 330, with over 70% being lifetime members. We continue to look for ways to better outreach to our members and potential members. We will be surveying members at campus reception for retirees, which is well attended. In the past, tabling at retirement planning sessions was a great way to inform future retirees of our associations funcation and benefits, but these continue to be in a zoom format post-Covid, so we need to think how to be as effective in the zoom-setting.
Events and Activities
Events and activities sponsored by UCRRA, UCREA and the Retirement Center Director include:
- Quarterly Luncheons:
- The Spring Luncheon and Business meeting was held in May 2022 in person. The featured speaker was Dr. Rachel Wu, UCR Professor of Psychology, and she discussed "Increasing Cognitive Abilities and Resilience in Older Adulthood."
- The Fall Luncheon was held in September 2022 in person, and featured Fortino Morales, UCR's Sustainability Director. He spoke on the many sustainability initiatives being actively worked on and how UCR will meet our goals.
- In December 2022, we will have the return of our Holiday Luncheon.
- Reception honoring UCR retirees and emeriti will be held in October 2022, featuring the UCR Chancellor Kim Wilcox.
- Mystery Book Club, sponsored by UCREA, held monthly and led by George Haggerty, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of English. Books featured in spring and fall include Still life: Chief Inspector Gemache, Book 1 by Louise Penny, Pietr the Latvian by Georges Simenon, Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie, and March Violets by Philip Kerr.
- Interpretive Walks Club, sponsored by UCREA. In spring the group did a Tour of the Trees at UCR led by Andrew Sanders, Senior Museum Scientist of the UCR Herbarium. Coming up in the fall, we will tour our latest state-of-the-art classroom building, the Student Success Center, followed by a tour and drinks at the remodeled Barn complex, which features the original barn building that was built in 1917 to support the UC Citrus Experiment Station. 10
- Retirement Center sponsored programs on Estate Planning, the UC Retiree Travel Program, and College Savings Options for Children and Grandchildren.
- Recognition at Staff Assembly General Meetings, made possible through our partnership with the UCR Staff Assembly.
- Tech Tip seminars, sponsored by the Retirement Center Director, and led by UCR ITS.