Retirees Association Meeting Minutes and Archive

UMSL RETIREES ASSOCIATION

Notes from Onboarding Meeting
Wednesday, July 15, 2026

Members Present: Clark Hickman, Bernard Feldman, Faith Lucas, Connie Jeffries, Sue Baber, Mimi Duncan, Tom Eyssell, Joel Glassman, Susan Moody, Mike Murray, David Garin

Members Absent: Dave Ganz, Lol Barton

Alumni Association Representatives Present: Jennifer Jezek-Taussig, Kevin Smith

Report from the Alumni Association:

We are now a bonafide Affinity Group of the Alumni Association and the RA will be listed under the Affinity Group tab of the Alumni Association webpage. This is great news as it formalizes our relationship with the Alumni Association.

The RA will have dedicated space with a desk, computer, and phone in the Family Richter Center when it opens. This will be a good place for small informal meetings, and to keep records for continuity from year to year.
The Richter Family will have an invitation-only ribbon cutting in August and will have an Open House for the public on Thursday, September 24. The RA board is encouraged to attend.
Jennifer Jezek-Taussig reported that the Richter Center will be seeking volunteers to serve as greeters to the building. (This building will be analogous to a “visitor’s center” where new students and parents first enter the campus and interact with personnel.) Jennifer asked the RA for assistance in securing volunteers to serve as greeters and question-answerers. The Board felt this was a good role for the RA to play in support of the campus. This activity will not begin until the building is open and Alumni determines the need and roles of such volunteers. Clark Hickman is reaching out to a board member to be a contact person for this activity and will handle it himself until that role is formalized.
Kevin Smith reported that our email distribution list is current and working properly. He also reported to Treasurer Faith Lucas that payments the AA makes on the RA’s behalf will be made from a dedicated account established for that purpose, and not as pass-through funds from AA to RA to the vendor. This is cleaner, faster, and a more appropriate way to handle funds.

Report of the Communications Committee:

Sue Baber has set a deadline of October 1 for the fall newsletter items.
Committee chairs agreed to report on the activities of their committee to Sue by that date.
Clark Hickman will provide a President’s column and the Memoriams.
Tom Eyssell will create an article about this year’s Retirees of the Year awardees.

Report of the Membership Committee:

We sent out postcards (about 160) to LYBNTs, who are people who have not renewed in a while. Of those, only 2 renewed. We had 54 total renewals/new members this cycle.
Melissa Hattman, while not on the board anymore, continues to work closely with Mimi in recruitment and retention efforts and have membership campaigns planned for this year.
Kevin Smith reported that they are now getting information from the system (besides the Opt-In notifications from pre-retirees) that will assist Mimi and Melissa in reaching out to perspective members.

Report of the Activities and Events Committee:

Joel Glassman will continue to coordinate the bi-monthly seminars.
Seminar #1 will occur in September (date TBA); Seminar #2 will occur in November (date TBA); Seminar #3 will occur in February (date TBA); and Seminar #4 will occur in April (date TBA).
Joel mentioned four possible ideas for topics and is open to other ideas and further discussion. The four ideas presented were:
a. Health Insurance Costs: What is Behind the Continuing Increase in Premiums?
b. The Mallinckrodt Radiation Settlement. This does not only affect the Cold Water Creek floodplain, but 63121 is also in the affected area and part of the Settlement ZIP code.
c. Seminar on Brain Health, especially among the older population by fellow retiree, Ann Steffen of the Psychology Department.
d. Discussion of implications of the Elimination of the State Income Tax in Missouri.
Susan Moody agreed to coordinate our fall Holiday Luncheon and next spring’s Annual Meeting. Jennifer and Kevin fear that the Richter Center may not quite be ready to handle something as important as our Holiday Luncheon, so Susan will secure it at Glen Echo. The target date the board set was Friday, December 4. (This needs to be confirmed). It is believed that our June Annual Meeting will be held on campus in the Richter. That meeting is scheduled for Friday, June 4, 2027.
Clark Hickman agreed to contact the Columbia team to ensure that any Four Campus Leadership Meetings are not called on the day of our Annual Meeting like this year.

Report of the Treasurer:

Faith Lucas reported that we have $6,258.84 in cash plus a $5,000 Certificate of Deposit for total assets of $11,258.84.

Other Business:

Clark Hickman established an Ad Hoc committee consisting of Connie Jeffries, Tom Eyssell, and David Garin to discuss changes to the composition of the Retirees of the Year Award committee as well as tweaking some wording on the Faculty Award nomination application. A board resolution reflecting these tweaks will be presented at the August board meeting.
The Board set a tentative calendar of activities and meeting dates and that calendar will be sent separately from these notes.

The onboarding meeting ended at 11:20 am.

Notes submitted by Clark Hickman, RA President

Retiree Association Meeting Minutes Archives:

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