January 2021 Minutes
UM President’s Council of Retired Employees
umaine.edu/retirees
January 5, 2021
8:15 to 9:25 am
Minutes
Meeting via Zoom
Attendees: David Bagley, Louis Bassano, Nancy Boyington, Dusty Dowse, Marian Dressler, Sarah McPartland-Good, Michael Pullen (on phone), Sue Randall, Thomas Sandford, Phyllis Thibodeau, Gloria Volmers and Kim Whitehead. (Claire is no longer on the Council, as her membership ended with her retirement)
Invited Guest: Serge Drage, IT Engineer
Absent: Richard Judd
Dusty Dowse called the meeting to order at 8:15 a.m. Dusty announced that this Zoom meeting (and others in the future) are being recorded, in case individuals would like to view the meeting.
Approved minutes of December 4, 2020 meeting
Minutes were approved.
Invited Guest, Serge Drage, introduced himself. He is UMaine IT Engineer and stated that he and his office are available to support our virtual homecoming both before and during the event. He explained that basically webinars are for large numbers of people and used mostly for presentations, while Zoom events are mostly interactive.
The UM licenses are for groups up to 500 people. The Council estimated that we would have between 100 – 200, with 300 people at most. It was suggested the best format might be webinar for the main session and separate Zoom meetings as breakout sessions.
Dusty volunteered to be the tech liaison for the PCRE to work with IT staff. He will plan on being on the Orono campus for better bandwidth connection and coordination with IT.
Retiree Homecoming:
After discussion and consideration of moving the Homecoming to the Fall, as well as the unpredictability of health restrictions, the motion was made, seconded and unanimously approved to make the 2021 Retiree Homecoming a Virtual one for the Spring (June 1st). It will be the first Tuesday in June (which has been the custom).
Dusty has had many experiences with virtual events and will work with Kim, as she hosts a number of town houses all the time and would be glad to help. UMaine IT will be the technology part of making the virtual part work.
Dusty explained that he will set aside most of the next meeting, February 5, for Homecoming planning. Suggested time in for 2 hours, from 10 – 12 with main speaker along with breakout sessions. Volunteers to assist Chair Phyllis are: Dusty, Tom, Nancy and any others who can help. Kim will request the President to provide the welcome.
Newsletter:
Sue is working with Sarah on the next newsletter. The due date for articles is January 15 with plans to send it out in February, hopefully both in print and email. Suggested putting the Foundation information and the contact and add it our website. Discussed the invitation and RSVP to Homecoming could be an electronic link in both newsletter and email versions.
Membership List Update and Membership on PCRE:
Kimberly gave an update on the process for replacing members and that the recommendation to the President was to continue Phyllis and Marian for another term. They both have agreed to another term and appointment letters have been sent. Kimberly stated that continuity in membership is very important at this time.
Kimberly also has updated the roster and will share with PCRE. She suggested it should be put on our website and in the newsletter.
Hikel Award:
There will be two nominees that have been voted as Hikel awardees this year (because of the pandemic as well as there was no award given in 2020). Gloria has the results and will follow up.
Other:
Marian mentioned the recipient, Carter Verrengia, of the Harold Brown scholarship and she will email members a copy of the very nice letter.
Kimberly shared the request from Robert Dana, point of contact, as he is appealing to people and groups (as the PCRE) to volunteer to help with COVID testing for the Spring 2021 semester.
Currently they have 30 volunteers, and the need is for 100 volunteers. Kimberly will share that appeal for help with the council.
It was noted that the website is an important way to get the word out to retirees. Suggestions to the website include: Add Judy Round as Hikel Award recipient; add current newsletter; add Oral History videos; delete old minutes and add new ones. Any suggestions or ideas should be sent to Thomas.
Motion to adjourn: Unanimous
Meeting adjourned at 9:25 a.m.
The next meeting is scheduled for February 5 at 9:25 on Zoom.
Respectfully submitted,
Nancy Boyington