April 2026 Minutes

President鈥檚 Council of Retired Employees
Friday 3 April 2026 at 8:15 am
Foster Board Room, 3rd Floor, Buchanan Alumni House and Zoom

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鈥檚 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鈥檚 letter has been sent.

Newsletter: The newsletter was posted on March 11. About 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鈥檚 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鈥檚 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.鈥� 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.