November 2024 Minutes
President’s Council of Retired Employees
Friday 1 Nov 2024 at 8:15 am
Foster Board Room, 2nd Floor, Buchanan Alumni House and Zoom
Members: Louis Bassano, Richard Borgman (Vice Chair), Richard Judd (Secretary), Richard Kent, Thomas Sandford (Chair), Claire Strickland, Cindy Eves-Thomas (Website editor), Althea Tibbetts, Gail Werrbach, Sarah McPartland-Good
Approval of 4 Oct 2024 Minutes: Approved.
PCRE Membership: Althea nominated, and Rick second Gail Dyer-Martin for the PCRE classified position. Gail worked in the President’s office and in the parking office. The Council voted to recommend Gail to the President. Tom will inform Gail and send a letter to the President. Since David Bagley stepped down, a professional position is open. Gail recommended Michelle Bailey. Rick will step down after December and recommended as a possible replacement Nory Jones (currently on phased retirement). Rick might come back in the fall.
Claire nominated Mike Eckardt (who has expressed interest in the PCRE) for the member-at-large position. Althea seconded the nomination, and the vote was unanimous. Tom will contact the President’s office.
Hikel Award: Last year the solicitation for nominations was sent out on November 9, and the nomination deadline was December 1. Sarah will use last year’s letter for the call for nominations, and Cindy will copy the form to the PCRE website.
Silver Tracks Newsletter: Tom asked members to consider working on the newsletter and to think about articles to include. Althea, Louis, and Rich will help with the newsletter. Ideas included an article on access to the Rec Center (The Silver Sneakers program), and perhaps an article on climate change in our lifetime, soliciting comments (perhaps for PCRE website) on personal experiences of climate change. Claire suggested a general discussion of various construction projects on campus and reflections on how the campus is changing. Article authors might contact the campus planner for information.
Homecoming Update: The Homecoming will be June 5 (Thursday). Tom pointed out this will not conflict with the Special Olympics. The Council should have possible speakers in mind in January. Council also discussed possible speakers to announce the Hikel award. The Council discussed as a Homecoming speaker Lenard Kaye (currently on phased retirement) talking about trends in aging. Gail will contact him. We generally allow a half hour for talks and 15 minutes for questions. We would need someone to introduce Dr. Kaye.
Tours for Homecoming: The Ursa hotel tour was full last year, so we could offer it again this year for those who were unable to take the tour last year. (The limit last year was 20.) Other suggestions included the Energy Center, the Advanced Science and Composite building, the new sports facilities (field hockey, women’s softball, etc.), the printed house, the Engineering building, a behind-the-scenes tour of the Hudson Museum, a tour of Fogler Library, and/or the tick lab at Cooperative Extension. (Jim Dill might be approached as a Homecoming speaker at a later date.)
Website Update (umaine.edu/retirees): Cindy completed the course in Gutenberg and is using the new branding standards from the University (fonts, etc.). The website is up to date. She will remove David Bagley from the PCRE membership list, update the Hikel form, and include an announcement of the Homecoming date (but will hold off on the latter until Tom gets confirmation on the Homecoming date).
Other: Tom will check to make sure the All Maine Women interviews are available at the Library. We should be in touch about four interview subjects. The Council discussed inviting our new PCRE nominees, Michelle Bailey and Mike Eckhardt, to the next Council meeting. Clare moved to adjourn: Rick seconded the motion. The vote was unanimous.