ATTACHMENT B Brief Description of the Retirees Centers at SUNY Campuses (Compiled by Ram Chugh ? for additional information ? Ram.Chugh@SUNY.EDU) 1. SUNY Albany?s Emeritus Center A. Brief Description of the Center We at SUNY-Albany had been struggling to create an Emeritus Center, beginning with local Campus Senate legislation in 1971-72, building more infrastructure as the years rolled on, finally envisioning an Institute of Research and Teaching which was the kernel of our present Center, which has become reality. At one time we envisioned expanding into a national center, and are pleased that is in your purview as well. Our Center came into existence with the decision of Pres. Kermit Hall to support the vision we had long kept alive within the University. President Hall suffered his fatal accident before the Center was formally opened. But Officer in Charge Susan Herbst, supported by Vice-president Bill Hedberg continued support for the Center, which was formally opened on Nov. 1, 2006. At that time Vice Chancellor and Secretary of the University John O'Connor, standing in for Chancellor Ryan, gave one of the addresses at the Opening, suggested that it was a goal of the SUNY administration that every unit of SUNY should have a Center like ours. And Judy Wishnia the UUP President of COARM (the Committee of Active Retired Members of the UUP) who also attended the opening, held our Center to be the model to be emulated. We work through a Board of a dozen Members, and are in constant touch with some 300 emeriti in our area. Nationwide we have several thousand potential members. We have an Emeritus Research group whose members share their research with each other, and with the larger group of 300 Emeriti in the Capital area who receive emails. We are affiliated with the teaching organization, OASIS, which offers short courses (by many of our members), from one two hour seminar to those lasting four or five weeks, one seminar weekly. We have members on the OASIS Advisory committee, and its Curriculum Committee; this offers a path into a simulating kind of teaching activity for our Emeriti, once their departmental teaching has terminated. As well as other short teaching courses in several of the local libraries, and some of the Assisted Living places. Some dozen Emeriti teach offer courses regularly in this venue. The nature of our present structure conforms to the initial vocational decision made by each of us to engage in teaching, research, and university service. We discovered that for us the obligation did not terminate with retirement, but morphed into somewhat different forms. I have spoken of the changes in research and teaching. We have not yet come to terms with the changed forms of University service. To work within the Emeritus Center is University service. So is serving on Senate Committees; and the Senate has recognized the validity of our continuing such service, especially on the University Life Council of the Senate; and we are most assuredly a part of University Life. We have hesitated to follow the lead of Buffalo State's REV-UP program where play a part in taking up tickets at athletic contests, and such chores. At the same time our University has broadened the definition of Emeriti to include all retirees, and so we have begun to think in that framework. One of the possibilities we have begun to consider for our retirees, including and perhaps targeting especially retirees from the Administration, is to use their expertise in advising small businesses in the Capital City area. Peter Thomas, of Central Office, has an interest which intersects that area; and it seemed to me that you referred to such an interest in your attachment. In the broadest sense, work in any charity anywhere may be the service which will broaden and deepen a human life, and be the acceptable morph of University service. I would be very happy could you visit us, speak to our Board, or interchange ideas with us in any context and at any agreed upon time. We have been working in this area for quite a long time by now. Let us know how we can help. Bill Reese, President SUNYA Emeritus Center Board of Directors B. Activities Undertaken by the UA Emeriti Center Members In response to your request for more information about the UAlbany Emeritus Center, my colleague (and Vice President) Toby Clyman, suggested that I send you the list and description of our recent and forthcoming events. You?ll find them below, and it might make interesting reading for your steering committee. You?ll note the great variety of subjects. Let me stress the fact that all events are actually community activities, since they are not just open to UAlbany emeriti, but to the Albany community at large. Taking as an example the film series I currently run, the publicity for each of these films goes much beyond emeriti. I do have a list of more than two hundred filmmakers and film lovers, all part of the Albany community, who receive regular reminders and yes, some of them attend the series. Also, most of us also teach some courses for OASIS, a national organization loosely connected with the University, but mainly geared toward community seniors. We try to offer courses that involve many of them. That was certainly the case for the series of classes I just finished on The Immigrant Experience ? A Journey to Becoming American. Most students in the class were part of the community at large. Still related to films, I taught at the Spectrum Theater a series of classes entitled Hollywood on the Hudson, which directly involved 18 of the best filmmakers in the Capital Region. Practically each member of the Board whom you met would have a similar story to tell. Creating connections between old and young in the community is also one of our goals. As for a more general view of the philosophy and goals of Our Emeritus Center, I think the message that Bill Reese, our President, sent you about a month ago, pretty well summarizes what he has to say about the Center. I am sure he won?t mind if you share it with your colleagues of the committee. PS: I realize how important your future web site will be for you, so I?ll send you soon a few suggestions in that direction. Ray Ortali, Emeritus Center Program and Communications Director Bill Reese (President), Toby Clyman (Vice President, Treasurer), Iliana Semmler (Secretary), Ray Ortali (Program and Communications Director ), Grayce Burian (Hospitality Director), Sid Decker (University Liaison), Don Cohen, Jim Kiepper, George Hastings, Hyman Kuritz. ============================================ Friday, March 14 at 2 pm: Metropolis, a film by Fritz Lang (Germany, 1927) Perhaps the most famous and influential of all silent films, Metropolis has for 75 years been seen only in shortened or truncated version. You?ll see the definitive version of this towering classic, restored in Germany with state-of-the-art digital technology. ?Spectacular?the greatest of all pulp fantasies? (The Village Voice)�Emeritus Center Room 433 Tuesday, March 18 at 2 pm: A Conversation on The Omnivore?s Dilemma ? A Natural History of Four Meals, a book by Michael Pollan, 2006 Michael Pollan is a magician?He turns corn and cows, pigs and chicken into a brilliant, eye-opening account of how we produce, market and agonize over what we eat--The Seattle Times. Packed with profound surprises, The Omnivore?s Dilemma is changing the way Americans think about the politics, perils and pleasures of eating--The New Yorker. Get your free copy of the book at the Provost Office, U. Hall 308, between 9 am and 4 pm. You might want to prepare a question or two?or just come and enjoy the discussion with your friends at the Emeritus Center, Room 134, UAB Building, the former Picottee Building, 1215 Western Avenue. Light refreshments Tuesday, March 25 at 4 pm: A Conversation with Ricardo Nirenberg on Wave Mechanics: A Love Story Erwin Schr�dinger (1887-1961) is among the greatest physicists of the 20th century.� His main contributions, Wave Mechanics and the Schr�dinger equation (for which he won the 1933 Nobel Prize), were presented in a series of scientific papers published in 1926, a miraculously productive period which followed a Christmas vacation in the Swiss Alps.� A young Viennese woman was with him during those Alpine weeks: that much is known, but the mystery of her identity has resisted all inquiries. My novel, Wave Mechanics: A Love Story, invents the woman, an eighty-three year old widow, living in a Venetian palazzo, who writes her memoir in a long letter to her estranged daughter, a Catholic nun.� �Born in Vienna in 1906, a wonder-child with manifold interests and brilliant insights, she tells of how she discovered mathematics, then French-kissing, and expatiates on the significance of both.� That is the most notable characteristic of the narrative: the constant mingling of science and sensuality, eros and logos. Ricardo Nirenberg is Professor Emeritus of Mathematics and Statistics. His first novel, Cry Uncle, was published in 1998 by Latino Press, NY.� Wave Mechanics is his second novel, recently published by Blaurock Press, Ontario.� He has published shorter pieces, essays and stories, as well as translations, in a variety of venues, both in the US and in Europe.� He is the editor of the Internet literary journal Offcourse.org- Emeritus Center Room 433 - Light refreshments Tuesday, April 15 at 2 pm: Board Meeting Friday, April 18 at 2 pm: Dersu Uzala, a film by Akira Kurosawa (Japan, U.S.S.R., 1975) This is an extraordinary adventure of comradeship and survival against a backdrop of the treacherous mountains of the Siberia wilderness, by the famous director of Rashomon. Filmed on location in Siberia. ?Kurosawa is one of the few epic poets of the cinema? (Jay Cocks). Emeritus Center Room 433 Tuesday, April 29 at 4 pm: A Conversation with Philip McCallion on Aging in a Global Perspective Challenged by the demographic transformation in aging� population in US and beyond, Dr. Philip McCallion, Director, and the staff of the Center for Excellence in Aging at the UA School of Social Welfare, have designed and implemented a whole set of initiatives aimed at "reinventing? retirement and improving opportunities for people to age in place. �He will describe the Center?s stable�of programs to the Emeritus Center audience, and also discuss global aging and its consequences. Dr. McCallion's research is focused on care giving issues, particularly the interaction of informal care with formal services, collaboration across service systems, and the experiences of multi-cultural families. His work has included evaluation of non-pharmacological interventions for persons with dementia, the development of innovative demonstration projects designed to maintain aging persons with intellectual disabilities in the community and system design work on creating aging-prepared communities. Philip McCallion, Ph.D. ACSW is Professor in the School of Social Welfare at the University at Albany, a Hartford Geriatric Social Work Faculty Scholar and Mentor and is Director of the Institute for Social Services Research and Development. Within the Institute, Dr. McCallion directs the Center for Excellence in Aging Services and the NIDA-funded Child Welfare, Drug Abuse and Intergenerational Risk Research Center. Emeritus Center, Room 134 Light refreshments Thursday, May 1 at 2pm: Special Board Meeting focusing on the following two topics, requested by Toby and approved by Bill: (1)�� A follow up to Ram Chugh?s visit. (2)�� Our next year program: How to structure it? Tuesday, May 13 at 2 pm: Board Meeting Friday, May 9 at 2 pm: Life on a String, a film by Chen Kaige (China, 1992) From the celebrated director of Farewell My Concubine comes a tale of a master and pupil, both completely blind, who wander the earth carrying only their fragile banjos. A haunting parable that examines the difficult quest for enlightenment in a land torn by political unrest. ?Not just fabulously pictorial, but spectacularly vast? (J. Hoberman). Emeritus Center Room 433 Wednesday, May 28 at 4 pm: A Conversation with Barbara Webster on Russia from a Sister City Perspective The Albany/Tula Alliance was formed in 1991 with the aim of forming closer ties between what used to be the closed city of Tula in Russia and our state capital.� Since then, the relationship has flourished.� Earlier challenges involved the organization of the relationship, and assistance in mediating strained financial conditions in hospitals, orphanages and schools. Recent developments in Russia raise new challenges that recall the days of the Soviet Union. I would suggest four challenges that may have the largest impact on the Alliance?s activities: (1) The persistence of state-down control over every aspect of Russian life; (2) The crack-down on the activities of foreign NGOs; (3) The crack-down on all opposition to the government; (4) The re-emergence of Russia as a pro-active ?great? power as a result of the global oil economy. The Alliance?s response has been to seek to strengthen its ties with the many Tulans, both young and old, who have visited Albany over the years and to work to promote activities in which the Tulan government and Tulans have a real interest. Dr. Barbara Jancar-Webster is Distinguished State University of New York Professor Emerita. A Ph.D. graduate of the Harriman Institute (then called the Russian Institute), Columbia University, she has spent her career studying the political economy of the former Soviet Union, and Central and East European States, with particular emphasis on the status of women and environmental policy and management.� She twice participated in the SUNY/Moscow State University academic exchange program.� . She has served on the Board of the Albany/Tula Alliance, Albany?s sister city organization with Russia, since 2000 and on the Board of the Saratoga Springs, Chekhov Sister Cities, Inc since 2001.� She is currently the Chair of the Albany/Tula Alliance Education and Culture Committee and in that capacity has helped organize exchanges between university professors and faculty in Tula and university professors and faculty in the Albany region. Emeritus Center, Room 134 Light refreshments ============================== Friday, May 30 at 10 am: President?s Reception for Retired Faculty, with Interim President George Philip. The Reception will take place in the Alumni House. All Emeriti will receive a special Invitation. Bill Reese will officially welcome George Philip. ============================= Tuesday, June 10 at 2 pm: Last Board Meeting of the semester Friday, June 13 at 2 pm: The Piano Teacher, a film by Michael Haneke (Austria, France, 2001) A sexually repressed music teacher is obsessed with one of her male students. Without a trace of sentimentality or prurience, Haneke delivers a brilliant psychological portrait. ?Isabelle Huppert gives one of her greatest performances, requiring her to plunge into territory only the most courageous actors would dare to inhabit? (Stephen Holden, New York Times). Winner of three major awards at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival. Not for the faint of heart. �2. SUNY Binghamton o Name of Program: BU Retiree Services Program * Contact person: Corinna Kruman * Phone: 607-777-5959 * E-Mail: ckruman@binghamton.edu * Work Schedule: M, W, every other R * For all State and Research Foundation retirees o Activities: * Created and sent survey concerning process when people retire, what programs or services retirees are involved in at BU and what they would like to see in the future. Also asking about work and volunteerism. * Creation of complete database * New letters congratulating State and RF employees concerning their retirement * Interview Exchange: BU retiree temporary work pool where retirees can fill in a short questionnaire if they are interested in working at BU * Programs: retiree luncheons (at least 2 times a year), social activities, coffee club for retirees * Brochure: outlining the privileges retirees have at BU * Checklist: providing retirees with options to sign up for benefits and services to be offered to retirees (ID Card, Email, mailings, BU newspaper, social events). This checklist is completed generally during the exit interview in conjunction with benefits. o Support from Administration: * The financial aspect of support from administration including line funding, supplies, conferences and such is currently being looked at. The idea of the Retiree Program at BU was the result of comments to senior administration made by a self appointed committee several years ago. They looked at the process in place with which retirees left Binghamton University. Not only were State and Research Foundation employees treated differently but also did we have nothing in place. I am not sure who this topic came up last year but there has been talk about retirees for a while and connecting them back to BU. I have also attached the checklist which we use for determining what retirees are interested in. Binghamton University Retiree Checklist Congratulations on your retirement from Binghamton University and best wishes for personal and professional fulfillment in the years ahead. As you begin your retirement, we hope you will consider remaining connected to the University. After all, you have invested many years here and it is our goal to share news and offer the chance to stay involved in the life of BU. Please take time to review the list of services offered to you as a BU retiree and check those services you are interested in. Retiree ID card (will allow you to take advantage of many privileges as outlined in the retiree services brochure) Binghamton University E mail account Binghamton University mailings (including the Inside BU, employee appreciation day celebration, etc) Add you name to the pool of people interested in part time work Volunteer opportunities on campus Also, please verify your address so that we have the correct information. Name: ????? Address: ????? E-Mail: ????? Thank you. Again, best wishes for a fulfilling retirement. Corinna Kruman Retiree Services Coordinator Binghamton University 607-777-5959 ckruman@binghamton.edu 3. Emeritus Center at the University at Buffalo What is the Emeritus Center? The Emeritus Center provides retired University personnel and their spouses a meeting place with a pleasant atmosphere. There are monthly meetings, featuring a guest speaker, followed by refreshments. Field trips including guided tours or lectures have been scheduled. Various committees, comprised of members, promote activities that include working with other campus departments. The Emeritus Center is available for reading, TV, continuing personal research, or playing a game of cards, pool, or table tennis. Who Can Join? All retired persons, who have been employed at any time at the State University of New York at Buffalo, and their spouses, are eligible for membership. Are There Dues? There is a nominal membership fee, currently $3.00/year. History of the Emeritus Center In 1977, at the instigation of Professor Rose Weinstein, Dr. Robert Ketter, then President of the University, supported by the Multidisciplinary Center for the Study of Aging, authorized the establishment of the University at Buffalo's Emeritus Center. Its mission was to provide all retired University personnel with a means to continue their relationship with the University Community. A steering committee was appointed to secure appropriate space and to initiate the Emeritus Center's necessary organizational structure. Originally located in Harriman Hall and thereafter to Parker Hall, the Emeritus Center moved in September 1984 to its present quarters in the South Lounge of Goodyear Hall on the South Campus. The Emeritus Center membership is over 500 and growing steadily. Meetings The Emeritus Center's meetings take place on the second Tuesday of every month during the semester at 2:00 p.m. the South Lounge, 102 Goodyear Hall on UB's South Campus. All meetings are free and open to the public Meetings are announced in the campus media; none take place in January, July or August. For further information, call the Center at 829-2271. �Notes: The Buffalo campus has an excellent retirees program. The Emeritus Center organizes once a year luncheon event to induct new officers and to recognize retirees for their (voluntary) service to the campus and community. It publishes a newsletter called the ?Emeritus Center Newsletter.? The Center has been fortunate in having a staff person named Leila Baker (an HRD employee) who devotes some percentage of her time to support the Center?s activities. She has been doing this for over 20 years. 4. SUNY Stony Brook Emeritus Association Brief Description Here is my sketchy profile of our organization. �For one thing, I suspect that more of our Emeriti have moved out of the area than is the case at Albany. �For another, there are really no "activities" other than the ones I described: monthly gatherings for coffee and a talk, and an annual luncheon. �We do maintain an active web-site and put out a monthly newsletter, but there is no history of organized "community service" (either within or without the University) that I know about. �We have no dues, no budget, no secretariat; all our expenses are paid by the Provost, to whom we are enormously grateful. �We have a "steering committee" of about a dozen Emeriti who are consulted by the co-chairs (Howard Scarrow and myself) regarding all important decisions. �Off hand, there are no Emeriti I could recommend to you as "representatives" of the organization, although there might be members of the Steering Committee who would be willing to accept this designation. �We may well be a more elementary and inchoate organization than you have found at the other SUNY Centers, but I don't want to exclude the possibility of eventual change in the direction SUNY is encouraging. �In any case I wish your project well. �Do please keep us informed of its progress. �I think all of us here feel that a vital Emeriti organization is an enhancement to the University, a valuable resource, and rewarding benefit to its members. �With best wishes, Karl. 5. SUNY New Paltz?s Emeritus Group Our faculty emeriti group is very informal. Our main purpose is to enhance communication amongst ourselves and maintain a connection to the campus. We have two luncheons a year and update our retired faculty directory annually. We encourage participation in campus events like reunions, concerts, plays, etc. Our Development Office has been supportive to us and handles all our publications and mailings. I am the 'chair' of the group. I still work at the college part-time , so it is easy for me to do what has to be done. Alan Dunefsky dunefska@newpaltz.edu 6. SUNY ESF?s Emeriti Center A. Brief Description I have been organizing the monthly luncheons/presentations for the past two years, having taken over from one of our still-active members, Will Cot�. We meet on the second or third Wednesday or Thursday of the month, varying because several of our retirees have conflicting monthly luncheon meetings with other groups. Our attendance ranges from four or five to over twenty. Generally, we gather for informal chitchat about 11:30 AM and eat about noon, with some invited speaker at from about 1 to 2. This week (month) President Neil Murphy is giving an annual update on activities at ESF. We meet at a local (not far from the campus) restaurant that has a nicely-sized available room and we can order off the menu, which is preferable to a fixed (and pricey) dinner when many of our members don?t eat much! I enjoy the cooperation of the College?s Development office staff who send out the monthly letters I generate, as well as excellent support from President Murphy. Let me know if I?ve given you information you don?t need, or if there is more you would like to know. Peter ? B. Activities Undertaken by the Members Ram: I seem to be ?in tune? this week, an observation based on the fact that several (maybe five) folks with whom I have been in touch, have some connection to stuff I have quite recently done. In your case, I attended the 50 anniversary of the creation of the Cooperative Watershed Management Unit at Colorado State University, at which I was the first PhD student starting in 1958 and the first to get a doctorate degree from that program. We had a great reunion/anniversary/party, and were asked for a brief bio for presentation to the fellow who started it up (Robert E. Dils, now in poor health, with whom I have maintained regular contact over the years). A portion (paragraph) of the bio is, I think, what you are looking for: Prior to and since ?retirement? I have greatly enjoyed representing SUNY ESF on local, state, and national advisory committees, a practice I have been involved in since I started my teaching career at Humboldt State College in Arcata, CA, in 1961. I first served on the Six Rivers National Forest advisory committee, and another involved with determination of fair water rate increases. Currently, I serve (with a record 23 years on) the New York State Soil and Water Conservation Committee, and the officially limited four years on the Corps of Engineers? Environmental Advisory Board. I have traveled ? officially and on vacation ? to 30 foreign countries, all fifty states, annual and/or local meetings of the American Geophysical Union, Soil and Water Conservation Society, National Association of Environmental Professionals, and 60 meetings of the AWRA, among others, including a much appreciated invite to CSU?s first annual Student Water Symposium in 1997. I also serve on the Syracuse Skaneateles lake Watershed Program, the New York City Watershed Agricultural Council and its? Forestry committee, the Natural Resources Conservation Service (state) Technical Committee, the NYS NonPoint Source Pollution Control Committee, and was active in the Onondaga Lake Watershed Management Committee, and served on several of its subcommittees. The reason I like the NYS S&WCC so much is that, as required by law, every month twenty-five to thirty active professionals get together, sit down, and talk with one another about soil and water conservation. What?s more, their employers are willing (well, it is required by law!) to have their employee spend a day doing that as well we paying for their transport to and from the meetings. There is a tremendous reservoir of respect among the members of the Committee, along with genuine interest in each other, cordiality, and good company. In addition, Good Things continually come out of the regular works of this committee and the state?s 57 soil and water conservation districts. It is a special privilege to be associated with it and its members. I also continue to read, write, lecture, and travel. I have remained active in my profession, particularly with educational and advisory activities through the College, where I am in my office daily unless traveling. In 2006 WRVO.FM Public Radio in Oswego, New York started weekly broadcasting of my ?Water Drops? ? two-minute essays on ?The Wonder of Water,? and I?m currently working on publicizing their availability to other public radio stations around the nation. � I did add the sentences in there about the State Committee, but otherwise it is a simple cut-and-paste and, should you want more information, please let me know. 7. Emeritus Center at SUNY Potsdam Contact person: Nancy Rehse Our emeritus program includes the following activities: ��� ��� - Monthly informal lunches in Dexter's on campus - at the beginning of the year, the President or Provost joins us ��� ��� - Annual picnic at the President's house ��� ���- Annual meeting and luncheon with emeritus groups from the Associated Colleges.� We host the luncheon every fourth year ��� ���- In the past, there was a newsletter to help�connect people.� That hasn't been sent out for a few years, however.� � ���- There is interest in other ways to keep the connection strong with the College and with former students.� We have a long way to go....��� ��- Good luck with your endeavors.....��.������ Nancy 8. Retired Faculty Association at SUNY Oneonta Contact person: President: Frances Bliven The Association organizes several events for retirees and it publishes ORFA Newsletter. The office of Associate Vice President for Employees Services provides administrative support to this Association. 9. SUNY Plattsburgh The College does have some form of retirees program but I could not get information about its activities. 10. SUNY Fredonia The College does have some form of retirees program but I could not get information about its activities. 1