UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO RETIRED FACULTY ASSOCIATION

MINUTES OF APRIL 30, 2008 MEETING

(DRAFT)

 

            The annual Spring meeting of the University of Colorado Retired Faculty Association was held on Wednesday, April 30 in the University Memorial Center, Boulder Campus, room 235.

 

            President Johann Stoyva called the meeting to order at 10:00 AM and welcomed all members and guests in attendance. He then read the names of our recently deceased colleagues and spouses and a moment of silence was observed.  In addition to those on the list included in the agenda materials, the following names were added:

            H. O. Brough ,  Education and Administration, UCD,  husband of Penni Walsh-Brough

            Gerald B. Merenstein,  Pediatrics  UCHSC, husband of Barretta Merenstein

            William Rense,  Physics, UCB, husband of  Wanda Rense

            Janet Velasquez, Nursing UCHSC

            Lynn Whitten,  Music, UCB  widower of Evelyn Whitten

 

             The minutes of the October 17, 2007 Fall meeting were approved. 

 

             Treasurer Gloria Main gave her  report.   A copy was distributed to those present.   .  The main news is that we’re in good shape.  The total income for 2007-2008 was $12,860 and total expenses were $6,231. If there are questions, Gloria may be contacted at Gloria.Main@Colorado.edu.   Pres. Stoyva said we should be grateful to Chuck Howe and Gloria Main for keeping after the president’s office to give the subvention.($5000 for the year 2007-2008).

 

            Membership Secretary Stew Strickler reported on membership.   There are about 600 names on our list of which roughly 400 are up-to-date on their dues.

 

            Next, Ombudsperson Bob Fink gave his report.  He’s had a number of contacts since the last meeting. One concerned activating an e-mail account; one concerned the appropriate pay for retirees who work part-time after retiring; and one concerned eligibility for the Eco Pass.  He also met with eight active faculty members who are considering retiring soon.  Prof. Fink is retiring from his position as campus ombudsperson (for active faculty);  he will be replaced by Larry Singell. While his position as Retired Faculty Ombudsperson extends till December, he has decided to retire early, and Lee Potts has agreed to replace him for this for this final semester as RFA ombudsperson (Potts is already a campus ombudsperson.) The group passed a motion expressing our appreciation for all Prof. Fink has done over the years for the Retired Faculty Association His service includes being RFA President.

 

            Tom Duncan reported on the Graduate student awards program.  (He substituted for his wife Sandra Moriarty, who was unable to attend). The total amount of funds is now $48,606 which is $9,190 over the balance a year ago.  This is an increase of 22%.  We’ve almost reached our goal of $50,000, and Prof. Duncan urged people to pledge to help bridge that gap. For information concerning  our two current recipients, see below.

 

 

           Vice-President Jim Wolf reported on Tea Time talks.  In March we had a very successful Tea Time Talk on politics and media presented by Prof. Elizabeth Skewes from the Journalism School.  We should acknowledge the hospitality of the Academy; they let us use their meeting place  for free and even supply the refreshments. Plans are being made for next year, with the theme being “retired folk”.  Prof. Stoyva noted that the Health Sciences Retired Faculty group has had a number of interesting talks at their meetings (including topics such as 'The Black Death' and 'End-of-Life Issues'').

 

            Oliver Ellsworth reported on the Faculty Council.  Both the January and February meetings were attended by Bruce Benson. Prof. Ellsworth reported to the Faculty Council on our CURFA, noting that we are in a good financial status and  telling them about the revision of the retirement guide, which is also on the web.  At the April meeting there was much discussion about the relationship of the campuses and whether there should be a unified transcript for the whole university.  Concerning a new Administrative Policy statement on the libraries, Prof. Ellsworth reminded them that retired faculty have library privileges too, which needed to be mentioned.

 

            There were some brief presentations by our liaisons.  First Bill Marine reported from the Health Sciences Center.  They’re in the middle of changing their name (stay tuned). On May 13, the HSC retired faculty association will have a lecture on macular degeneration, and all are invited.  Richard Blade reported that the Colorado Springs association is having monthly meetings.   And it was announced that Clyde Zaidins will be our new representative for UCDenver, starting in the fall.

 

            The next topic on the agenda was the new health insurance program.  Stuart Schneck was the first to speak. He reported that UBAB (University Benefits Advisory Board) looked closely at 8 submitted proposals, and by far the best was Anthem’s proposal (Blue Cross- Blue Shield). For those who are currently on Great West’s Medicare Supplement plan, there is no change in the details of that plan. However the name has changed; it’s now the Medicare Primary Plan.  As a courtesy, for retired faculty only, all the material will be sent by mail.  One can register by mail or by computer.   To register requires your employee ID number; you can find it on the billing you get each month for your insurance. Prof. Kisslinger pointed out that it’s also on your Great West card (omit the 3 digits “888”).  Where the registration asks to choose between “ORP” and “PERA”, pick “ORP”.

            Mark Stanker, Assistant Vice President for Payroll and Benefits services, addressed the group.  The information packet was mailed out the previous Friday.  He explained that the university needed to change the medical plans because last year Pacific Care changed the network of providers (most of our group is Medicare eligible and not directly affected by Pacific Care). To ask Anthem questions, there is a hotline phone: 877-833-5728; or check out the new website set up specifically for the University of Colorado:  www.anthem.com/universityofcolorado  One change is that the Delta dental plan will now apply to dental implants. We’re seeing an overall increase in costs of 8% for the overall health plan, but there is much variation for individual programs.  Because of new accounting rules (set up after the Enron debacle) the university is required to book the enormous cost of retirement benefits in its financial statements.  For this reason the Alternate Medical Payment plan (AMP) payments will not be increased this year.  Also the payments for the Medicare Primary plan will not change this year. This year is a positive enrollment;  we are asking everyone to actively enroll. Post cards will be sent to remind you to enroll.

            Gina Trujillo, Director of Benefits Administration, addressed the group.  Anthem and Medicare will coordinate, so we don’t need to do two filings.  To facilitate this we will be sent a postcard in July which will ask us to give Anthem information about our Medicare registration.  There was an extensive question and answer session.

 

 

            The final item on the agenda was presentations by the 2007-08 graduate awards winners.  Ashley Williams Ph.D candidate at UCCS (Colorado Springs Campus) in Geropsychology didn’t attend in person, but had prepared a power point presentation with embedded voice which Richard Blade (our UCCS representative) presented; i.e., the voice we heard was that of Ashley. The title was “Factors that Affect Decision-Making Processes in Aging Families of Developmentally Disabled Individuals”. Her advisor was Sara Qualls from the Psychology Department.

             The other award recipient was Katie Driscoll, Ph.D. Candidate on the Boulder campus, in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology.  She had said that she would come but in fact didn’t show up. [Note: We found out later that she had received a contaminated vaccine and was violently

sick for 24 hours. That's why she didn't make the meeting.]  Her advisor, Jeff Mitton gave a extemporaneous description of her work, entitled “A Population Genetic Analysis of Bighorn Sheep in Rocky Mountain National Park”

           

            The meeting adjourned around noon . This was followed by a social hour with punch and a buffet luncheon at 12:30 PM. The luncheon talk was given by Mark Foster of the UCD History Dept. He spoke on “Earthquake in Boulder…Quigg Newton wakes up the University”.

            Respectively Submitted: Richard Roth, General Secretary