For the first time ever, the advisory committee of the UC Davis Retiree Center convened last week at UC Davis Medical Center as a gesture aimed at encouraging greater involvement in the two groups by retired employees of UC Davis Health System.
The board members took a brief tour of the medical center before meeting on the 14th floor of the Davis Tower.
“We’re all very impressed with what we’ve seen,” said Charles Hess, past president of the UC Davis Emeriti Association’s Executive Committee. “The growth here has been exponential. One of the reasons we’re here is to show that the new UC Davis Retiree Center serves the total UC Davis community, the health system as well as the campus. We want to have a presence here.”
Hess was dean of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences from 1975 to 1989. He served as the USDA assistant secretary of science and education from 1989 to 1991.
Charles Lacy is the immediate past president of the UC Davis Retirees Association. Lacy was dean of UC Davis University Extension from 1991 to 2000. Robert Halferty is the current president of the Retirees Association.
Doreen Barcellona Strnad started in June as the coordinator of the new UC Davis Retiree Center, established after UC Davis Provost Virginia Hinshaw authorized the center and allocated $96,000 in start-up money earlier this year. The center has temporary quarters in Mrak Hall on the Davis campus, and is scheduled to move into Everson Hall by late fall. The center is intended to develop more volunteer opportunities and provide support and services to retirees.
At UC Davis Health System, the Dean’s Office of Faculty Development is in the early stages of developing a Senior Legacy Program, which will focus on helping health system faculty members prepare for retirement. Among the activities envisioned by the program are practical workshops on UC retirement options and benefits, group discussions led by recent retirees, establishing a template for celebrating faculty retirements, and ways for retirees to stay connected to the health system, such as through tours of new facilities.
The steering committee for the Senior Legacy Program consists of Gibbe Parsons, professor of internal medicine; Joseph Silva Jr., Dean Emeritus, School of Medicine; John Keltner, professor of ophthalmology; and Ezra Amsterdam, professor of cardiovascular medicine. |
