Operational needs: Help make UMRA run
This will be a new regular column where you can find current organizational tasks that need your help!
Alumni Association Liaison:
Are you a UMN alum as well as a retiree? Would you consider helping us with our Alumni Association partnership? It’s mostly email communications, with the option of attending a Twins game or other sporting event the Alumni Association co-sponsors as “UMN Days”. When you see an UMRA Workshop or Forum that you think is particularly important, you share it with the Alumni Association for their Gold Mind YouTube channel. For more info, see the Toolkit for this role. Interested or want to know more first? Contact Julie Sweitzer at [email protected], or Will Craig at [email protected].
Host Team openings
HOST TEAM LEAD serves as organizer for the Host Team
1. Serves as main contact for Host Team
2. Creates agendas and chairs Host Team meetings, as needed
3. Ensures Host Team functions smoothly
4. Leads efforts to recruit Host Team members
5. Manages Host Team budget
Contact Diane Young: [email protected].
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NAME TAG PRODUCER – Serves for 6 Forum Luncheons: Sept, Oct, Nov, Mar, Apr, May and 3 Special Social Events (usually August, January and June). One-year commitment to start. Can be renewed.
- Responsible for name tags for Luncheon Forums (6) and special events (3)
- Works with Print Services to have name tags printed from mail merge doc provided by UMRA reservationist. (Jeff Whiteside is contact)
- Orders blank labels for name tags Avery 5395 and ribbons for special attendees.
- Assembles name tags, adding ribbons and new member dots, as appropriate
- Brings name tags to Welcome Table for Forums & Special Events
Contact Diane Young: [email protected].
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].
News
The election of UMRA officers and new board members for 2025–26 will be conducted via an online poll from May 12 to 18, with the results to be announced at our annual meeting on May 20. Sally Gregory Kohlstedt leads the slate of nominees as president-elect. She came to the University of Minnesota in 1989 as a professor and associate dean, and retired in 2018.
On April 30, the UMRA Board of Directors sent a letter to University of Minnesota President Rebecca Cunningham and Provost Rachel Croson expressing the Board's support for the University admnistration as it confronts the legal, ethical, and moral challenges created by the current federal leadership.
Meet UMRA member and statistics Professor Emeritus Sandy Weisberg. His work in “regression analysis” is the direct ancestor of predictive artificial intelligence. His first job was renting televisions to patients in the now-defunct Queen of Angels Hospital in Los Angeles.
The UMRA-sponsored Journal of Opinions, Ideas & Essays is seeking a new editor-in-chief who can promote the e-publication, solicit authors, and ensure JOIE’s continued success.
Volunteer work is usually evaluated according to “replacement rate” figures based on hourly wages. But the data on hours contributed and people served are just the notes on the page; the music is in the human spirit behind and beyond them.
The University Retirees Volunteer Center Leadership Council has elected two new members, including UMRA member Scott Elton (pictured), and re-elected four members for second, three-year terms.
UMRA is excited to announce the launch of a new member portal in late April. This web-based, member management software system is hosted by a company called WildApricot and will replace the current member portal at retirees.umn.edu, where you currently renew your membership and sign up for events.
The new portal simplifies and more efficiently manages many essential tasks for UMRA, including enrolling new members, updating member records, registering event attendees, and processing payments.