Exploring important issues
Bugs, human rights, and children’s tantrums. What do these have in common? University of Minnesota retirees received awards from UMRA’s Professional Development Grants for Retirees (PDGR) program to continue their work in these fields.
John Bantle coordinates the PDGR awards and found three great people to share their ongoing explorations of important issues in our November Living Well Workshop via Zoom. In his introduction to the webinar, Bantle noted that more than 100 grants have gone out to University retirees since 2009.
Ralph Holzenthal joined us from Ecuador where he finds and identifies caddisflies. Trout fisher people will recognize the insect. For the rest of us, their relevance is as a measure of water quality since they spend their early lives in streams and lakes. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and Pollution Control Agency monitor caddisflies in Minnesota, but the knowledge in Ecuador is far more limited. Holzenthal and his team collect the flies using a white bedsheet and blacklights at night (think outdoor home movies).
Barbara Frey is a well-known activist, teacher, and scholar of international human rights. In retirement she is actively working with several University units to create an archive reflecting local and, eventually, global work to prevent racial injustice, torture, and violence against women. Her PDGR award was for gathering oral histories. The funds supported hiring an undergraduate intern, creating electronic transcripts, and training on how to do oral histories. Frey shared examples from her interviews.
Michael Potegal used his expertise in behavioral neuroscience and clinical psychology to study the escalation of children’s tantrums even before he had a child to provide at-home experience. No, he doesn’t have an easy solution for tantrums, but he did develop an hypothesis about the hierarchy of escalation. His PDGR award allowed him to hire two biostatisticians to confirm his hypothesis using a large data set.
When asked how retirement has impacted their research, all three speakers agreed that retirement provides flexibility and the ability to concentrate on their interests. Holzenthal said it is amazing how much work you can get done when you’re not working!
If these stories have inspired you to explore an area or question you never quite resolved during your formal work years, go to the PDGR webpage for instructions on how to apply for a PDGR grant. Applications for 2024 funding are due December 31.
If you want to support the work of others, consider making a donation to the PDGR program. Donations made before December 31 will be doubled thanks to a $20,000 challenge grant made by a generous, anonymous donor.
—Julie Sweitzer, UMRA president-elect and Program Committee chair
Showcasing UMRA’s Professional Development Grants for Retirees
Tue, November 21 2023, 11am
Barbara Frey, Ralph Holzenthal, and Michael Potegal
PDGR grant recipients
Event to be held via Zoom.
Three recent recipients of awards from UMRA’s Professional Development Grants for Retirees (PDGR) program will be featured during UMRA’s Living Well Workshop via Zoom on Tuesday, November 21. The PDGR program provides up to $5,000 for University retirees to continue their scholarship or to pursue new projects of interest.
The webinar will be hosted by John Bantle, PDGR Committee chair, who will give a brief overview of the grant program and then introduce the grant recipients to present highlights of their projects. The three projects address mental health in children, the University's human rights record, and changes in the earth's environment, all important issues for the University and the Minnesota public:
Michael Potegal, associate professor ad honorem in the Center for Allied Health, whose project is “Severity Hierarchy in the Temper Outbursts of a Large Cohort of Psychiatrically Referred Youth."
Barbara A. Frey, former director of the Human Rights Program in the Institute for Global Studies, whose project is “Minnesota’s Human Rights Stories.”
Ralph W. Holzenthal, professor emeritus in entomology, whose project is “Caddisfly Biodiversity of Ecuador.” Technology allowing, Dr. Holzenthal will be speaking to us from his project site in Ecuador.
Please join us to learn about this work and the PDGR program. Perhaps you will be stimulated to apply for an award yourself. Applications for funding starting April 1, 2024, will be accepted until December 31, 2023. You can find more information about the program, including the instructions for applying for 2024 funding, at umra.umn.edu > Service & Outreach > Grants for Retirees.
Please register for this free Zoom webinar and join us at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, November 21.
—John Bantle, PDGR Committee chair
Upcoming Events
Join us near Lake Minnetonka to hike along the Dakota Three Rivers Regional Trail. Access is just a few steps from KaiMay and Joseph Terry home. This will be an easy 3 mile hike on a paved trail and for a wonderful bonus, our hosts will serve a light lunch after the hike.
Autumn is a wonderful season in Minnesota so plan to join UMRA at the Andersen Horticultural Library at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. Kristen Mastel, head librarian and curator, will reveal its treasure trove of publications and artifacts relating to plant history, horticulture, and natural history. After the tour, those who are interested may stay to eat lunch together, sitting outside if the weather is nice. Later, you are invited to a one-hour tram tour of the entire Arboretum that includes natural areas of flowering shrubs, bogs, and forests, family garden and landscaping showpieces, and the red barn farm
After a summer break the UMRA Photo Club will next meet September 10, 2024 in the meeting room of the Hennepin County St. Anthony Branch Library. For those interested in lunch, meet at the Great Dragon at 11:30 am. For September the THEME will be Curves
The Association of Retirement Organizations in Higher Education (AROHE) is hosting a “Trip Preview Webinar” at 12 noon on September 11 to discuss the new partnership between AROHE and Road Scholar, and share highlights of upcoming trips.
We will continue to discuss the pros and cons of Medicare Advantage. You will also hear about notable non-health plan and non-broker resources.
Jon Hallberg, MD, is the creative director of the U of M Medical School’s Center for the Art of Medicine and medical director of the M Physicians Mill City Clinic in Minneapolis. For UMRA’s September 17 Living Well Workshop he will talk about his lifelong effort to embody the art of medicine in all that he does.
There is no getting around it. Fall 2024 will include a national election, and to prepare us for the season, we’ll kick off UMRA’s fall forums with a fascinating presentation by UMRA member and former University of Minnesota senior associate general counsel Mark Bohnhorst.
Judy Helgen will lead the discussion of Half-Life of a Secret by Emily Strasser, the story of Oak Ridge, Tennessee, when the UMRA Book Club meets at 2 p.m. on Friday, September 20, via Zoom.
UMRA Hiking Club regulars Linda and Bruce Anderson will introduce us to a new location for an UMRA Hike: Murphy-Hanrehan Park Reserve in Savage, Minnesota. If you haven't hiked this park yet, you are in for a treat. The hike will be about 4 miles, with an option to do an additional loop, bringing the total to a 6-mile hike.
Tour all 30 Major League Baseball stadiums with Will Craig, and discover central Scotland with Craig and Janet Swan when UMRA’s Armchair Traveler program meets on Wednesday, September 25, via Zoom.
October is the season for Nobel Prize announcements, so it is fitting that UMRA’s Fourth Friday Book Club will be reading books by two Nobel Prize-winning authors this fall: Main Street by Sinclair Lewis and Vintage Munro by Alice Munro.
Topics relevant to managing investments in retirement. By David Foster, CFP©, CRPC©, CRPS©
Our October 7 hike will be a reprise of our hike last summer at William O'Brien State Park. This is a beautiful park with a winding trail and a great view of the countryside. The hike is about 5.5 to 6 miles and we'll go at a moderate pace with frequent water breaks. After the hike, we will eat lunch at Rustic Roots Winery, a half mile north of the park.
This trip begins in Madrid and ends in Barcelona with stops 3 cities in between. International round trip airfare from NYC is included in the quoted price. See the attached a copy of the e-brochure with highlights and complete itinerary. Register by May 1.
UMRA’s workshop on Tuesday, October 15, via Zoom will be a presentation by staff from the University’s Office of Human Resources (OHR) on the University’s retiree health plans for the coming year, and an update on OHR’s request for proposal for the Medicare-enrolled plans in 2026.
We are thrilled that Rebecca Cunningham, MD, the new president of the University of Minnesota, has agreed to share her vision and priorities with us at our luncheon forum on Wednesday October 16, at Midland Hills. We’re honored that she chose UMRA as one of her early audiences, and we hope to have a big turnout to show her that retirees matter.
Your UMRA Travel Committee has added a new Road Scholar tour in 2024 for members, "On the Road: Absolute Southwest - A Canyon Lands Adventure." The journey begins on Monday, October 28, 2024 to Friday, November 8, 2024. Register by May 1.
The Retiree Association at Winona State is inviting UMRA members to join them a trip to Costa Rica in 2024. The final date to register is October 2, 2023. You're encouraged to register some time in August as spaces will fill up.
Estate Planning Attorney Matt Guttman discusses trusts and other estate planning issues.
The Kerlan is one of the world’s leading collections of rare books, manuscripts, and original art of children’s literature. It contains the work of more the 1,700 authors and illustrators from the 19th and 20th centuries to today, and it is the founding and largest collection within the University’s Children’s Literature and Research Collections.