April 2025 Minutes
President’s Council of Retired Employees
Friday, 4 Apr 2025 at 8:15 am
Foster Board Room, 3rd Floor, Buchanan Alumni House and Zoom
Members: Louis Bassano, Gail Dyer-Martin, Michael Eckardt, Cindy Eves Thomas (Website editor), Richard Judd (Secretary), Richard Kent, Thomas Sandford (Chair), Claire Strickland, Althea Tibbetts, Gail Werrbach. Ex Officio Members: Sarah McPartland-Good
Approval of 7 Mar 2025 Minutes: Motion by Louis and second from Gail: minutes were approved.
PCRE Membership: Jennifer Perry, nominated by Althea, will fill our last open spot (professional). Louis moved to recommend Jennifer to the President: Claire seconded, and the motion passed unanimously.
Oral History with All Maine Women: Tom recapped the Saturday brunch and interviews. All four interviewees (Marian Driscoll, Kristin Langelier, Alfred Bushway, and Fran Griffin) were completed at about 20-30 minutes each. The interviews will be edited to a shorter length. Tom mentioned that the interviews were well organized.
Hikel Award: Gail W will send a thank-you letter to Judy Round for nominating the Hikel Award recipient. The table program will need a blurb for Mary Bird.
Silver Tracks Newsletter: Louis, Rich, and Althea formed a committee to put together the newsletter. They have information on the Brown Scholarship recipient with a photograph, and on the 2024 Hikel recipient, Jim Bird. The newsletter will include Tom’s note as chair and an article from the President. It will also include information of the Rec Center and the homecoming schedule. PCRE discussed an article on climate change and the need to inform contributors about how the information would be used, perhaps with a note from Jacqueline Gill. The contributor would be informed that their comments might be edited for clarity and length. Louis is waiting for a statement on IT access for retirees, but may postpone this until next year. Louis will need a copy of the registration form and the information on limits for the tours. He will send the page proofs to all PCRE members. The summer outing will be announced or discussed at Homecoming.
Homecoming: PCRE considered the Page Museum as a tour for next year. Althea will contact the museum about a brochure to be distributed at Homecoming. Sarah will print off parking permits. Tom will reserve the lot near Wells and arrange for signs. Tom will contact Theresa at Catering and request the same menu that we used last year to be used this year. The Wells rooms are reserved, but Tom will check to make sure. Tom will create the blurb on Mary Bird. Tour information will be separate from the program. We will distribute swag bags but will let attendees fill them from the vendor tables on their own. Attendees will need to check-in for the tours at the Check-in table. Tom will make up tickets for the tours. Mike, Gail D, and Claire will staff the table. The Foundation will print name tags. Tom increased the time for visiting the information tables by another 15 minutes, so that the meeting will start at 10:15. Gail W. will introduce the speaker. Tom will ask Taylor for suggestions on someone to replace the President to introduce the Hikel Award recipient and convey remarks from the President’s office, if she is not available. The tours are: The Hudson Museum; the Athletic Facilities; Cooperative Extension’s Diagnostic and Research lab; and the URSA hotels. Louis will need to indicate the maximum number of people for each tour in the newsletter (Hudson = 25; Athletic Facilities = 50 (this needs to be confirmed); Cooperative Extension = 25 (if more than 25, this will be a presentation in Wells); URSA = 20). On the Evaluation Form, “other presentations” has been removed. In his closing remarks, Tom will point out that we are considering an all-electronic newsletter, and ask attendees to rate this option. PCRE discussed the possibility of a welcome by the President by video (Tom will ask). The Harold Brown Scholarship Recipient is Heath Kennedy, whose great uncle is former UMaine Physics Professor Kenneth Brownstein.
Website Updates: Cindy made small adjustments in the website.
Other: Volunteers are needed for commencement at the Cross Center. PCRE discussed asking the President to include retirees on any communication sent to the faculty and staff. Tom will send an invitation to Jennifer Perry.
Adjourn: Claire moved, and Althea seconded a motion to adjourn. Unanimously approved.