PDGR grant recipient honored for COVID paper
UMRA member John L. Romano was honored at last year’s American Psychological Association (APA) Convention for the best paper published in 2020 in the Journal of Prevention and Health Promotion. As of mid-January 2022, his paper, “Politics of Prevention: Reflections From the COVID-19 Pandemic,” had been downloaded more than 8,400 times.
Romano is professor emeritus of counseling psychology in the Department of Educational Psychology. His article emphasized the importance of adapting prevention applications to the intended recipients, especially ethnic and cultural groups, during the pandemic.
Romano retired in 2015. His continuing professional work was supported by UMRA’s Professional Development Grants for Retirees (PDGR) program. A 2018 grant allowed him to attend the APA conference where he organized an international session of scholars in prevention science which, in turn, grew into the COVID paper.
“The PDGR funds certainly helped to support my continuing professional activities,” Romano said. “The funds are a valuable source of financial support, and they encourage retired faculty to maintain scholarly activities. The activities not only benefit the faculty member, but also demonstrate the University of Minnesota’s commitment to retired faculty and staff.”
The PDGR awards for 2022 will be announced in March.
—Will Craig, Communication & Outreach Committee member
News
UMRA’s Professional Development Grants for Retirees (PDGR) program is an annual competition with applications accepted from October 1 to December 31. It provides financial support for University retirees to continue scholarship or pursue new projects. Funding of up to $7,500 per grant is available.
UMRA’s Professional Development Grants for Retirees (PDGR) program is an annual competition for grants to support projects related to retirees’ research, instructional history, or new scholarly and creative interests. Funding of up to $7,500 per grant is available. Retirees from all University campuses are eligible to apply.
The application deadline for UMRA’s 2026 Professional Development Grants for Retirees competition is December 31. Funding of up to $7500 per grant is available to support U of M retirees’ research, instructional history, new scholarship, or creative interests.
2025 PDGR Awards. For the 2025 grant year, the UMRA PDGR Committee reviewed four applications for Professional Development Grants for Retirees and recommended that all four be funded. The awards covered the diverse topics of the lost art of Hungarian Jewish women, contemporary cast iron art, U.S. election systems and their potential reform, and the poetry and life of Shakespeare. The awardees and grant abstracts are listed on the 2025 PDGR Abstracts page.