UC Davis faculty and staff retirees have new leadership in place for 2006-07, along with their first campus headquarters and someone to run it.

Doreen Barcellona Strnad, formerly a program representative in the School of Education, started June 12 as coordinator of the new UC Davis Retiree Center. Provost Virginia Hinshaw authorized the center and allocated $96,000 in start-up money earlier this year.

Barcellona Strnad is working with two existing groups, the Emeriti Association and the Retirees Association, both of which already are active in volunteer efforts for the university. Barcellona Strnad's job is to develop more volunteer opportunities, provide support and services to retirees, and perhaps even help bring back social events like the Goose Stew and Mother's Day brunch.

"It's a very reciprocal arrangement," she said.

Faculty and staff are equally proud of UC Davis and want to help out, Barcellona Strnad said, "so it pays to keep them connected to the university, to build on our sense of community."

Centennial input

Dick Walters, new president of the Emeriti Association, and Bob Halferty, new president of the Retirees Association, agreed that the new center will make "quite an improvement" in retirees' ability to support the university.

For example, Barcellona Strnad and the retiree leaders already have been invited to have a role in planning UC Davis centennial observances in 2007-08. Barcellona Strnad said she would like to look into establishing a "first-generation" mentoring program — retirees who were first in their families to go to college, assisting students who can make the same claim.

She noted that retiree involvement is yet another way to strengthen diversity at the university, by expanding the age range of people on campus.

Walters, a professor emeritus of computer science and medical informatics, said the Retiree Center provides "visibility … a place to meet, to talk, to better coordinate our administrative activities, and to work more closely on retiree issues."

Halferty, who retired as senior educational facilities planner, added: "We are looking for ways where we can help move the university forward and provide support."

Doing so can be difficult without an effective means of communication, Halferty said. Which is why one of Barcellona Strnad's first duties is to merge the Emeriti Association and Retirees Association databases, bring them up to date and keep them current for e-mail and-or regular mail.

The Retirees Association has a membership of about 575 and the Emeriti Association about 300.

Serving with Walters on the Emeriti Association executive committee in 2006-07 are Richard Wydick, vice president; Carol Wall, secretary; Charles Nash, treasurer; Constance Bowe and Alex McCalla, members at large; and Ed Costantini, Charles Hess, Verne Mendel, Paul Stumpf and John Whitaker, past presidents.

Besides Halferty, the new leaders of the Retirees Association are Gary Schultz, first vice president and president-elect; Gil Apaka, second vice president; Norma Rice, secretary; Carol Kurtz, treasurer; and Barbara Anderson, Beverly Brooks, Aggie Costantini and James Wilson, board members. Continuing board members are Corinne Cooke and Howard Frank.

This summer, Barcellona Strnad said, she plans to visit the UC Berkeley and UCLA retiree centers, "because they are both very willing to help us, and they are very successful, active groups."

The UC Davis Retiree Center has temporary quarters in 415 Mrak Hall, and is scheduled to move to Everson Hall by late fall. Eventually, the center is due to be housed in the proposed hotel and conference center at the campus's south entry.

More information

Barcellona Strnad can be contacted at 752-5182 or dastrnad@ucdavis.edu.