The UMRA Social Activities Committee's major function is to identify activities and opportunities for members to gather together and socialize. We have participated in events offered by other University organizations such as the Campus Club and the Alumni Association and we have scheduled events that we think might be of interest to our members. Most months we have an organized social activity.
Since its formation, the committee has planned numerous events which have been well attended by UMRA members. Some have pictures attached. See the event listing (below) for previous activities. If you have ideas for future events, or would like to join our committee, please contact us. The planning committee meetings quarterly unless something special comes up.
Below is a list of past events sponsored by Social Activities Committee.
Upcoming Events
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
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.
Cabinets of Curiosities will seek out the University of Minnesota Herbarium on the St Paul Campus. Tim Whifeld, Collections Manager, will share his knowledge of that amazing collection and explain its critical importance in the twenty-first century. Botanists study these pressed plants, individually and collectively, to estsblish a history of plant life, often over centuries, because they contain compelling evidence of the ever modulating geographical distribution of plants and evidence of how climate, pests, and other factors have changed species over time.