2024-01 From the President: Do we serve others?

“What is the essence of life? To serve others and to do good.” —Aristotle 

“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’” —Martin Luther King Jr. 

If you’ve ever received an email from me, you may have noticed these quotes in my signature line. My question is, “What is UMRA doing to serve the community outside the University?”

One of the things we do well, I believe, is to be an inclusive organization—inclusive of everyone who retired from the U regardless of previous position. (Not all Big Ten retiree organizations do that). We include partners and spouses as full UMRA members, too. 

We can also say we include our communities, by participating in volunteer opportunities provided through our University Retirees Volunteer Center. These support a diversity of programs in the community, outside the University. Some recent opportunities included serving as a blood donor site greeter, museum tour guide, and mentor for robotics tournaments; providing assistance to immigrants, performing music at a hospital, tutoring adults and youth, delivering meals, stocking food shelves—the list goes on and on. Over the past few years our volunteers have contributed thousands of hours to projects like these. 

But I think we can do more, and I encourage you to visit URVC.umn.edu and look for opportunities where you can find joy and fulfillment in serving others. 

You can also serve others by serving in UMRA roles. I’m currently seeking a liaison to the Board of Regents, someone who will get to know each regent individually, who will understand how the Board of Regents operates and their key issues and concerns, who will actively make UMRA known to the regents, and who will represent UMRA's interests in a way that demonstrates our intense desire to support the University in all its missions—education, research, and outreach.  Do you know someone like this? Maybe you?

I also want to identify someone who has proficiency in database management and can work with our current database manager handling the membership and other UMRA systems. 

If you know someone or are interested yourself, send a note to me at [email protected].