December 2019 Minutes
UM President’s Council of Retired Employees
Buchanan Alumni Hall
University of Maine
umaine.edu/retirees
December 6, 2019
Minutes
Present: Ethel, Mike, Phyllis, Sue, Gloria, Dusty, Dick, Tom and Nancy joined by phone
Chair Ethel Hill called the meeting to order at 8:15 AM.
Approval of October 4 minutes (November meeting canceled due to storm that closed the University)
Annual Retiree Trip – this year to Skowhegan: Ethel gave a very favorable report that 9 people participated including a stop at the bakery, a tour of the New Balance factory (and see just how hard the employees work), as well as lunch of 5 different pizzas and some beer at the Bigalow Brewery. It was a top notch trip and many look forward to next year’s trip.
All Maine Women/PCRE Oral History Project: Marian was absent because she just returned from out of state, so Ethel provided the update. The Final project from the previous year will be finished up soon. The All Maine Women (AMW) member who was working with Marian on the project graduated from UMaine, so another AMW member is stepping in to help complete the project.
Continued discussion of leadership and membership terms. Ethel reinforced the importance in finding a way to update the current retiree list so it is correct. Suggestion was made that perhaps Human Resources would be involved in our committee work on this? Too many retirees seem to be left off our mailings.
Also, need someone to work on the next newsletter, which is due by February 2020. This might include: write up on the Skowhegan trip, article on Judy Round’s receiving the Hikel awrd, as well as the AMW Oral History Project. Also suggested was a section that the UM President could write a paragraph or two each issue. Retirees would enjoy hearing from our President.
Hikel award was discussed and Gloria Volmers is the chair of the committee. She explained that she will work on creating a timeline and also reviewed the current criteria and Call for Nominations and update for the Committee’s review.
Also, need to send out the PCRE Student Scholarship application form to solicit applications for an appropriate student that fits the criteria.
A lengthy discussion ensured reviewing terms for current PCRE members. Phyllis offered to take on the task to update on list of members and their terms. Phyllis also offered to update the Membership Contact List with addresses, email and phone numbers. Tom Sandford has offered to work on the website project.
The suggestion from the Committee was to invite the President to join us at our next meeting (January 3, 2020) as we plan for our future direction. Ethel is completing her term and we will now need to find new leadership (a chair), etc.
Meeting adjourned at 9:30 am.
Respectfully submitted,
Nancy Boyington