A tribute to Alan Kagan
Professor Emeritus Alan Kagan has played many roles in his nearly 30 years of service with the University Retirees Volunteer Center. At his retirement from the College of Liberal Arts Ethnomusicology program in 1997, his collegiate dean (UMRA’s own Craig Swan) asked him to join the Volunteer Center as it sought to increase service opportunities across the Twin Cities campus.
At that time, the focus was primarily on providing volunteers to help campus units with mailings and other clerical tasks. Kagan had a broader vision, and recognized there were many needs in the University and broader community.
And so, from assisting with phone calls to becoming office manager and eventually serving on and chairing the Volunteer Center’s board, Kagan helped build the organization into the robust operation it is today. When asked recently what part of his Volunteer Center experience makes him feel most proud, Kagan said the growth in the number of volunteers and volunteer projects. He also noted that expanding services to the external metro area has provided both more opportunities for retirees to engage in meaningful activities, and significantly more service to the broader community.
Kagan also noted that these efforts are often highly visible and help the public to see firsthand the service component of the University’s land-grant mission.
Unobserved by most of us is Kagan‘s deep involvement in music and intercultural studies — especially Chinese music. His passion for social justice and cross-cultural affairs is evident from his experience in the 1960s as a faculty member at Spelman College in Atlanta, where he taught music and initiated the city’s first high school orchestra for Black students.
A man of many talents and passions, Alan Kagan will long be remembered and honored for his service to the University and the Volunteer Center. Now that he has retired for the last time (we’re pretty sure), we wish him the very best.
—Jerry Rinehart, URVC Leadership Council chair
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Professor Emeritus Alan Kagan has played many roles in his nearly 30 years of service with the University Retirees Volunteer Center. From assisting with phone calls to becoming office manager and eventually serving on and chairing the Volunteer Center’s board, Kagan helped build the organization into the robust operation it is today.
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