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. Eight new applications were received for 2026. The PDGR Committee selected six for funding. The awardees and brief summaries of their projects are listed below.

Brad Hokanson, professor emeritus, University of Minnesota Department of Design Innovation, received a $7,500 award for their proposal “Building Creativity.” This award will allow Hokanson to help children learn to be creative in solving problems, creative in making life choices, and creative in their thoughts and actions. Hokanson has had the opportunity to do this through teaching a class called Creative Problem Solving, and now, in retirement, will be involved with the class as it’s being taught—with great success in eight high schools—through the University’s College of Continuing & Professional Studies. Hokanson will do the outside testing and evaluation of the students’ development of creative skills. 

Steven McCarthy, right, professor emeritus, U of M College of Design, and Clarence Morgan, professor emeritus, Department of Art, received a $7,500 award for their proposal “Beyond Fragments: an Art and Design Collaboration.” This project proposes to combine the creative energies of artist Morgan and designer McCarthy into an exhibit and other disseminations. To accompany the show, their PDGR grant will enable a special reprint of Frammenti / Fragments, a limited-edition compilation of Morgan’s journal writings, into a book with hardbound case binding, Smyth stitching, and a custom-printed jacket. It is hoped that the exhibit and book will widen the spectrum of what is perceived as artistic expression and communicative visual design.

Andrzej Piotrowski, professor, U of M School of Architecture and College of Design, received a $7,500 award for his proposal “Architecture in Spain and the Early Global Exchanges.” This award will allow Piotrowski to continue research which culminated in the publication in 2025 of A Heretical History of Architecture. The goal is to expand the understanding of how non-European traditions influenced Western architecture. Piotrowski plans to do field studies of historical buildings in northern and central Spain where, between the 8th and 12th centuries, Christians, Muslims, and Jews, as well as the Normans and Visigoths, shaped syncretic architecture.

Michael Potegal, associate professor, U of M Program in Occupational Therapy, College of Pharmacy, received a $7,500 award for his proposal “Assistance in Figure Identification and Procurement for a Textbook on Aggression.” This award will provide funds for an assistant to find and obtain copyright permissions for graphic illustrations for a university-level textbook on aggression that Potegal has been working on for several years. The knowledge base for writing this book has been built up over decades of neuroscientific research on animal and human aggression. 

Angelita D. Reyes, professor emerita, School of Social Transformation and the Department of English, Arizona State University, and U of M faculty member from 1989 to 2002, received a $7,500 award for her proposal “Touching History: An Elder’s Oral History on Video: A Public Video Screening and Interpretive Essays.” This work will focus on a public humanities project that engages the oral history narratives of underrepresented African American elders in a rural community in Mecklenburg County, Virginia. The project director will 1) coordinate and host a public screening of an elder’s oral history video, 2) write a series of public humanities interpretive essays targeted for general audiences, and 3) develop social media to promote the video screening event, and compile a media bibliography for archival records.

Don Lifto, Deanne Magnusson, Terry Smith, and Jerry Rinehart, University Retirees Volunteer Center (URVC), received a $3,000 award for their proposal “Exploration of Factors Contributing to Volunteer Participation.” Participation in volunteer activities offered by URVC has not kept pace with the increase in the number of retirees. URVC seeks to better understand the perception, interest, and energy of retirees in relation to its volunteer offerings. To accomplish this, a survey has been designed. The award will be used to engage the services of the University Survey and Assessment Center for design refinement, distribution, data summary, and analysis.

Congratulations to all the awardees!

Support the PDGR program

Philanthropic support is essential to the viability of the PDGR program. If you would like to make a tax-deductible gift to support the program, please go to crowdfund.umn.edu > campaigns > UMRA PDGR Campaign to contribute by credit card. Or, contact Lynn Praska, senior program manager, gift planning, U of M Foundation, at [email protected] or 612-624-4158.

If you would be interested in joining the PDGR Committee to help evaluate proposals, raise funds, and promote the grants program, contact PDGR Committee Chair John Bantle at [email protected].

—John Bantle, MD, PDGR Committee chair