UMRA’s Membership and Communication Committee has been working to expand our outreach to retirees across the entire University of Minnesota System. We are glad that our membership includes retirees from several of the five system campuses, and we want all University retirees to feel welcome to join UMRA. 

Our first effort resulted in a connection with the University of Minnesota Morris Retirees Association (UMMRA) last spring. After some discussion, we decided the best way to recognize and facilitate their interests and needs was to establish their group as an UMRA special interest group.

Morris became part of the University system in 1960, when it was established as a liberal arts residential college. As the Morris campus grew and some of the original faculty started to retire, UMMRA was founded in the late 1990s. By 2001, UMMRA had 117 members. 

“The purpose of the retirees group was to support UMN Morris in whatever way we could,” current Morris campus retirees leader Joan Reicosky told us. “Our activities included helping direct visitors at graduation or special campus events, helping at the U of M Morris booth at the Stevens County Fair, contributing to scholarships in the name of faculty members who had passed away, and recognizing newly retired faculty and staff with a reception in their honor.”

Staying in touch with fellow retirees

By 2019, many Morris retirees had moved away from the area, and UMMRA’s membership declined to about 55 members. But interest in staying in touch with fellow retirees remained strong. Since COVID, the association has been holding Zoom meetings. However, now that many members are losing their University email addresses, it is becoming more difficult for the Morris retirees to remain connected. 

“With some investigation and talking with the officers of UMRA, the Morris Retirees Steering Committee determined that joining UMRA and establishing an UMRA special interest group would provide the best way for Morris retirees to keep in contact, and would also provide our members with more opportunities and better communication throughout the University system,” Reicosky said.

As a new UMRA interest group, the Morris retirees plan to set up quarterly Zoom meetings to arrange for speakers—including Chancellor Janet Erickson—to brief the group on Morris campus activities; to share information about the Morris campus and about retired employees; and to hear addresses by potential candidates for open administrative positions on campus.

We have several ideas about how we can help the Morris retirees feel welcomed into the system-wide UMRA organization, and we invite your ideas for how we can also engage retirees on the Crookston, Duluth, and Rochester campuses.

—Eric Hockert, UMRA past president and Membership and Communication Committee member, [email protected]