Competition for 2025 grants opens October 1
UMRA’s Professional Development Grants for Retirees (PDGR) program is an annual competition with applications accepted from October 1 to December 31. It provides financial support for University retirees to continue scholarship or pursue new projects. Funding of up to $5,000 per grant is available. Retirees from all five campuses within the U of M System are eligible to apply whether they are members of UMRA or not.
Since 2009, PDGR grants have been awarded to more than 110 retirees. Recent award recipients have focused on projects as varied as learning and youth development, new methods for presidential voting, assimilation of immigrants, temper outbursts in psychiatrically referred youth, and burnout prevention for health care professionals.
You can find more information about the program, including the instructions for applying for 2025 funding, at umra.umn.edu > Serving You > Grants for Retirees. Please consider making an application.
If you have previously contributed financially to the PDGR program, thank you for your support. If you have not yet made a contribution or, if you would like to make an additional contribution, you can do so via the PDGR crowdfunding page. All contributions are tax-deductible.
If you are age 70½ or older, you can also make a tax-efficient gift from an IRA. To do so, contact Lynn Praska, senior planned giving officer, University of Minnesota Foundation, at [email protected] or 612-624-4158.
Anyone with questions or suggestions for the grant program should contact John Bantle, MD, PDGR Committee chair, at [email protected].
News
UMRA hosted delegates from 14 of the 18 schools in the Big Ten for the 2026 Big Ten Retirees Association conference in July. It was described as “the perfect collaboration” by two delegates we invited to share a few of their key takeaways from the conference.
Developing communication skills is the focus of two programs needing volunteers this fall: the “Reader/Writer Program,” assisting students in Minneapolis Public Schools grades 7-12 to develop literacy skills; and “Partners in English,” engaging in conversation with adults for whom English is not their first language.
After being unexpectedly sidelined at the outset of her retirement, Pam Snopl now enjoys doing many of the things retirees get to do, including reconnecting in person with family and friends, going to museums and weekday Minnesota Twins games, reading, and writing.
UMRA member George Swan retired in 2021 after 30+ years at University Libraries, but still returns to campus to visit one or another of the libraries at least twice a week in his current role as a student/retiree.
UMRA’s Professional Development Grants for Retirees program is an annual competition for grants to support projects related to retirees’ research, instructional history, new scholarly or creative interests.
UMRA needs everyone to renew their membership for the coming year. Thank you if you’ve already renewed! If you haven’t, please renew right away.