INVITING YOU TO THE ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING (Members Only):  Our annual membership will be May 9, 2024 in the Alumni Center, 10am. Top of the agenda will be election of officers for those positions that need filing this year:  Only the positions with ** in front will be up for election and the nominates are stated next to the ** :  The slate:  President:--Suad Joseph; **Vice President—William David Wilson; **Secretary—Janet Shibamoto-Smith; **Treasurer—Merna Villerajo; Members at Large—Robert Powell, **Randy Southard.  Voting will be done in person at the May meeting.

Below is the list of committee co-chairs for 2024-2025. The Committee on Committees, led by Robert Flocchini, has worked hard to ensure two co-chairs for each committee. To volunteer as a member of one of these committees, contact Robert G Flocchini rgflocchini@ucdavis.edu  or Carole Joffe cejoffe@ucdavis.edu. Committees will report on their work at the May meeting.

2024-2025 Committee Co-Chairs:

A SECOND CHANCE: The UCDEA Emeriti Survey of the first four UCD colleges/schools will re-open to give more emeriti a chance to respond, April 5-19. Look for it -- College of Letters and Sciences, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, School of Law, and School of Veterinary Medicine.  Analysis of the initial results is complete including discussions with the teams of the deans of these colleges/schools.  Events for emeriti of those colleges/schools will be planned for Spring.  Final analysis will be posted on the UCDEA website in the coming weeks.  Please join us in the surveys and the events.

SECURITY: UC is funding cost of coverage in Experian for UC personnel. The previous 2-year coverage ended March 31. The new coverage is automatic, however, you should receive an email to create an account. The process is simple and your financial accounts will be protected.

BRAIN FOOD:  The last Brain Food Talk of this year was Kay Dewey April 8, 2024. We have begun planning next year’s Brain Food series, hoping to organize 6-7, with lite lunches, in partnership with the UCD Retiree Center. Please feel free to volunteer to do a Brain Food talk or suggest a topic/person. Contact Lydia P Howell lphowell@ucdavis.edu

EA/RA TOUR: The UCDEA/UCDRA joint tour of the Museum of Science and Curiosity in Sacramento has been rescheduled to May 10. The event will be subsidized by both organizations. For those in Davis, a bus has been reserved. Registration will be required.

CHANCELLOR’S LUNCH:  April 12 Chancellor May relaunches the annual Chancellor’s lunch for all emeriti, at the Conference Center.  Well over 100 emeriti have signed up. The UCDEA awardees will be honored at that luncheon. (registration is closed for this event).

ENDOWMENT – NEW GRANTS:  The January Executive Committee meeting appointed a special committee to consider proposals to use the UCDEA endowment. The February meeting approved a proposal to expand the Brain Food Talks series and add lite lunches (co-funded with the Retiree Center). The Executive Committee also approved a proposal by the special committee to set up an UCDEA grants fund, offering two grants a year of up to $5,000 to fund emeriti research, workshops, or special conferences at UCD (not travel to conferences). The protocols for this grant program will be established and offered in 2024-25 for the first time. The special committee included FE Curry, Suad Joseph, Robert Flocchini.  

SUPPORT STUDENTS WITH HOUSING INSECURITY: The UCDEA Fund Raising Committee has launched its campaign to support students with housing insecurity (through Aggie Compass) click here.

CUCEA MEETING: The quarterly meeting of the Council of UC Emeriti Associations is scheduled for April 24/25.  It is virtual. For more information see: https://www.cucea.org/

MANUAL: UCDEA Manual new update end of April: https://emeritiassociation.ucdavis.edu/ucdea-manual

MENTORSHIP: The January Executive Committee proposed setting up a “mentorship” program for current emeriti to be available to faculty considering retirement to discuss the process of retirement and the aftermath. This will be developed in partnership with the Retiree Center. More on this in future columns.

WEBPAGE: The Communications and Outreach Committee (Klea Bertakis and Suad Joseph) have been actively updating the website with the marvelous assistance of Sachi Milind Nandedkar. We thank Retiree Center Director Juliane Crowley for releasing some of Sachi’s time to help with the updates. The COC committee will soon send out another invitation to emeriti who would like to share they activities and stories to be posted on the webpage. Request will come to you via email and the Retiree Center Newsletter. 

VOLUNTEER: UCDEA is always welcoming emeriti volunteers who would like to join committees and engage in projects. Let us know if you would like to volunteer for a committee or activity. Join us!!

JOIN UCDEA:  https://ucdavis.imodules.com/s/1768/rd18/index.aspx?sid=1768&gid=2&pgid=4999&content_id=3509