Operational needs: Help make UMRA run
This will be a new regular column where you can find current organizational tasks that need your help!
Member Portal Renewal Cycle Manager
Do you like databases? Would you enjoy working with our many members to help them use the new Member Portal to join, and to renew, and to use the many features of the system. Virgil will continue as mentor to transition.
- Answer member questions
- Track who has paid membership, or if someone is having difficulty
- Welcome new members when they join UMRA through our Portal
Contact Virgil at [email protected].
JOIE
The committee chair provides leadership for the UMRA JOIE Committee. Also, the chair writes the annual report on the committee’s work and annually updates the UMRA JOIE toolkit.
The committee partners with several liaisons to carry out its mission to recruit and publish interesting articles from university retirees and others for publication on the University’s Digital Conservancy.
Contact Kristine Bettin [email protected]
Host Team Lead Back-up
The Host Team Back-up would learn the responsibilities of the organizer for the Host Team and go into the position as Lead in the upcoming year. Responsibilities include serving as the main contact, coordinating communication, recruiting members, managing budget, writing annual report and updating toolkit. Must arrive by 10:15 for the Forums. Two-year commitment.
Contact Kay Louis
Greeter
Serve at Welcome Table for 6 Forums. Responsibilities include setting up table, greeting and assisting members as they pick up nametags and assisting the Venue Lead to Encourage members to their seats so service may begin. Must arrive by 10:30. One year commitment.
Contact Kay Louis
New Member Welcome Back-up
Learn the steps to Welcome New Members. This includes identifying host and communicating details, sending letters/e-mails to the hosts and new members, greeting new member and connecting them to the Hosts at the Forums. Must arrive by 10:30. One year commitment.
Contact Kay Louis
Follow up Lead and Back up (two positions)
After each Forum, contact people who registered and didn’t attend. This can be done by phone, text or email. Prepare a report for each Forum and a final report on Excel Spreadsheet provided. One year commitment.
Contact Kay Louis
Programming Committee
Got Ideas about UMRA programming? We Want You!
Help shape the speakers, topics, and conversations that make UMRA programs worth attending.
The UMRA Program Committee is looking for new members with curiosity, good ideas, and an interest in creating engaging programs for our community.
Come help us decide what UMRA talks about next!
Interested?
Contact Nanette Hanks, President-Elect and Program Committee Chair.
News
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:
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.
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.