Issue No.18 - Winter 2022 |
|
Letter from Our Executive Director |
|
Dear Emeriti,
I trust that the holidays have provided all of you with a time to reflect and recharge. My expectations of a more relaxed time with family and friends were rapidly replaced by a sense of caution due to this new phase of the pandemic. Through all of this, the need to adapt, remain flexible is constant, as well as to celebrate the joys of every moment.
As an association, I anticipate that we will be challenged to continue to pivot and adapt as the world around us keeps moving in sometimes unpredictable ways. We will perhaps cycle back to online meetings and events, entertain new guidelines to be together in person, and remember to check in with one another.
Even with these challenges, we enter 2022 with a robust vision for the Association. At our board retreat in December when we met in person at the Faculty Enrichment Center, each committee identified priorities and a strategic direction, and we brainstormed how to follow through on ideas that came from participating in the Association of Retirement Organizations in Higher Education (AROHE) conference, which many of us attended last year. The point is, there are several ideas afloat that can make our association more vibrant and there are multiple opportunities for you or a colleague to be involved. I underscore that growing the family is key goal for the Emeriti Association to have greater reach, longevity, and vibrancy. Please, get in touch with me or the committee chairs if you would like to know more about some of the initiatives underway. I can be reached via email at [email protected].
In closing, I have some news of my own: I was asked to serve as Interim Associate Dean of the Graduate School and after much consideration decided to accept it. The university will continue to support the Emeriti by framing my transition as a leave of absence for now, and together with Matt Serra we will review the need for an interim Executive Director while I am serving in this important role for the Graduate School. I am fully invested in continuing to advance our robust vision for the Emeriti Association and will certainly be an advocate for Emeriti while working in the Provost’s Office. I have spoken to the board about my decision, and they have been unanimously gracious and supportive. It has been a privilege working with all of you and a highlight of my time at the University of Cincinnati.
Best regards,
Flávia
Executive Director and Distinguished Research Professor
|
|
Letter from Our Board President |
Random thoughts from the president…
January 1, 2022. The celebrations with friends and family are over. The travels have been completed, and we have returned home. The holiday decorations have been returned to their usual storage places, and the house has been returned to a state of relative normalcy. The young year stands before us, ready and waiting.
But things seem different from years past. I try to maintain my usual hopeful attitude, but I cannot deny a sense of apprehension. Our national divisions are starker than ever; COVID continues to surprise us with new variants; inflation is causing prices to go higher and higher; the changing climate is creating disaster after disaster; worldwide hunger and disease are raging and out of control.
These events and those of January 6th continue to have a profound effect upon us all, including you, the membership of the Emeriti Association and us, the members of your Board; but like the American spirit, we are an optimistic bunch with an indomitable will to do and be better. In spite of these past, present and future difficulties, we continue to seek ways to make things better and more enjoyable for all of us. Like the unsinkable Molly Brown, “I Ain’t Down Yet!”
I strongly recommend that you read this newsletter start to finish as well as the E-Blasts that you received in the past. You will find good things, opportunities that are enriching, enlightening and even entertaining. For example, I encourage you to apply for the Association’s “Emeriti/Undergraduate Mentorship Award for Collaborative Projects” if you have an idea for a project that an undergraduate could complete next academic year. That is but one of our endeavors as a part of the “Next Lives Here” initiative at UC.
In closing, amid all of this gloom and doom that continues to bombard us, I find encouragement and uplift in the inaugural poem of Amanda Gorman that she read on January 20, 2021.
And so we lift our gaze, not to what stands between us, but what stands before us.
We close the divide because we know to put our future first, we must first put our differences aside.
We lay down our arms so we can reach out our arms to one another.
We seek harm to none and harmony for all.
Let the globe, if nothing else, say this is true.
That even as we grieved, we grew.
That even as we hurt, we hoped.
That even as we tired, we tried.
That we’ll forever be tied together, victorious.
Not because we will never again know defeat, but because we will never again sow division.
And further, the poem closes with these lines:
For there is always light, if only we’re brave enough to see it.
If only we’re brave enough to be it.
Have a great year!
Terence (Terry) Milligan, president
UC Emeriti Association
|
|
|
|
Calendar of Upcoming Events |
|
Speaker Series - January 27, February 24, March 24
Emeriti Mentorship Award Deadline - February 25th
Board Meeting - February 14, March 14, April 15
|
|
In This Issue
Welcome New Emeriti
Speaker Series
Arts and Culture Happenings
Health and Wellness Committee
Mentoring Committee
Reinvention in Life's Second Act
In Memoriam
Did You Know?
Scroll down for individual sections.
|
|
Margaret Hostetter, MD
Professor Emerita College of
Medicine Department of
Pediatrics
Effective January 1, 2022
Yong Kim, PhD.
Professor Emeritus
Lindner College of Business
Department of Finance
Effective January I, 2022
Carolyn Price, PhD.
Professor Emerita
College of Medicine
Department of Cancer Biology
Effective March 2, 2022
Shuang Zhang, PhD.
Professor Emeritus
College of Arts and Sciences
Department of Mathematical Sciences,
Effective January 1, 2022
|
|
Judith Ragsdale, MDiv, PhD.
Field Service Associate Professor Emerita
College of Medicine Department of
Pediatrics
Effective November 30, 2021
Gila Safran Naveh, PhD.
Professor Emerita
College of Arts and Sciences
Department of Judaic Studies
Effective January 1, 2022
Juan Villafane, MD
Professor of Clinical Emeritus
College of Medicine Department of
Pediatrics
Effective December 1, 2021
|
|
Where to, Cincinnati?
The Future of Our University
between Next Lives Here,
Cultural and Educational Anchor, and a Digitally Transformed Experience.
Valerio Ferme, PhD
Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost
Topics to be covered:
- UC’s Strategic Direction
- UC’s Underlying Educational Mission of Excellence (as I see it)
- Current alignment between 1) and 2)
- Disruptions in Higher Education (e.g., enrollments; COVID; online; technology)
- Opportunities and Options (more Questions than Answers)
January 27, 2022. 12 noon - 1:00 p.m. Virtual attendance via zoom
Meeting ID: 994 8607 7251
Passcode: 732844
|
|
Valerio Ferme, PhD, serves as the Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost, providing oversight and strategic direction for the University of Cincinnati's (UC) more than 46,000 students, 6,000 faculty and 13 academic colleges, the Graduate School, UC Online, and a collection of state-of-the-art university libraries.
Ferme joined UC in 2019 as Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences - UC’s largest college - overseeing a $125 million budget and 21 departments.
Prior to UC, Ferme served as Dean of the College of Arts and Letters at Northern Arizona University from 2017-2019 and Divisional Dean for the Arts and Humanities at the University of Colorado from 2015-2017, where he also served as Chair of the Department of French and Italian for six years.
Ferme earned undergraduate degrees in Biology and Religious Studies at Brown University, a Master in Comparative Literature and Italian Studies from Indiana University and a PhD in Comparative Literature from UC Berkeley.
|
|
Arts and Culture Happenings |
|
Winter is here! And while many Arts and Cultural events are being re-evaluated because of the sharp rise of Covid cases in Hamilton County, the Arts and Culture Committee can recommend the following activities for your consideration:
January 13-16, The Cincinnati Art Museum will reopen (having taken a Health and Wellness Pause), and will conclude the showing of Kara Walker’s Cut to the Quick. To purchase tickets ($6.00 for seniors), go to cincinnatiartmuseum.org.
February 6, 2022, we recommend joining other emeriti at the CCM Undergraduate Opera presentation of Jacques Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld (a satirical re-telling of the Orpheus story. It seems, he really did not want to rescue his wife after all!!). The 2:00 pm Sunday performance will be in the Cohen Family Theater at CCM. Tickets are $10. Please order at ccm.uc.edu/boxoffice.html.
February 18, The CCM Wind Symphony (with guest conductor emeritus, Terence Milligan!) presents Summon the Heroes. The Friday, 7:30 pm concert will be in the CCM Corbett Auditorium. Please go to ccmonstage.universitytickets.com for ticket purchase ($19.50)
February 17-27, the Cincinnati Ballet presents Cinderella, at the Springer Auditorium in Music Hall. For schedule and tickets, please visit cballet.org.
February 22, Life of the Mind Conversations.
February 25, at 2:00 pm, the Cincinnati Museum Center offers a live virtual program, Cincinnati Heritage Programs Speakers Bureau: Union Terminal. Completed in 1933, the iconic Union Terminal is a National Historic Landmark, as well as an art deco masterpiece. To register for this free tour, go to cincymuseum.org.
|
|
Health and Wellness Committee |
|
The Health and Wellness Committee's purpose is to offer Emeriti opportunities to continue to be healthy, active and productive. A new initiative is the Health and Wellness Book Club.
The book club will include non-fiction and fiction books that cover a broad range of topics that support our physical, emotional, spiritual and intellectual well-being.
The first book selected is Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life by Hector Garcia and Francesc Miralles.
|
|
FREE HEARING SCREENING for UC EMERITI
UC Speech & Hearing Clinic new Health Sciences Bldg., Suite 325
PHONE TO SCHEDULE: 513-558-8503 or 513-558-8988
Thanks to UC Audiology in Speech Communication Sciences & Disorders Department
Brought to you by the UC Emeriti Association's Health & Wellness Committee
|
|
The Emeriti Association is accepting applications for the Emeriti/Undergraduate Mentorship Award for Collaborative Projects until February 25. For information on submitting a proposal,
|
|
Reinvention in Life's Second Act |
|
I started at UC in 1978 in the Department of Communication and retired in December of 2008. In those 30 years, I taught a wide variety of courses to undergrads and master’s students, published a plethora of articles and books, was an affiliate faculty in Women’s Studies, won teaching and service award and honors, served as Department Head in Communication, Interim Vice-Provost for Faculty Relations, Interim Head of the Department of Judaic Studies, and Interim Dean of the College of Arts and Science.
I loved my years at UC and in my discipline but did not want to do more of the same in retirement. So, I deliberately decided to totally reinvent myself upon retiring at age 56. I gave my professional book collection to my departmental library, brainstormed a list of 37 activities I could pursue in my second-act, and my husband Chuck and I immediately moved to Asheville, NC one week after the fall term of 2008 ended.
Some of my 37 items went by the wayside, like brewing beer…since Asheville has more breweries per capita than any other city in the country. I failed miserably at some of my retirement activities like tap dancing, vegetable gardening and home building with Habitat for Humanity. But I have immensely enjoyed continuously reinventing myself these past 13 years. I knew I wanted to start a business and I considered an online travel agency, being a home chef for busy executives, and creating a pet care business. My business, Pet Care Extraordinaire, is my love.
I have cared for hundreds of dogs and cats while people are working or on vacation. There have been rabbits, fish, guinea pigs, iguanas, horses and chickens too. I have employed several folks as independent contractors, was the President of the Asheville Area Professional Pet Sitters Association and wrote articles for Critter Magazine, a local quarterly publication. I still care for pets about 10 hours a week and have many animal friends.
Volunteer roles are endless and bring me much joy. For several years, I taught adults to read as part of our local Literacy Council and found that to be the most challenging and rewarding type of teaching in my life. I have volunteered with the Humane Society, Radio Reading Services for the Blind, and at various pre-schools and elementary schools where I have been “Miss Cindy” rather than “Dr. Berryman-Fink.” Currently I distribute produce at a food pantry and am organizing a team to support an Afghan refugee family resettling in Asheville.
My love of teaching has not been abandoned as I teach Communication and Women’s Studies courses and offer faculty development workshops at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of North Carolina Asheville. I have translated my administrative talents and academic committee leadership into chairing several committees as well as the Steering Council (Board of Volunteers) at OLLI. And I am a student again, having taken OLLI courses for 13 years, including subjects totally new to me…astronomy, architecture, film criticism, music appreciation, art history, drawing, and Appalachian studies, Creative writing courses and a 5-year stint in a women’s writing workshop resulted in my recently published memoir Beware of Hanging Icicles: Tales of a New England Girl.
I have developed new hobbies such as yoga, meditation, mountain hiking, drawing, and creative writing and have continued hobbies pursued during my academic life such as reading, cooking, bicycling, kayaking, skiing, and travel. My life includes book and film discussion groups, international potluck dining, local bluegrass music, workouts at the gym, visits to craft breweries, grandparenting, and travel. There are more possibilities on the horizon… many countries to visit and national parks to explore. I may take up pickleball or become a museum docent and Chuck and I are about to start a podcast…look for “In Love with the Finks” on Spotify.
Some may find retirement frightening as one loses an identity and a way of life. But there are so many possible identities and ways of finding intellectual stimulation, social activity, cultural learning, leadership/volunteer opportunities, and physical well-being. I urge recent or prospective retirees to think large and to be audacious in reinventing yourself in life’s second act.
|
|
Do you happen to be in the middle of your own Second (or third) Act? Email us to let us know and you may find your story in a future newsletter.
|
|
Edward J. Latessa, Ph.D., passed away peacefully at his home on January 11, 2022, after a long battle with pancreatic cancer.
Born in Youngstown, Ohio, he earned his doctorate in Public Administration from Ohio State University. He joined the Criminal Justice faculty in UC’s College of Community Services in 1980 and led the criminal justice faculty for the next 40 years.
Moving to the College of Education in 1985, the unit grew from a program with six faculty into a School with over two dozen faculty. As Director of the School of Criminal Justice, he retired from the active faculty in 2020 while continuing to serve as Director of the Corrections Institute at the University.
Dr. Latessa was an internationally respected researcher, having published some 200 scholarly works and managed over 200 funded research projects. He was elected President of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences and recognized with awards from the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, the American Society of Criminology, the American Correctional Association, and many other national, international, regional, and state professional and academic associations.
When asked in an interview some ten years ago what he felt was his greatest professional accomplishment, he unhesitatingly replied that it was his students. Ed had a tremendous impact not only on his field, the School of Criminal Justice, and the University. He impacted the lives of many through his personal commitment to supporting all of those around him.
|
|
|
Aftab Pureval, the newly elected Mayor of Cincinnati and first Asian American to be elected Mayor of Cincinnati, is an alumnus of the University of Cincinnati College of Law.
In 2005, he enrolled at University of Cincinnati College of Law. He served as editor of the university's Law Review Journal while also working at the Warren County Domestic Relations Court. He received his Juris Doctor in 2008.
|
|
EMERITI ASSOCIATION BOARD
Are you interested in joining the Emeriti Association Board?
Vice President Ralph Katerberg is collecting candidates for this spring's slate. Please contact Ralph Katerberg at [email protected] for information.
|
|
|
The Emeriti Association now has a LinkedIn Group!
Any University of Cincinnati emeritus can join for updates on the Emeriti Association and reminders about events, volunteer opportunities and more. You can request to join using this link or by searching University of Cincinnati Emeriti Association on LinkedIn.
Form connections with your fellow emeriti today!
|
|
|
Emeriti Connection is produced and distributed by the Office of the Executive Director of the Emeriti Center. If you have questions or comments, please email us at [email protected].
|
|
Issue No. 18 - Winter 2022 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
