Event Summary

Korea and Japan: September 2022 Armchair Traveler

Event Date: September 28, 2022, at 10:00 AM

At this presentation, we traveled to South Korea with Marilyn DeLong and to Japan with Kathy Jensen and Gary Engstrand.

Book Notes | The Personal Librarian

Event Date: September 16, 2022, at 2:00 PM

This historical novel tells a compelling story about the archivist and librarian who developed the Pierpont Morgan Library into a world-class collection in the early 20th century and kept secret her African American heritage her whole professional life.

Tackling climate change and building a sustainable energy future

Guest speaker Jessica Hellmann, Ph.D., is executive director and Ecolab Chair in Environmental Leadership at the U of M Institute on the Environment and a professor in the College of Biological Sciences Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior. She will share with us the critical role that universities have to play in addressing the climate crisis.

UMRA interest groups offer joy in belonging

Our September workshop will feature UMRA members who have started and convened some of our interest groups, including the UMRA Hiking Club. They’ll give us a taste of what happens in their group and what they get out of exploring this interest with others.

Book Notes | 'Hamnet'

Event Date: August 19, 2022, at 2:00 PM

Most members of the UMRA Book Club liked this historical novel. Set in both the 1500s and the present, it tells the story of William and Agnes Shakespeare and their grief at losing a child.

Book notes | Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine

Event Date: July 22, 2022, at 2:00 PM

Members of UMRA’s Fourth Friday Book Club enjoyed a lively discussion of author Gail Honeyman’s prize-winning debut novel and what it reveals about the importance of friendship and care to the development of the quirky main character.

Book notes | Circling the Sun

Event Date: July 15, 2022, at 2:00 PM

This historical novel depicts the life of aviation pioneer Beryl Markham and the early decades of her extraordinary life growing up in Kenya.

Book notes | Strangers in Their Own Land

Event Date: June 24, 2022, at 2:00 PM

On June 24, at the end of a week like no other (House Jan. 6 committee hearings, and Supreme Court decisions on gun control in New York and overturning Roe v. Wade), UMRA’s Fourth Friday Book Club had a deep and passionate discussion on Strangers in Their Own Land by Arlie Russell Hochschild.

Book notes | Still Life

Event Date: June 22, 2022, at 2:00 PM

Several UMRA Book Club I members are avid fans of the Louise Penny books while for a few this was their first introduction to the mysteries set in Three Pines.

Portals to health and happiness: Minnesota state parks

Our May workshop, via Zoom, will be about Minnesota’s state parks and how we can engage with this wonderful resource and use it to help ourselves and our families become healthier and happier.

CLA Dean John Coleman to keynote 2022 Annual Meeting

May 24 will mark UMRA’s return to in-person luncheon forums at the Campus Club for the first time in more than two years. Provost Rachel Croson will be our special guest and John Coleman, dean of the College of Liberal Arts, will be our keynote speaker. Reservations open April 28 and are due by May 16. 

Family History Group covers a range of topics

Event Date: May 11, 2022, at 11:00 AM

On May 11, 2022 the Family History Interest Group met for an open forum that gave participants the opportunity to discuss any aspect of Family History.

Advancing the public good through housing

UMRA’s April 2022 Forum will feature Tim Marx, ’83 JD, long-time president and CEO of Catholic Charities of St. Paul and Minneapolis and a leading authority on the homeless crisis in the Twin Cities. Marx will comment on the causes of homelessness, its extent, its context in relationship to other major poverty-related challenges, and solutions.

Turkey: April Armchair Traveler Program

Event Date: April 27, 2022, at 10:00 AM

Jean Kinsey and Frank Busta spent 3 weeks in Turkey in 2013. They share their incredible experience through pictures and wonderful descriptions that include archaeological, historical, religious, political, culinary, and geological perspectives.

A tour of the aging eye

UMRA’s April 19 workshop will address changes in our eyes as we age. Erik van Kuijk, MD, PhD, chair of the U of M Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Neurosciences, will discuss what happens to the anatomy of the eye and offer preventive and preservation measures for taking care of our eyes.