Hometown: I was born in Manhattan, lived in Brooklyn until age 6, and then moved to New Haven, Connecticut, where I grew up, went to school, college, and married. My husband, Russell, and I moved to Brazil for two-plus years when he was doing research for his doctoral thesis while a graduate student at Yale.

When did you become a member of UMRA? In 2009.

What was your occupation when you retired from FT work? Director of recruitment and staffing services at Vanderbilt University. Earlier in my career, I was EEO representative and manager of recruitment for General Mills, where I directed college recruiting of MBAs and electrical and mechanical engineers.

Do you have a favorite place on the U of M campus? The McNamara Alumni Center, home of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI), where for the past 13 years I have been an active member, including two years as president. I have enjoyed working with fellow OLLI members, both on campus and off, including five OLLI trips I arranged and led to Portugal and Brazil.

What is a fun fact about you we might not know? I am fluent in Portuguese and taught in Brazil (high school math and English) and later served as an interpreter in Angola and Belgium. I also spent four summers as a guest lecturer at Middlebury Language School in Vermont. Something else little known about me is that I was first violinist and concert mistress (first female and first minority) for the Johnson Junior Symphony in New Haven.

What is something you currently enjoy doing? Reading mysteries, watching old movies, cooking international cuisines, traveling, and learning about new cultures. I also knit blankets for preemies and newborns at the U of M Masonic Children’s Hospital.