UC Riverside
Retirees Association
Fall 2025 Report
Submitted by Andy Plumley, UC Riverside CUCRA Representative
Fundraising / Scholarships / Budget
Fundraising:
We had a successful giving campaign last year, resulting in raising $14,800 for our Undergraduate Student Scholarship Endowment. We partnered with SchoolsFirst Federal Credit Union to encourage giving by an offer to give $10,000 to our scholarship fund if 425 separate donations of Retirees, Emeriti, Staff and Faculty were made for the overall giving campaign. We are now working on securing a 10-year agreement with SchoolsFirst to double our endowment fund.
Scholarships:
We are currently accepting student applications for our Undergraduate Student Scholarship, which will be awarded by the end of fall quarter. In the past, scholarships required applicants be a child, grandchild, or other close relative to a UCR staff member or retiree. This year, we have expanded the relationship requirement to include emeriti and faculty.
Budget:
We are waiting for our final June report from campus but are projecting ending the year with $10,000 more than budgeted. This is mainly due to the CUCRA Grant fund, which we do not budget for and have placed into our scholarship fund, and more than expected CUCRA reimbursements for hosting expenses from the spring meeting. We continue to be challenged in receiving regular financial reports from the campus.
Retirement Center
Before his retirement, we met with Chancellor Wilcox to remind him of the promise of a physical, dedicated space for our Retirement Center. We had been promised space in the Cottage, a pre-campus building which is located near the campus Barn. The Barn is a campus social hub of dining, drinks, and performances housed in the original barn, which housed horses and wagons for the Citrus Experiment Station in 1917. While he committed to this, no guarantees were given. This summer, we noticed that a construction fence was erected around the Cottage, so we immediately contacted the Campus Architect to find out what was going on. To our surprise, she informed us that the long-awaited rehabilitation of the Cottage was underway. Shortly thereafter, we met with our new Chancellor and Provost and they confirmed that the Cottage would be the home of the Retirement Center. We will soon form a working group to discuss how we will use the Cottage, which is expected to be completed sometime in spring quarter.
Membership / Board
Membership:
UCRRA membership is at 412, which is a decrease of 2% (9) from last fall, and with 76% being lifetime members. In addition to discussing the Retirement Center with Chancellor Wilcox, we also discussed the continuation of the campus benefits for our association members, which include free parking in designated lots, retainment of UCR email account, and providing a UCR ID card which includes library access and discounts at the bookstore. He supported this and we have also received commitment from our new Chancellor. We continue to participate in any on-campus events, especially those that are targeted to soon-to-be retirees.
Board:
All our officers except the Secretary have returned to our 2025/26 board. Our new Secretary held that position before and has returned. We are considering adding a few Member-at-Large positions to grow the pool of potential Presidents. The President position requires at least one year of service on the board.
Events and Activities
Events and activities sponsored by UCRRA, UCREA and the Retirement Center Director include:
- Quarterly Luncheons. These are plated luncheons with donated wine and include association announcements and a guest speaker. Our Holiday luncheon includes some entertainment, and our Spring luncheon includes our annual business meeting. For the past few years, we have included donation drives for the campus food pantry and career closet.
- Reception Honoring all Retirees and Emeriti, featuring the Chancellor, who provides a state of the campus address. This annual reception is hosted by UCRRA and UCREA.
- Mystery Book Club is held monthly.
- Walks, Talks & Tours. These events include tours on campus and the Riverside community.
- Tech Tip Seminars. These are provided by our campus Information Technology department and feature seminars to help retirees and emeriti with understating new technologies.
- Happy Hour. This is a new program where we will be hosting regular Happy Hours at our campus Barn.