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
The Campus Club’s Dale Shephard Room provided a perfect venue for nearly 30 UMRA members and guests to interact with University of Minnesota Vice President Chris Gade for UMRA’s first Campus Conversation. His presentation focused on the new vision and strategy for University Marketing Communications.
Meet UMRA member and photojournalist David Hansen. He devoted nearly 50 years working for the Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station to promote University of Minnesota research discoveries, in pictures. “I loved my University work. Every day,” he said.
Professor Emeritus John Romano is the newest member of the University Retirees Volunteer Center Leadership Council. Throughout his University experience, he has been a leader among those providing mental health support for students on campus.
I grew up surrounded by positive people. My parents both lived to be 98, and I never heard either of them complain as they grew older. In that spirit, I’d like to share with you some thoughts on the advantages of getting older, as I experience it.
The Association of Retirement Organizations in Higher Education (AROHE) invites you to join retirees from across the country at the biennial 2026 AROHE Conference taking place October 6–8 in Gainesville, Florida.