Members: Louis Bassano, Gail Dyer-Martin, Michael Eckardt, Cindy Eves-Thomas (Website editor), Richard Judd (Secretary), Richard Kent, Jennifer Perry, Thomas Sandford (Chair), Claire Strickland, Althea Tibbetts

Ex Officio Members: Sarah McPartland-Good, Taylor Defa. Taylor introduced James Pete, Chief of Staff, who expressed a willingness to hear the Council’s concerns.

Approval of Minutes of 5 Jun 2026: Louis moved, and Mike seconded approval of the previous meeting’s minutes. Unanimous consent.

Membership: Rick Borgman will be stepping down from the committee. The Council passed a resolution thanking Rick for his lengthy service. The Council will need a representative from the Business College; Tom will contact the Dean. Mike nominated Louis for the position of Vice Chair, and Cindy seconded the motion. Louis agreed to serve and was unanimously voted to the position. Cindy’s term expires this year and announced she will be stepping away from the Council at the end of the year. Cindy recommended the Council work with the web office if a replacement with web experience cannot be found. Cindy will explore options with the web office.

Hikel Award: Tom advised the Council to move quickly in sending out a call for nominations. Council affirmed November 13 as a due date for nominations. Sarah will have the President’s Office send out announcements by October 15.

Silver Tracks Newsletter: Between now and the October meeting Council members should be thinking about possible feature articles for the Newsletter. Suggestions included a survey of research grants across the university or an article on the new composite center and its contract for printing houses for unhoused individuals. The Dean of Engineering is overseeing the building.

Retiree Homecoming: Council discussed options for a speaker at the Homecoming. Mike suggested Lisa Morin, Bodwell Center Coordinator might be willing to discuss the Black Bear exchange food pantry, Mike confirmed that Lisa is a good speaker and suggested that retirees should be made aware of the University stepping up to help with food insecurity. Gail suggested someone from the School of Food and Agriculture might be willing to discuss less expensive food items and cheaper nutritious recipes, given the affordability crisis. Louis suggested Beth Calder, and would be willing to contact her. Council discussed the possibility of featuring two speakers at Homecoming, or a breakout group as one of the tour options (perhaps with a tour). Claire mentioned asking retirees to bring a food item to donate. Tom will check on a date for the Homecoming; Mike will get a commitment from Lisa; and Louis will contact Beth. The Council discussed as other tours the new Composite Center and/or the Aquaculture Research Center.

Retiree Interviews: Tom has not heard from the All Maine Women group about interviews. He will contact them. Council will need to suggest two faculty and two non-faculty. The Council will discuss the matter at an upcoming meeting, including possibilities for two non-faculty members.

Retiree Outing: Council will determine an outing before publication of the Newsletter. Louis mentioned that feedback from the Camden schooner tour a few years past was very positive.

Athletic and Collins Center Events: The Gold Card packets are arriving too late for retirees to make informed decisions, and Council members expressed concern that the process of obtaining tickets and parking passes is not at all clear. Sending information to retirees should be a priority for the President’s Office. Taylor explained that the office is revamping the system. This raised the issue of having a representative from the President’s Office regularly taking part in our meetings, providing updates on important issues, and including the Council in relevant university affairs. Council suggested that members should be on the mailing list from President’s Office.

Other Initiatives: Council discussed inviting President Ferrini-Mundy to a Council meeting. Council will discuss a possible agenda for a meeting in October. Members pointed out that the Council represents all parts of the university with an enormous fund of experience. As a council convened by the President, it could be made more useful. The Council discussed the possibility of asking various administrators to attend a meeting and provide updates on various aspects of university life. Taylor tentatively scheduled the President for the November 6 meeting.

Adjourn: Claire moved, and Althea seconded adjournment. Vote was unanimous.

The post September 2026 Minutes appeared first on President's Council of Retired Employees.

Members: Louis Bassano, Gail Dyer-Martin, Cindy Eves-Thomas (Website Editor), Susan Gallant, Jennifer Perry, Thomas Sandford (Chair), Claire Strickland, Althea Tibbetts. Ex Officio Member: Sarah McPartland-Good

Minutes of the 1 May 2026 Meeting: Approval of the draft minutes was moved and seconded. The vote was unanimous.

Homecoming Feedback from PCRE Members:

Attendance: There were 118 persons registered for the Homecoming on 3 June 2026, the day before the Homecoming. However, only 91 of those showed up (27 no shows). However, there were additionally 11 walk-ins plus 4 individuals (vendors etc). The total registering prior to the Homecoming was down this year compared to the last few years which had prior registrations closer to 150. However, the percentage of no-shows was similar to previous years.

Tours: Tours were popular with seventy percent of those registering for Homecoming signing up for one of the four tours. This year’s percentage signups being similar to the percentage from previous years. The tour of the new Athletic Facilities drew the largest number with 37 signed up against a maximum amount of 40. However, the number of people that finally went on the tours appeared to be less than half of those that originally signed up. Unfortunately our participant feedback did not include the tours, since the participant survey occurred before the participants departed on the tours.

Vendors: The vendors had an excellent distribution with 91���� human resources, health insurance (AETNA etc), retiree accounts (TIAA, banks, etc), opportunities for retiree service participation and retiree interests (museums etc). The total number of vendors that were scheduled to participate was 28 which is a record for the last four years. Three vendors did not show which is typical from previous years.

Homecoming Program: This year we had one program which replaced two separate programs from previous years. This program was handed out when participants checked-in at arrival. The consensus was that this new program was an effective improvement to our previous system.

Parking: This year there was no designated parking area attached to our Homecoming in Wells. The former parking area was under reconstruction as part of a larger parking area. As a result we requested parking passes for the windows of cars of participants of the Homecoming. However, the police were no longer using paper passes. Now passes were done through an App where the car’s license plate must be entered, and so PCRE were helping at Check-in to obtain electronic parking passes. Since there was much confusion with retirees, the police ultimately decided not to monitor vehicles for the day. Next year, it is likely that all passes will be obtained with an App.

Oral History Interviews (AMW): The Council decided to play portions (11 minutes) of the retiree interviews (Sue Randall, Alex Grab, Michael Howard) at the Homecoming during the latter part of the lunch and before the door prizes. This year’s interviews were well done. Hopefully this will encourage more participation.

Recognition at Homecoming: PCRE members suggested that in the future special guests, such as the grand-daughter of Barbara Hikel, should be recognized by announcing and asking the guest to stand up for recognition by the Homecoming participants. This also should apply to members of PCRE.

Registrants Comments

Evaluation: Seventy three participants returned evaluations with ratings from 1 to 5 with 1 being Poor and 5 being Excellent. The ‘2. Presentation by Dr. David Hart‘ was rated Excellent while the ‘1. Information Tables (Vendors);’ ‘3. Luncheon,‘ ’4. Overall Program Quality’ and ‘5. Please rate your experience of receiving the retiree newsletter electronically’ were rated excellent and above average. There were no Poor (1) or Below Average (2) ratings except for one Poor for Question 5.

Comments: Fifteen commentators noted that the room was too cold. The Chair of PCRE will follow up with the Dining Service on this matter. There were two requests for a future talk connected with the UM Composites Center, one request for a tour of the Composites Center, and one request for a talk on Forestry Practices.

Outing at Coastal Maine Botanical Center, Boothbay, ME: Tom Sandford was the only retiree who elected to go on this outing. It was a spectacular place for an outing. One commentator indicated that more persons would have come for the outing if a bus had been scheduled instead of car sharing. Use of a bus was investigated with a cost of $1100 for a bus including driver R/T to the Botanical Center from Orono. It likely was not made clear to potential outing persons that all expenses including tickets and transportation are paid by the members of the outing tour. If only two showed up, then it would be $550 per person for transportation by bus.

Meeting was adjourned unanimously.

The post June 2026 Minutes appeared first on President's Council of Retired Employees.

Members: Louis Bassano, Gail Dyer-Martin, Michael Eckardt, Susan Gallant, Richard Judd (Secretary), Jennifer Perry, Thomas Sandford (Chair), Claire Strickland, Althea Tibbetts. Ex Officio Member: Sarah McPartland-Good

Minutes of the Previous Meeting: Mike moved, and Althea seconded a motion to approve the minutes. The vote was unanimous.

Membership: All positions are currently filled.

Oral History Interviews (AMW): The Council decided to play portions of the interviews at the Homecoming during the latter part of the lunch and before the door prizes. Tom played a segment of the interviews for the Board. (Sue Randall, Alex Grab, Michael Howard). Altogether, the selections will run 11 minutes. The Council discussed a designated PCRE email account, with Tom as administrator. The account would stay with the PCRE between chairs. Susan will contact IT.

Homecoming: The program will be available at check-in. Claire will add the video interviews to the program, along with further information on the Hikel and Brown recipients. Mike will offer the Hikel recipients transportation from home to the Homecoming. The evaluation form will include a question about the newsletter sent in electronic form (Claire will add this.) Records show that 43 percent of recipients opened the newsletter email. Retirees will receive a follow-up email regarding the Homecoming registration with a May 18 deadline. Sarah will make sure the deadline is changed on the second email. The Council discussed expanding the program information sheet for the Homecoming next year. Claire will experiment with formats. Claire will add the tours to this year’s Homecoming, and tickets will be distributed at check-in. Louis and Claire will staff the registration table. At its regular June 5 meeting the Council will debrief about the Homecoming.

Parking: Tom contacted Theresa McMannus and completed an event form that will allow attendees to receive electronic parking passes. Sarah will send out a final reminder a few days before Homecoming with the electronic parking sticker. Tom will also have regular parking stickers on hand at registration. Gold Card holders will probably have permits. Vendors will need parking passes. The Council discussed the construction at the campus entrance. Tom detected no problem at present, but after graduation the situation may be a different. The Wells Lot is reserved with 100 spaces, and Dunn and Corbett lots will be available.

Tours: Tom will conduct the Versant tour if he is not busy following the meeting. Shawn Laatsch (Planetarium director) may be available if necessary. IT will handle the self-directed tours. Becky van Beneden will conduct the bog walk tour, and Susan will conduct the Page Farm Museum tour. Jason Grunkemeyer will be in charge of the Athletic Facilities tour. Sarah will find someone to usher the attendees to Jason.

Outing – Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens: The outing is Thursday, May 21. Signup has been slow. Tom will arrange with contacts.

Website: Cindy Eves-Thomas was not present, but Tom reported there will be minor changes in the website.

Other: Claire pointed to the need for closer contact with the President’s Office. Staff should meet with the Council on a regular basis each year, since the Council has valuable institutional memory to share with the President’s Office. Retirees should have an option to receive university-wide emails from the President’s Office. Tom will ask the President to attend at least one meeting next year and have a representative meet with the Council more consistently to consider matters of outreach to retirees.

Adjourn: Mike moved that the meeting be adjourned; Claire seconded the motion, and the vote was unanimous.

The post May 2026 Minutes appeared first on President's Council of Retired Employees.

Members: Louis Bassano, Richard Borgman (Vice Chair), Cindy Eves-Thomas (Website editor), Richard Judd (Secretary), Richard Kent, Jennifer Perry, Thomas Sandford (Chair), Claire Strickland, Althea Tibbetts, Susan Gallant. Ex Officio Members: Sarah McPartland-Good.

Minutes: Althea moved to accept the minutes of the previous meeting. Claire seconded the motion, which passed unanimously.

Membership: Susan has had no letter of confirmation. Tom will contact Taylor.

Oral History Interviews (AMW): Catherine Poulin conducted the interview with Sue Randall and interviewed Mike Howard and Alex Grab later in the afternoon. A social gathering with refreshments followed. Louis commented on the high caliber of the interview, especially Sue’s connections to the university, and noted that the interview was very professional. The interviews were done by camera rather than recorded on phones. Tom has a compiled version at about 30 minutes, and discussed editing to a five-minute section. Catherine has given a copy to the library, and Cindy will post an announcement on the web page.

Hikel Award: Mike has the engraved clock, and the President’s letter has been sent.

Newsletter: The newsletter was posted on March 11. 91���� 6 percent of the thousand or so on the mailing list bounced back, and these retirees will be sent paper copies. The print copy is at the printer. The Council discussed a flyer to ask unlisted retirees for email address and to provide homecoming information. Tom suggested a May 18 deadline for registration. Cindy pointed out that the Foundation website has a June 3 deadline. Tom will look into this.

Website: Cindy added the newsletter PDF to the website with a homecoming registration link. She will add the deadline and a few other links.

Homecoming: Tom sent out a checklist of items in preparation for the Homecoming. Of the 1,300-1,400 retires, we can expect around 10 percent to register. If there are more registrants we could reserve the Field House. The registration is on the website. An announcement will be sent by email. Tom will contact the Parking Office. The Council discussed the construction near the parking lot and the importance of signs. Tom will contact Theresa McMannus about the Field House entrance to campus. We will need IT support for the Homecoming. Sarah will take photos at the Homecoming. The Foundation; will prepare a spread sheet for us including who is on which tour. Handouts and tour tickets will be given out at the registration table along with a detailed schedule, maps, an evaluation sheet, and information on where to gather in Wells for the tours. We will offer four tours and a self-guided tour by phone.

Vendors may have handouts which they can give out at the tables. We will supply only the bags. Althea has contacted the vendors with the date, and she will stay in touch. Althea will pick up the parking passes and look into whether we can send out electronic parking passes.

Tom will welcome attendees to the Homecoming and make necessary announcements. Rick suggested including information about newsletter in the introductory announcements. He will introduce the President and announce the Brown Scholarship. The Council discussed providing more detail about Hikel Award recipients Ron and Shirley Davis in the program. Tom will provide something for the President’s announcement from the nomination materials.

Mike will introduce the feature speaker; Jeff Mills will announce the door prizes; and Sarah will add to the evaluation a follow-up question on the suitability of an email newsletter. Print copies of the newsletter will be available on the registration table. In the future, name tags will include the attendee’s department.

Claire will prepare the program, which will be handed out at the check in (or on the tables?). Information on the Hikel award and Brown award winners, the tours, and the speaker is available in the Newsletter. The locations for launching the tours are on the website.

Susan volunteered to lead the Bog Boardwalk tour, and Rick will lead the athletic tour. Others will be assigned in May.

Claire suggested an additional question on the evaluation form: What would retirees like from the Council? Perhaps those not taking a tour could stay and discuss this with the Council, or the Council could staff its own table.

Other: The Outing is planned for May 21 as indicated in the newsletter.” The Council discussed sending an email about the Outing. There is a link on the website.

Adjourn: Rick moved we adjourn; Althea seconded the motion; the vote was unanimous.

The post April 2026 Minutes appeared first on President's Council of Retired Employees.

Members Attending: Louis Bassano, Michael Eckardt, Cindy Eves-Thomas (Website editor), Richard Judd (Secretary), Richard Kent, Jennifer Perry, Thomas Sandford (Chair), Claire Strickland, Althea Tibbetts. Ex Officio Members: Sarah McPartland-Good. Susan Gallant attended as a prospective member representing ELH

Minutes: Mike moved and Althea seconded a motion to accept the February minutes with three corrections. The vote was unanimous.

Newsletter: Sarah indicated that the newsletter will go out next week. The council extended its congratulations to Rick on an excellent job.

Website: The Council discussed the information Cindy provided on website users (see ). The Council found the overall results impressive. Users are spread across 23 states. The chart reflected interest in 1) the Homecoming, 2) the Recreation Center, and 3) the Gold Card. Some of these hits were probably the result of web surfing for a particular item. The Council thanked Cindy for the information. The Council discussed a survey on uses of the website to determine interest in other topics, possibly sent via email. The survey would ask: “What did you find useful on the website, or would you find useful? Sarah wondered if it was possible to determine how long readers stayed on the site. Susan and Althea mentioned that there is a system-wide, closed-group retiree Facebook account called “UMS Retirees and Friends.”

All Maine Women Interviews: This year the interviewees are Sue Randall, Assistant Athletic Director for Business; Alex Grab, Professor of History; and Michael Howard, Professor of Philosophy. Katherine Poulin will conduct the interviews. This fall the Council will consider candidates for next year, the criterion being two men and two women representing diverse parts of the campus. Susan suggested setting up a recognizable email address for contacting candidates.

Other: The Homecoming information tables should include Cornerstone Caring Elder Care. Mike will ask the Hikel Award nominees if they wish to bring guests.

Adjourn: Louis moved, and Claire seconded a motion to adjourn. The vote was unanimous.

The post March 2026 Minutes appeared first on President's Council of Retired Employees.

Members: Michael Eckardt, Cindy Eves-Thomas (Website editor), Richard Judd (Secretary), Richard Kent, Jennifer Perry, Thomas Sandford (Chair), Claire Strickland, Althea Tibbetts
Ex Officio Members: Sarah McPartland-Good, Kelly Straub

Minutes: One correction; Cindy motioned approval, Mike seconded with motion passed with unanimous approval.

Membership: Tom contacted Susan Gallant recommended by Dean Rowland and Associate Dean Kathleen Bell of ELH College for open ELH position. Susan agreed to join the Council representing ELH. Judd moved nomination and Althea seconded and motion passed unanimously. Tom will invite her to the next meeting and will prepare recommendation letter for the President.

Newsletter: Rick is waiting for the President’s piece; everything else is done. The special topics articles are on Dana Humphreys retirement and Rich Kent’s new book. Rest is well done also. Tom asked Kelly Straub about the president’s article. The final draft is complete and will return to Council later today.

Hikel Award: the President’s letter has gone out. Mike will write a thank you to the nominator. The clock is ready to go but needs to be engraved. the President must decide if one clock or two clocks are to be given.

All Maine Women (AMW) Interviews: Two weeks ago two former AMW interviewees, Kristin Langelier and Mazie Hough, authored a major op ed in the Maine Sunday Telegram. Last year Kristin Langellier, Marian Dressler and Al Bushway were interviewed. Our Maine retirees are staying engaged.

This year’s interviews are following our meeting on March 6 in Buchanan. Everybody from PCRE is invited to have refreshments and meet All Maine Women (AMW) interviewers including Katherine Poulin, the AMW Historian and organizer of the interviews and also interviewees.

This year Sue Randall, retired Asst Athletic Director for Business, has accepted. The other three are yet to be selected. This is one of AMW’s services to 91����. There will be about an hour between our meeting and theirs.

We would like to play a compilation of the interviews at the Homecoming. The last two years we have not had a compilation. This was because the interview two years ago was recorded on Zoom and last year were recorded on IPhones. It is apparently difficult to edit these forms of recordings for a compilation. the total interviews unedited went on Digital Commons. Special effort will be made this year to convince AMW to produce a compiled version. The suggestion was made that we should consult with the AMW advisor, Mikayla Reynolds, to ensure continuity.

Retiree Homecoming: Information of the Homecoming will be covered in the Newsletter including June 4 date, Wells Conference Center venue, a brief schedule including Information Tables, Hikel Award, Brown Scholarship Awardee, featured speaker David Hart and four tours.
There is a featured article on David Hart and on last year’s Hikel Award, Mary Bird.

Website: Cindy would like to reach out to Mike Kirby to give numbers on hits for PCRE website and ask for help to update home pages.

Cindy needs more information for the website on the Homecoming website speaker, schedule and information about the annual outing.

For the outing there will be something in the newsletter to contact Tom for carpool. Tom will get parking permits and meet at 8:00 at UM for carpooling or meet at 11:15 at Gardens. Each person pays own way and make their own reservations. Tom will send the newsletter info to Cindy for the website. Cindy has photos of her own for the outing.

We should mention the website at the Homecoming; especially the section on retiree benefits including Gold Card. We need to promote the website.

Other: After a number of questions and issues were raised related to services provided to retirees from IT, Claire volunteered last month to contact IT and ask. Kim Tran of IT had the following response:

First, I will say, It is wonderful to stay connected with our former colleagues, and we are happy to continue supporting retirees where and when we can. While our IT team’s scope changes once retirees transition from active service, we want to ensure they have the resources needed to stay productive. Below is a quick overview of the specific areas where we can offer a helping hand.
Hardware & Security.

Personal Hardware: UMS IT cannot provide hardware support, troubleshooting, or setup for personally owned devices. Staff are specialized to work specifically on University-owned equipment. For hardware failures, we recommend contacting the device manufacturer or a local repair service.
Virus Removal: We cannot perform “cleanup” services or malware removal on personal devices due to liability risks regarding data loss. We recommend keeping your personal antivirus up to date or seeking professional recovery services.

VPN Access: VPN access is reserved for current employees and students to access restricted internal systems. Since the University’s Gmail system is web-based, a VPN is not typically required or supported for retirees.

Software & Email

Email Migration: While IT cannot manually move your email from Outlook to Gmail for you to ensure your data privacy, we are happy to provide documentation and self-help guides for Google’s built-in migration tools.

Software Licensing: Support is limited to the University’s Gmail platform. Licenses for suites like Microsoft 365 and Adobe are contractually restricted to current faculty, staff, and students. We recommend using free alternatives like Google Docs or web-based productivity software.

If you are contracted and approved to provide services for the university, and require VPN access, guidance will be provided but we cannot perform installation or device troubleshooting as referenced previously above.

Summary of Support Boundaries (see table below)

Please let me know if you have any additional questions. 

Kim

Next meeting March 6 then the AMW interview 11:00.

Adjourn: Mike motioned and Althea seconded. Unanimous approval.

The post February 2026 Minutes appeared first on President's Council of Retired Employees.

Members: Louis Bassano, Richard Borgman (Vice Chair), Gail Dyer-Martin, Michael Eckardt, Cindy Eves-Thomas (Website editor), Richard Judd (Secretary), Richard Kent, Jennifer Perry, Thomas Sandford (Chair), Claire Strickland, Althea Tibbetts. Ex Officio Member: Sarah McPartland-Good.

Minutes: Mike moved and Claire seconded approval; passed.

Membership: Tom has not heard back on an inquiry about a prospective member proposed by the Dean from Earth, Life, and Health Sciences. Tom will contact Kathleen Bell, Associate Dean of ELH. The Council discussed other possible members. Claire had several suggestions.

IT Policy for Retirees: Claire discussed the response from Kim Tram regarding IT support for retirees, and will follow up with questions about hardware support for retirees working on University projects and access to support for de-bugging a virus. (Cindy does get help from IT for the Council’s website.)

Retiree Homecoming — Tours: Tom has confirmation regarding the Astronomy Center tour. Other Homecoming tours will be the Athletic Facilities (Alfond, Track, Soccer); the Page Museum; and the Bog Boardwalk. Homecoming will be June 4 with David Hart from the Mitchell center as speaker. This will be announced on the Council website; Tom will send Cindy the Homecoming schedule. Mike has photo of David Hart and the title of his talk. The Council will send out postcard reminders for the Homecoming in April, then activate the sign-up feature on the website. Registrations can be called in as well. The Office of Student Financial Services will find a new scholarship recipient.

Newsletter: Rick is moving toward the deadline for the Newsletter and will be asking Council members for input. Louis’s Rec Center article will be included. The Newsletter will be sent as a PDF by email and will be posted on the website. The Council will decide on details of delivery once the newsletter is done. Sarah reported that there are 441 retirees who are not on our email list. They probably will receive the Newsletter by regular mail.

Hikel Award: Last year’s recipient will be featured in the Newsletter. Mike (for the Hikel Committee) will send a draft of this year’s nomination recommendation to Tom, who will pass it to the President.

Outing: the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens opens May 1. The tour is set for May 21 (a Thursday). The Council discussed renting a bus, but the $1,100 cost seems beyond our budget. Rather, attendees will meet at the University to car-pool the approximately two-hour drive or will join the car-poolers at 10:00 at the garden. Tickets are $21 (seniors on line) or $25 (at the gate). Interested parties can email Tom. We should note in the newsletter that this is a walking tour. Tom asked the Council for suggestions of other informal get-together events, such as cribbage games, square-dancing, or a walking group. These could be announced in the Newsletter.

All Maine Women Interviews: The Council is responsible for naming candidates; last year’s interviewees were Marian Driscoll, Al Bushway and Kristen Langellier. Tom will contact those we suggest for this year.

Website: Cindy indicated that the November minutes are on the site and noted that the University is launching a major re-design. Any outdated content will be taken down, possibly including old minutes and newsletters. The Council could archived them on Digital Commons.

No other business.

Althea moved to adjourn, and Mike seconded. Vote was unanimous.

The post January 2026 Minutes appeared first on President's Council of Retired Employees.

Members Present: Louis Bassano, Richard Borgman (Vice Chair), Gail Dyer-Martin, Michael Eckardt, Richard Judd (Secretary), Jennifer Perry, Thomas Sandford (Chair), Althea Tibbetts; Ex Officio Member: Sarah McPartland-Good,

Minutes: Althea moved, and Gail seconded a motion to accept the minutes. Approved.

Membership: Tom inquired to the Associate Dean about a prospective member from the College of Earth, Life, and Health Sciences, but has not heard back yet.

Hikel Award: Sarah sent the nominations to the Hikel Award committee.

IT Retiree Benefits: Claire contacted IT regarding access to services for retirees. She has invited Associate CIO Kim Tran to the January 9 meeting.

Retiree Homecoming Tours: The Athletic Department will provide a walking tour of the Alfond Arena, track facility and soccer complex for 30 to 40 people. Brad Libby did not respond regarding Littlefield Gardens, but the Astronomy Center could provide a tour. Rick led the Astronomy tour a few years ago and found Director Shawn Laatsch very easy to work with. Rick was able to pick the show (Maine women astronauts). Tom will contact Laatsch. The Center can accommodate about 50 people. The Bog Boardwalk Tour can accommodate 20 people, and the Page Farm and Home Museum, 30-35.

Mitchell Center Director David Hart has agreed to be the Homecoming speaker and will be featured in a newsletter article if we have a title for his talk by press time.

The Brown Scholarship student has been selected, but Tom was unable to contact him. The Office of Financial Services is asking for a release for contact.

Althea reported that the vendors have been contacted. This year the Council will extend the time for visiting the vendors by starting the regular program at 10:15, with the speaker to begin at 11:00. The specific schedule for the day will be available as a link sent out with the emails announcing the Homecoming. The schedule will also be available at the sign-in table.

The newsletter, now 6 pages long, will announce the Homecoming. Postcard and email reminders will be sent out in April. Sarah will send the compilation of questionnaire responses to Rick. Althea suggested an article on Gold Card benefits for the newsletter, although not every retiree has a gold card.

Newsletter: The newsletter committee (Jen, Claire, and Rick) met after the November meeting and decided to have copy ready by the end of January. They planned a section of announcements and another on short feature items such as Louis’s information on the Rec Center.

Website: In absentia, Cindy reported that the October minutes are on the website, as is a link to the site on capital construction projects.

Other: Louis will prepare a feature for the newsletter on the 91���� Rec Center. The next meeting will be held on January 9.

Adjourn: Jen moved we adjourn; Louis seconded. Meeting was adjourned.

The post December 2025 Minutes appeared first on President's Council of Retired Employees.

Members: Louis Bassano, Richard Borgman (Vice Chair), Gail Dyer-Martin, Cindy Eves-Thomas (Website editor), Richard Judd (Secretary), Richard Kent, Jennifer Perry, Thomas Sandford (Chair), Claire Strickland, Althea Tibbetts
Ex Officio Members: Sarah McPartland-Good.

Minutes: Althea moved, and Louis seconded acceptance. Accepted with one correction and one abstention.

Membership: PCRE is missing a representative from the College of Earth, Life, and Health Sciences. Tom will call ELH Dean’s office and ask for suggestions.

Hikel Award: Sarah said the call for nominations went out to University staff and employees on November 4. The Hikel Award committee is Louis, Mike, and Tom. The deadline for nominations is November 24.

Gold Card: PCRE discussed the Gold Card last month, and to date have not received word from the President’s Office on benefits. The parking office is closed on Friday. (Free parking is available with the Gold Card.) The list of benefits has been e-mailed, but some on the Council have not received it. However, the information on the website is up to date. Cindy pointed out that it was difficult to order tickets online using the card.

Retiree Homecoming: The tours for Homecoming will include the bog boardwalk (which will take up to 20 attendees), and the Page Farm and Home Museum (taking 30-35). Tom is considering asking Brad Libby to guide tours of the Littlefield Garden. Tom asked Griffin Dill at Extension about another tour of the Tick Lab. A tour of the athletic facilities is a possibility. The Green Energy building is not completed yet (a possible tour for next year.) Council discussed means of informing retirees about new buildings on the campus. There is a website listing new buildings, and Cindy will add a link on the PCRE web page. Information could also be included in the newsletter.

Newsletter: The Newsletter Subcommittee (Claire, Rich, Jen, Tom, and Rick) will meet directly after the meeting with Monique from the UM Foundation concerning schedule and other items.

Website: Cindy made minor changes to the website. She needs a photo from Jen.

Other Matters: Althea contacted vendors for the Homecoming. Louis informed the Council that starting in 2026 the Recreation Center will offer free membership for all retirees, even those without insurance coverage for the Rec Center. Other family members will receive a discount. The Council should post this on its website. This offer is not system-wide, although UMM and UMF do accept silver sneakers passes. This policy may change next year. Louis discussed the possibility of a system-wide retiree’s council. PCRE will take this up at the next meeting. Louis also mentioned that colleagues have found it difficult to access tech support. PCRE would like clarification on what classes of retirees have access to tech support and software. Claire tried to get some clarity, but apparently the tech center is not certain about the policy. PCRE discussed asking someone from IT to attend a meeting (Tom Drake?). Claire will look into it.

Adjourn: Louis moved, and Rick seconded proposal to adjourn. Motion passed unanimously.

The post November 2025 Minutes appeared first on President's Council of Retired Employees.

Approval of Minutes of 9/5/25: Louis moved approval. Althea seconded. Approved.

Members: Gail Werrbach, who represented the College of Earth, Life and Health (ELH), has resigned from PCRE. She will be missed for her contributions to PCRE and for her collegiality. We send our sympathies to Gail and her family as they confront the illnesses in her family.

PCRE welcomed Claire Strickland back to PCRE.

Hikel Award: PCRE agreed to move forward again this year with a request for nominations. We are adding Retirees to the current employee distribution list plus moving the schedule earlier, so we should have better response than last year. We are targeting Nov 1 for the distribution of emails and Nov 24 as the deadline for nominations. The request will be the same as last year except that the age requirement has been removed. The criteria that a nominee must be doing service at something different from their employment was discussed but remained. Sarah offered to handle both email distributions.

Retiree Homecoming: David Hart, the director of the Center for Sustainability, has agreed to be the featured speaker. Mike has offered to introduce the speaker. Only one tour – the Page Farm and Home Museum has been confirmed. There has been no response for the Tick Lab, the Littlefield Gardens and the Orono Bog Walk. Althea and Gail Dyer-Martin agreed to be in charge of the vendors. Last year the vendors under Gail and Althea was a great success.

The President appears to have other commitments for the day of our Homecoming. We have to anticipate what we will do if the President is not available. Perhaps the President can produce a video, if she will be absent.

Retiree Interviews: Katherine Poulin, the Historian of the All Maine Women (AMW) contacted Tom concerning the interviews. Although it was possible that AMW could hold the interviews in the Fall, they have decided to conduct them in the Spring semester as usual. Since PCRE knows that AMW will be conducting the interviews, we can go ahead to find four candidates to be interviewed when it is convenient for us, probably in December.

Newsletter: Jen, Rich, and Claire agreed to help on the newsletter. Tom will participate on the newsletter also. We are looking for a finish of the newsletter in January or February. Monique from the Foundation will meet with the newsletter group right after the November meeting is finished to talk about schedule and other items. Past newsletters are posted on the PCRE website.

It was suggested that the effect on the University of the various changes by the Federal government, such as suspension of research funds, could be documented as a special feature.

Retiree Outing: The Moosehead trip was cancelled due to low interest. We can rethink what we want for an outing. There will be enough lead time with an announcement in the newsletter.

Website: June 2025 minutes posted.

Other: The new policy for gym use discussed at the September meeting only applies to Orono campus. If 91���� retirees living in other cities, like Portland, wish to use local gyms at other Maine System campuses, then they are not covered. However, this can be reexamined if there turns out to be a demand. Louis proposed that a note be placed in the newsletter to let retirees at other locations in Maine should let PCRE know so that PCRE can present these for reexamination. The issue of retirees from other campuses using Orono resources was raised – are they covered. Louis agreed to raise this issue with Andrea Gifford, Dean of Students at Orono.

Claire raised the issue that the eligible events for which those with a Gold Card could attend have not been forwarded yet to holders of Gold Cards. Althea had contacted Taylor on the 13th of September for this same issue, and Taylor indicated that the list just went to the Print Office to be sent out. However, by today 3 October, no one has received them. Tom indicated he would follow up with Taylor. Claire suggested that in the past that these eligible events were sent out in July or August. Tom indicated that he would contact Joseph DeSalvo, Chief of Staff in the President’s office, to express our concern.

In addition some Gold Card holders do not have a card. The parking office on campus does provide new Gold Cards. The use of the Gold Card at events was discussed on our website after an investigation a few years ago. We may have to update that website.

The post October 2025 Minutes appeared first on President's Council of Retired Employees.