2021-2022 PDGR Abstracts
Joanne B. Eicher, Regents Professor Emerita College of Design, Department of Design, Housing, and Apparel, University of Minnesota, St Paul Campus.
Color images for book, Global Trade, Cultural Authentication, and the Kalabari of the Niger Delta. With aid from a 2015 UMRA grant requesting funds to prepare images for a book, I have completed a 100,000-word manuscript centered on the global trade and textiles of the Kalabari people of Nigeria. The book includes chapters from my academic publications, authored or co-authored, plus chapters by nine former advisees from the University of Minnesota. Together, we provide an in-depth examination of the Kalabari people’s long-time global connectedness and its influence on their textile traditions involving dress, including an Indian imported cloth (madras) which Kalabari artisans re-design by a process of subtracting threads. My contract with the Indiana University Press for a 2022 publication requires a $4,000 subsidy to support the cost of 80, full-color images for the book’s first print run. Since the book is visually focused, these images are crucial. With its African Expressive Cultures series, the Indiana University Press is the premiere publisher of African arts and history.
News
Since retiring from the College of Biological Sciences faculty, UMRA member Kathryn Hanna has pursued her longtime interest in the arts and antiques and is currently the co-president of the Fan Association of North America, a nonprofit organization of hand fan collectors.
October 1 marks the start of the 2025 competition for financial support from UMRA’s Professional Development Grants for Retirees program. Retirees from all five campuses within the U of M System are eligible to apply whether or not they are members of UMRA.
The Regents’ Special Committee on Academic Health is seeking feedback from the University community on a draft of the Health Sciences Strategic Plan drawn up by the deans of the University’s six health sciences schools and colleges.
The UMRA membership year runs from July 1 to June 30, and now there is a new and easy way to see whether you have already renewed for 2025. Look to the right of your name in the address field on page 12 of the September 2024 print newsletter you received, and you will see a four-digit year. If it says “2025,” it means you have renewed.
So, you have set up a new email account; set up your recovery emails and phone numbers for this new account (!!); moved your emails, contacts, and documents from Google Drive to the new account; notified all your friends and business associates. Now what??
Did you check all of your online accounts? Any that use the old UMN account will need changes -- you may need to change the login, or the contact info, or both -- to the new email address. This article lists other details to consider.
For those of us who have not yet taken the leap to abandon our umn.edu email and Google Workspace accounts before the December 7 deadline, there are three basic things we need to do to get going.
UMRA member Susan Kubitschek attended the University of Minnesota on the G.I. Bill and, after working at the U for 40 years, retired as assistant dean and director of Collegiate Life in the College of Science and Engineering.
Delegates to the Big Ten Retirees Association 2024 annual conference met at The Ohio State University in July to learn about Ohio State, share ideas, and develop closer ties among the 28 attendees from 12 of the 14 Big Ten schools. Minnesota will host the conference in 2026.
“UMRA members are engaged ‘University citizens’ with decades of experience at every level of this great institution, and we want to have a mutually useful and effective relationship with the Board of Regents,” says John Finnegan, UMRA’s new liaison to the regents.
UMRA member Mike Austin is taking full advantage of his retirement to volunteer in a variety of activities, travel, and learn a new language. He says, “I have the time, I have the ability, and I get bored sitting around.”
Members of UMRA’s 2024–25 Board of Directors were elected in May. Directors are elected to three-year terms and may serve two consecutive terms.
Funding of up to $5,000 per grant is available to support U of M retirees’ research, instructional history, new scholarship, or creative interests.