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
For the 2026 grant year, the UMRA PDGR Committee received eight new applications. The PDGR Committee selected six for funding. See the awardees and grant abstracts on the 2026 PDGR Abstracts page.
UMRA’s 2026 grants for retirees will help to support scholarly and creative projects focused on art, architecture, creativity in children, public humanities, understanding human aggression, and volunteerism.
The University Regents’ meeting on February 13 began with heartfelt remarks from Regent Joel Bergstrom regarding the damage inflicted on Minnesota by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement violence.
The University Retirees Volunteer Center offers a variety of opportunities to be of help. “We all want to help stressed communities during this difficult time in Minnesota,” says Michelle Trudeau-Spanjers, URVC’s liaison to Neighborhood House, which is providing emergency groceries and other necessities to St. Paul families worried about their safety.
Meet UMRA member and stalwart treasurer Kristy Frost-Griep, a Renaissance woman who learned the value of hard work and the importance of customer service as a young teen, working in the family business.
Planning is already well underway for UMRA to host this year’s annual meeting of the Big Ten Retirees Association in late July on the U of M Twin Cities campus in Minneapolis.