Update Report from UC Davis Emeriti Association Report

October 2008

Construction of New Home for Retiree Center is Progressing.

A new facility for the Retiree Center is moving along on schedule for a September 2009 completion. The new space will provide offices for staff and accommodations for meetings. It will be the home of both the Emeriti Association and the Retirees’ Association.

Changes in Staffing

In July Doreen Strnad, our Coordinator, took a new position in the School of Education. We are currently advertising for her replacement. In the meantime Marjorie Ahl is doing an excellent job keeping Retiree Center activities moving forward and supporting UCDEA.

The Centennial Celebration is Ongoing

Our contribution has been a project led by Verne Mendel to make available to emeriti, alumni and friends memories of the history of the Davis Campus in the words of some of the more than 330 UC- Davis emeriti who have recorded oral histories on DVD’s. So far Verne and his assistants have completed 16 DVD’s each of which contain up to 10 excerpts from over 130 faculty talking about the role they played in the development of Davis. There remain 5 to be completed. The DVD’s are organized by College/School. They will be shown on Davis Community Television and posted both on the UCD Centennial Web site and on our UCDEA web site. The project was supported by last year’s Edward A. Dickson Award, made to Verne Mendel and the Video Records Committee.

New Distinguished Emeritus Award is in its Second Year

The UCDEA Awards Committee established a UC Davis Distinguished Emeritus Award in 2007, allowing us to recognize emeriti in any campus department with outstanding achievements since their retirement. The first award, presented at the annual dinner provided by the Chancellor for Emeriti in January, 2008, was to Professor Emeritus Wayne Thiebaud, an emeritus faculty member of the Art Department whose continuing achievements in both teaching and creation of original works have been exemplary throughout his retirement years. We are soliciting nominations for this year’s award as well as for the Panunzio and Dickson awards, giving us three separate opportunities to recognize distinguished emeriti from this campus.

Social Events

Since we last reported we have co-sponsored a second successful Steak Bake. This Fall Marjorie and her helpers have organized an Oktoberfest for Retirees on October 10 as part of Centennial Week. The Retiree Center also sponsored a very successful Harley English Tennis Festival for seniors named in honor of Emeritus Professor Harley English who played tennis until he turned 93 a few years ago. He was Honorary Director of the Festival and attended the event. We will also be putting on a Football Tailgate in November for our traditional rivalry game against Sac State.

Membership

Current UCDEA members include 180 Lifetime Members, 131 Annual Members, and 65 Associate Members. There was a decrease in annual members due to the fact that 8 chose to switch to life membership. The overall total of members is 376, up from 358 in last report.

EmeriTimes

UCDEA publishes a newsletter three times a year, which is available on the web site (http://emeritiassociation.ucdavis.edu) and distributed to dues-paying and lifetime members. It includes descriptions of upcoming events, opportunities for service by emeriti, updates on association activities and other newsworthy information. Nora McGuinness is doing an outstanding job as editor of the Emeritimes since the Winter, 2008 issue.

Monthly Luncheons

The UCDEA continues to hold monthly luncheons for both Emeriti and Retirees, with speakers scheduled again this year by Bill Rains. These sessions are very well attended by both emeriti and retirees, with an excellent selection of speakers.

Database Development

We continue to improve the status of the databases for the Emeriti Association, with a great deal of help from Marjorie Ahl, Program Assistant in the Retiree Center, who also is doing a fine job of maintaining our website. Some of the things learned during the year are of general interest to other Emeriti Associations. Dick Walters can discuss those briefly during our presentation and perhaps at other times in the agenda.

Alex McCalla, President, UCDEA

530 752-1529