PDGR: Make a gift today and double the value of your support
UMRA’s Professional Development Grants for Retirees (PDGR) program is an annual competition with applications for 2024 awards accepted until December 31. These grants support projects related to retirees’ research, instructional history or new scholarly and creative interests. Previous grants have covered topics such as art, statistics, social equity, science and medicine. Funding of up to $5,000 per grant is available.
Retirees from all five campuses within the U of M System are eligible whether they are members of UMRA or not. Visit the Grants for Retirees webpage to find more information about the program, including the instructions for applying for 2024 funding. Please consider making an application.
If you would like to make a financial contribution to the program, do it by December 31 and your tax-deductible gift will be doubled thanks to a $20,000 challenge grant from a generous anonymous donor.
Go to the PDGR crowdfunding page to make a gift online. Or, for information about making a tax-efficient gift from an IRA if you are age 70½ or older, contact Lynn Praska, Senior Planned Giving Officer, U of M Foundation, by email or by calling her at 612-624-4158.
Email John Bantle, MD, PDGR Committee chair, if you have questions or suggestions for the grant program.
News
For the 2026 grant year, the UMRA PDGR Committee received eight new applications. The PDGR Committee selected six for funding. See the awardees and grant abstracts on the 2026 PDGR Abstracts page.
UMRA’s 2026 grants for retirees will help to support scholarly and creative projects focused on art, architecture, creativity in children, public humanities, understanding human aggression, and volunteerism.
The University Regents’ meeting on February 13 began with heartfelt remarks from Regent Joel Bergstrom regarding the damage inflicted on Minnesota by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement violence.
The University Retirees Volunteer Center offers a variety of opportunities to be of help. “We all want to help stressed communities during this difficult time in Minnesota,” says Michelle Trudeau-Spanjers, URVC’s liaison to Neighborhood House, which is providing emergency groceries and other necessities to St. Paul families worried about their safety.
Meet UMRA member and stalwart treasurer Kristy Frost-Griep, a Renaissance woman who learned the value of hard work and the importance of customer service as a young teen, working in the family business.
Planning is already well underway for UMRA to host this year’s annual meeting of the Big Ten Retirees Association in late July on the U of M Twin Cities campus in Minneapolis.