Membership renewal reminder
As summer wanes, 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. Go to the Portal at the top right of the UMRA website home page, click on the down arrow to open the dropdown menu, and then select “Renew Membership.”
If you aren’t able to renew online, you can also renew by mailing a check ($40 for individual and $60 for dual membership). Contact UMRA Treasurer Kristy Frost Griep at [email protected] for instructions.
Once you’ve renewed, you’ll receive a “Membership Renewal Complete” confirmation email from UMRA. This email will include YOUR MEMBERSHIP CARD and the QR code for the UMRA member parking discount, valid through June 30, 2027.
You should save your membership card (the email; it’s not, literally, a card)—as a screenshot or photo on your smartphone, or print it—to use the QR code to get the UMRA member parking discount, which reduces the parking rate to $1 per hour at all University public ramps, garages, and surface lots on the Twin Cities campus using automated pay machines.
Don’t delay! We have a great lineup of programs planned for this year, and you’ll need to renew your membership to sign up for them.
—Ron Matross, UMRA Membership and Communication Committee chair
News
Beginning January 1, 2027, the University of Minnesota is making updates to medical plans, the pharmacy vendor, and the Wellbeing Program incentive that apply to retirees and dependents enrolled in these plans.
The University of Minnesota has had a presence at the Great Minnesota Get-Together for 167 years. And on September 3, 2026, UMRA made its Minnesota State Fair debut to talk with fairgoers (on Seniors Day) about retirement and to promote opportunities to volunteer through our University Retirees Volunteer Center.
Like all of us, UMRA member Barbara Heinemann has been reflecting on 9/11 and life in the 25 years since then, with mixed feelings.
December 31 is the application deadline for UMRA’s 2027 Professional Development Grants for Retirees competition. Retirees from all five University of Minnesota campuses are eligible to apply. We invited Brad Hokanson, professor emeritus, UMN Department of Design Innovation, to tell us about the work supported by his 2026 grant to promote teaching creativity in high schools.
Meet UMRA member and volunteer extraordinaire Kay Louis. She devoted her career as an Extension educator — “bringing the University to the people” — to developing and providing programming for adults and youth.
The UMRA membership year runs from July 1 through June 30 of the following year. If you haven’t yet renewed your membership for 2027, it’s definitely time to do so!
UMRA has a Facebook group that is open to UMN retirees and others with close ties to the University, for posting messages about anything University- or retiree-related. Learn more.
This will be a new regular column where you can find organizational tasks that need your help! We are currently looking for help researching a new UMRA Membership Database and URVC volunteer database, and a co-producer for UMRA's Zoom webinars. See more details: