March, 2015 Luncheon
Tue, March 24 2015, 11:30am
Conference Room ABC, Campus Club, Fourth Floor, Coffman Memorial Union
UMRA grant recipients take the stage with stories about their projects
Assisted by awards from an UMRA-initiated program—the Professional Development Grants for Retirees (PDGR)— University retirees have been able to pursue 62 projects over the past six years, making many different and important creative contributions.
Like the very successful PDGR presentations last year, this year's panel will provide a sampling of those contributions. Jan Hogan-Schiltgen, chair of the PDGR program, will moderate the panel.
This luncheon presentation and discussion has been designed not only to bring you relevant new knowledge and perspectives, but also to show first-hand how the grants program fits into (and adds to) the lives of retirees. The format will emphasize memoir experience rather than technical reports.
Philip O. Larsen, emeritus professor of plant pathology, will relate some stories about training Tanzanian farmers in advanced farm management. He is a former associate dean, College of Food, Agriculture and Natural Resource Sciences.
In 2012, Professor Larsen with his colleague Fred Bergsrud, emeritus professor of bioproducts and biosystems, received a PDGR grant supporting their volunteer work at the Institute of Agriculture at Tumaini University, Iringa, Tanzania.
Their roles were to advise, assist, and teach in a project that delivered maize seed and fertilizer at 44 crop demonstration sites in the Iringa region in central Tanzania and to teach fertilizer application, planting, measuring yield, and weed management to local farmers at each site. Larsen will talk about this project and his experiences living for several weeks in rural Tanzania.
Travelers may wish to follow in their footsteps. Iringa, a city of 113,000 people at an altitude of 5,000 feet, has an ideal climate and lush, green terrain.
Ron Anderson, UMRA past-president and professor emeritus of sociology, received PDGR grants in 2009, 2013, and 2014. The last two supported his pioneering research on the concept and prevalence of suffering. With a topic that was new to him only five years ago, he has already published two books.
Human Suffering and Quality of Life was written in early 2014. He also edited World Suffering and Quality ofLife, which he says is, "the first book to address global suffering head-on."
With the intention to launch a new field of research, he is well into his third book, Alleviating Suffering. Ron Anderson will put forward answers to such questions as: Why is global suffering rising when poverty and hunger supposedly have declined? Is suffering greater for those with lower income, and if so, why? Why is the meaning of suffering different for the elderly? His brief presentation will show how visual images and icons of suffering differ across news media, entertainment media, social media, and the public sphere.
Upcoming Events
We are fortunate to have UMRA member and former Minnesota Landscape Arboretum director Peter Moe to lead this approximately 3.7-mile hike at the Arboretum on Monday, May 6. Plan to have lunch together after the hike at the Eatery café inside the Oswald Visitor Center.
This session will continue the discussion begun in the May 8, 2023 session. See that article for details.
If you currently live in your own home or apartment, have you looked ahead to when you might want to consider a senior living option? Do you have any idea what those options might be? How much they cost? What they provide? UMRA’s May 14 workshop will provide an overview of the world of senior living and the basic information you need.
You’re invited to join the final Family History Interest Group meeting for 2023–24. This will be an opportunity to ask questions related to family history, share insights, talk about recent projects, and suggest topics for next year.
Stephanie Daily will lead the discussion of Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law by best-selling author Mary Roach when the UMRA Book Club meets via Zoom at 2 p.m. on Friday, May 17.
The May 20 hike will start at the Historic Lift Bridge in Stillwater and go along the river to the new bridge, cross over and then back on the Wisconsin side, a total of approximately 5 miles. Most of the route is paved. We will eat lunch after at Brian's Bar and Grill in Stillwater. Car pooling will be available.
Climatologist and meteorologist Mark Seeley joined the U of M faculty in 1978 and has been a weekly commentator on Minnesota Public Radio since 1992. We are honored to welcome him as our guest speaker for UMRA’s May Luncheon Forum and 2024 Annual Meeting. He is always entertaining and informative.
UMRA’s Fourth Friday Book Club welcomes back, for the second time, author Julie Schumacher, U of M Regents professor of creative writing and English, for a conversation about her novel The Shakespeare Requirement.
We are in for a treat on June 3! Lynn Anderson, will lead us on trails at two parks near her Monticello home. Bring a bag lunch and we will gather in Lynn's yard along the Mississippi River for eating and socializing after the hike.
Get out to the ballpark with fellow UMRA members for the annual U of M Day at Target Field as the Minnesota Twins take on the Oakland Athletics on June 14 at 7:10 p.m.
Please join us at 9:30 on June 17, 2024 for a walk around Lake Como in St. Paul before attending the UMRA Summer Social and Picnic starting at 11 at the Como Pavilion. A perfect opportunity to get in a walk before we gather to celebrate summer.
Picnic under the covered, open-air Como pavilion, gaze at the water, spy some birds, catch up with friends and former colleagues, and meet new members. We’ll have lunch with plenty of time for visiting and then compete in teams as we are challenged by our Quiz master(s)!
Healthy aging, mindfulness, fighting ageism, and more will be the focus of the third annual Age-Friendly University Day to be held on the U of M Twin Cities campus.