UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO
RETIRED FACULTY ASSOCIATION
MINUTES OF OCTOBER 17, 2001,
MEETING
The Annual Fall Meeting of
the Retired Faculty Association was held on Wednesday, October 17, 2001, in the
West Glenn Miller Ballroom of the University Memorial Center at the University
of Colorado, Boulder.
President Mary Bonneville
called the meeting to order at 10:00 a. m. and welcomed all members and
guests.
The minutes of the Annual
Spring meeting of the RFA on April 18, 2001, were approved as
presented.
Recognition of Deceased
Members. Mary Bonneville read the names of
faculty members and administrators and spouses who had died since the April 18,
2001, meeting. Those
memorialized were listed in the packet previously mailed to the
membership.
President's
Report. RFA President Mary Bonneville reported
on the following items:
(1)
The new RFA office will be
located on the "garden level" of the university president's office. President Hoffman and her Chief of
Staff, J. D. Beatty, have been very helpful to the RFA, arranging for space and
office equipment including files, a computer, and a telephone. Rita Weiss will
help plan an "open house" and reception to celebrate the office when it is "up
and running" in the near future.
(2)
The RFA will be announcing
the first two graduate student awards before the end of this calendar year. The winning students, one at UCD and the
other at UCHSC, will be invited to report on their work at the RFA's 2002 Spring
Meeting. The RFA has already
received more than $1300 donated to the awards fund. At the end of a two-year trial period
the Executive Committee will evaluate the success of the awards program and
decisions will be made about the future of the program and appropriate ways to
fund it.
(3)
Members were reminded to fill out the
RFA's "Staying in Touch" forms, in order that friends and colleagues can
maintain communications. If members
have misplaced forms that were included in mailings, forms are available on the
RFA's web site: http://www.colorado.edu/RetiredFaculty/
(4)
The RFA's Executive
Committee routinely meets from 1:00 - 2:30 on the third Friday of the month in
MCD Biology, Room A1B60. If any
members have special interests, news, or ideas that they would like to present
to the Executive Committee, they are encouraged to do so. The next meeting will
be in November.
(5)
The RFA needs volunteers to
keep the list of deceased members current. Volunteers may peruse newspaper
obituary columns and other sources to accomplish this task.
(6)
It is the policy of the RFA
to keep faculty retirees on the membership roll for one year without payment of
dues. The Executive Committee will
soon consider offering free memberships to those who are eighty and older.
(7)
The RFA is pleased that Bill
Tetlow, formally of ITS, has agreed to be the new Webmaster for http://www.colorado.edu/RetiredFaculty/
(8)
Katherine Harris was
introduced as the RFA's helper.
(9)
The Spring Meeting is set
for the third Wednesday in April, 2002.
The speaker will be Jonathan Van Blerkom who will talk about stem cells
and cloning.
Treasurers and Membership
Reports. Miles Olson presented both the
Treasurer's and membership reports.
(1)
Members were referred to
page 8 of the mailing packet for this meeting. Taking into account last Spring's
luncheon as well as the $1600 to be paid out for graduate student awards, the
balance in the treasury is about the same as last year's at this time.
(2)
As of September 1, 2001, the
RFA counted 598 members. However,
that total is inflated because it includes 147 retirees with complimentary
memberships. Paid memberships for
next year (retirees, spouses and partners of spouses, and surviving spouses and
partners) plus 12 complimentary memberships bring the total to 356 members. The reports were approved as
presented.
Reports From Committees and
Representatives.
(a) Faculty Personnel
Committee. Mary Bonneville referred members to Joan
McConkey’s report on page 7 of the packet distributed for this meeting. The report was approved without
additions or amendments.
(b) Faculty
Council. Larry Morse announced there was no
report from Faculty Council.
(c) Boulder Faculty
Assembly. Members were also referred to page 7 of
the packet for the report on the BFA.
The report was approved without additions or
amendments.
(d) Ombudsperson. Bob Fink reported the following:
(1)
Since the Spring meeting he
has had 23 consultations with retirees, most of them seeking information and not
reporting problems. Over half of
the retirees wanted information about benefits and retirement issues. Some inquired about archiving their
papers. One retiree expressed a
concern about identity theft from materials sent out by the university that
include personal information along with the retiree's name and
address.
(2)
By January of 2002 it should
be possible to set up electronic fund transfer (EFT) for payments of insurance
premiums. Also in January, it
should be possible to mail order 90 day prescriptions for drugs through Great
Western. (The Health Sciences Center is no longer allowed to fill such
prescriptions for patients of physicians not connected with the HSC.) Retirees will receive notices in the
mail informing them exactly when EFT and mail order prescription services will
be available.
(3)
Two faculty retirees,
Dorothy Moore (last known address in Texas) and Mary Martin (last known address
in Sterling, Illinois),need to be contacted concerning important matters. Bob Fink requested that RFA members get
in touch with him if they know where either of these retirees might be
found.
(e) UBAB. Stuart Schneck reported the
following:
(1)
There have been big
increases in supplemental insurance premiums. The monthly charge for a single retiree
is now $63.80; for a retiree and spouse the charge is $236.67. The charges would be even higher were it
not for the intervention of President Hoffman who increased the contribution of
the university to insurance premiums, reducing single payer payments by 15% and
couples' payments by 5 or 6 per cent.
As high as these payments are, they are the best deal available.
(2)
RFA members now have a
"dedicated human being" at Great Western to respond to any insurance problems at
CU Her name is Kristina Morgan, and
she can be reached at
303-305-0914. For general
information about plans offered at CU, interested persons may also call
1-800-858-5744.
(3)
Great Western's supplemental
insurance does cover emergency care out of the country. Policyholders are strongly urged to call
the phone number listed on their insurance cards within 72 hours after the
emergency care has been delivered.
From personal experience, however, Stuart Schneck reported that Great
Western is somewhat flexible on this requirement.
(4)
In answer to questions
concerning alternative plans to Great Western's: two options exist:
(a)
Although some retirees have
signed up with Kaiser, Kaiser rates
have gone up to the extent that UBAB
no longer looks favorably on the Kaiser plan.
(b)
It is now possible to roll
over medical savings accounts from year to year. As more physicians' groups set up their
own insurance plans, this option may become increasingly attractive.
(5)
Dental coverage under the
supplemental plan remains the same.
However, the rate for this year has increased 10% over last year's
rate.
(6)
The Benefits Office is happy
to try to answer any questions that retirees may have.
Nominations and
Elections. RFA Vice President Carl Kisslinger began
by expressing thanks to Miles Olson for all the work he has done as Treasurer
and membership record keeper. The
Vice President then presented the following nominations for RFA
offices:
Treasurer - Pat
Magette
Ombudsperson - Bob
Fink
The
nominees were elected unanimously.
Appointments. Carl Kisslinger announced the following
appointments:
Assistant Secretary for
Membership - Stewart Strickler
Liaison to UCHSC - Anne Harrison
Program Committee - Carl
Kisslinger, Chair; Mary Bonneville; Court Peterson
On behalf of the RFA Carl
acknowledged the fine job done by Julie McKie in setting up the RFA web site,
and welcomed Bill Tetlow as the site's new web master. Carl also appealed to the membership to
get the word out about the existence of the web site in order that members may
enjoy better communications with each other and with the
RFA.
New
Business. The following items of new business were
considered:
(1)
Court Peterson referred the
members to motions amending the RFA's By-Laws, presented on page 10 of the
mailing packet. Motion #1 sets the
terms of offices through the calendar year.
1.
Motion #2 clarifies language
regarding the election of RFA representatives to other university bodies.
2.
Motion #3 legitimizes the
appointment of RFA members by the President, with the approval of the Executive
Committee, as assistants to officers elected by the membership.
3.
All motions passed
unanimously.
(2)
Jerry Peterson, President of
Alpha Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa on the UCB campus, appealed for help from those
members of the RFA who are also members of Phi Beta Kappa. Alpha Chapter needs people to
participate at all levels. Because
the chapter has a large endowment, no dues are required, and money is available
for fellowships and other scholarly endeavors such as lecture programs. The next event on the Boulder Campus
will be December 2nd in the Glenn Miller Ballroom of the UMC. At that time 130 new members will be
initiated into Phi Beta Kappa.
Those interested in more information can use either of two e-mail
addresses: Peterson@spectr.Colorado.edu or
PBK@Colorado.edu
(3)
Mary Bonneville reported
briefly on a project now being undertaken by the Faculty Council's Committee on
Women. The purpose of the project
is to improve the atmosphere for women on campus. Retired faculty women who have felt the
lack of adjustments in benefits when salaries were raised may find this to be a
project in which they would like to become involved. Bob Fink will work with Mary to present
the concerns of retired women to the Faculty Council's Committee on Women and
also to the Boulder Faculty Association's Committee on
Women.
(4)
Mary Bonneville presented a
short list of issues which will be placed before the RFA's Executive Committee
in the near future:
(a)
Free RFA memberships for
retirees over 80 will be proposed at the next Executive Committee meeting.
(b)
A few complaints have been
received about the cost of the luncheon. The Executive Committee welcomes other ideas for meetings.
(c)
The Executive Committee
would like to hold some smaller meetings for members in Denver. It was suggested that the RFA arrange
bussing so that members from Boulder could travel together to a meeting site in
Denver. Donna Bogard, a recent retiree from UCD, enthusiastically endorsed the
idea of Denver meetings and invited Boulder members to attend an upcoming
concert on the Denver Campus commemorating Pearl Harbor.
(5) Carl Kisslinger said there will be a
review of the criteria for continuing RFA awards to graduate students. This review will include contacts with
the chancellors, at which time the RFA will have the opportunity to underline
the Association's interest in all four campuses.
(6) By acclamation the RFA passed a
Resolution of Congratulations honoring the CU scientists, Eric Cornell and Carl
Wieman, who share the 2001 Nobel Prize in physics.
(7)
J. D. Beatty, President
Hoffman's Chief of Staff, spoke to the RFA on several topics.
a.
He announced that as of
today the new RFA office has a computer and a sign on the door.
b.
The RFA has expressed
interest in learning about the activities of retired faculty at other
institutions. At Iowa State University some retirees have taken advantage
of the "Seniors College," which offers travel programs featuring expert
guides. Retired faculty have also
taught classes -- some proving so popular that undergraduates have asked
permission to attend. Drawing on his own experience as a member of the Iowa
State English faculty, Beatty speculated that the active volunteering by retired
faculty at ISU may be related to the fact that few competing activities are
available in Ames, Iowa.
c.
Responding to the question,
"What is your job?" Beatty said he
informs the President and helps her organize her schedule. He also tries to answer questions and
solve problems in an appropriate and timely manner. The main difficulty confronting planning
at CU today is the reduction of funding for capital projects due to the downturn
in the economy.
d.
In response to the question,
"Should the system office be [more centrally located] in Denver?" Beatty replied that the current Board of
Regents is not in favor of a move.
At the present time President Hoffman spends about three days a week
working in Denver.
(8) The next meeting of the RFA is tentatively scheduled for Wednesday, April 17, 2002. (Changed to Wednesday, April 24,2002 –ed note)
The meeting was adjourned at
noon.
At the ensuing luncheon, University President Elizabeth Hoffman treated RFA members and guests to an interesting and thought-provoking talk. The title of her presentation was "Lifelong Learners."
Respectfully submitted,
Katherine Harris, Recorder