This newsletter is brought to you by Human Resources.
| |
Endowed Retiree Health Open Enrollment | |
|
Monday, October 30th - Friday, November 17th
Reminder: NO ACTION IS NEEDED if you want the same health coverage in 2024 as you had in 2023; it will automatically carry over into 2024.
In late October, Endowed Retirees on Aetna retiree health plans will receive an Open Enrollment (OE) Guide mailed directly from Aetna. Please read the material carefully to review your health plan options and any contribution changes effective January 1, 2024. If you are eligible for Medicare, please review the Health Plan Comparison Charts for Medicare Advantage Prescription Drug (MAPD) and Retiree 80/20 plans.
Open Enrollment Presentations for Fall 2024: Cornell benefit experts and Aetna representatives will hold virtual and in-person presentations for the 2024 retiree benefit plans.
-
Webinar: Wednesday, November 1, 2023
- In-person: Tuesday, November 14 & Wednesday, November 15, 2023
Find the detailed meeting schedule and participation details here.
You can log in to AetnaRetireeHealth.com/Cornell anytime to review your current benefit information, watch videos, read articles, and use tools to help you with your healthcare decisions. From this site, you can manage your bills and make payments, or you can choose to ‘go paperless’ and ask Aetna to email you when your bill is ready to view and pay online.
If you are unable to attend a presentation, a recording will be available online, and Aetna’s dedicated Retiree Service Center is here for you:
Contact the Aetna Retiree Service Center
1-800-338-4533 (TTY: 711)
8:00 am to 8:00 pm ET, Monday – Friday
Prescription Drug Plan Questions
If you have the Retiree 80/20 Plan or the RPHP Pre-Medicare Plan, contact
OptumRx at 1-866-533-6977, available 24/7
Notice of Creditable Coverage
Cornell University is required to provide Endowed Health Plan enrollees with a Notice of Creditable Coverage annually. This notice has information about your current prescription drug coverage with Cornell Endowed Health Plans and your options under Medicare’s prescription drug coverage. The Creditable Coverage notice is posted in the Benefits Reports and Notices section of Cornell University’s public website. A paper distribution will also be included in Cornell’s Endowed Health Plans annual notice booklet.
| |
|
An Evening with Dr. Markus Hofmeyr: Making a Difference through a Career in Conservation
Monday, October 23, 2023 at 6:00 PM
College of Veterinary Medicine at Cornell University, LH4
Register
Dr. Markus Hofmeyr is a world-renowned wildlife veterinarian with worldwide experience based in South Africa. He will share his battle-hardened perspectives on sustainable conservation, focused on challenges and successes around wildlife translocation. Dr. Hofmeyr’s professional journey as a field vet and in conservation philanthropy offers important lessons, especially for the next generation now embarking on careers in conservation.
This special event is presented by the Cornell Wildlife Health Center and the Zoo and Wildlife Society.
| |
Desdemona by Toni Morrison
October 27 and 28, 2023, 7:30 PM, Kiplinger Theater
Tickets
The Department of Performing and Media Arts (PMA) will present Toni Morrison’s 2011 work DESDEMONA to honor the 30th anniversary of her Nobel Prize.
Originally created in 2011 by Toni Morrison in collaboration with director Peter Sellars and singer-songwriter and activist Rokia Traoré, DESDEMONA is a poetic and intimate response to Shakespeare's OTHELLO. Morrison's work weaves dialogue, music, and song into a complex exploration of Shakespeare's famous and historically challenging work. Centering of the ill-fated character of Desdemona and her African nurse Barbary, Morrison's play exists in the imaginary space of the afterlife, interrogating the pain and trauma of race, gender, and class as well as the healing process and possibility of forgiveness across generations, locations, and characters.
PMA's production of DESDEMONA, facilitated by PMA Associate Professor Beth Milles, will include student performers onstage alongside Malian singer Rokia Traoré in a dynamic performance that captures the words, music, and transformative power of love.
|
Cornell Concert Series: The Knights with Chris Thile
Sunday, October 29, 2023, 3:00 PM
Bailey Hall
Tickets
The Knights are a collective of adventurous musicians dedicated to transforming the classical orchestra experience and reimagining the relationship between audiences and music. Boasting a diverse roster of composers, arrangers, and improvisers, the ensemble unites a host of influences within the chamber music context, celebrating the intimacy and spontaneity of this idiom in fresh new ways.
The Knights join forces with MacArthur Fellow and GRAMMY-winning mandolinist, singer, and songwriter Chris Thile of Punch Brothers and Nickel Creek. Their program will include works by Caroline Shaw, Chris Thile, Antonín Dvorák, Colin Jacobsen, and J. S. Bach.
| |
Earth Source Heating
Wednesday, November 1, 2023, 4:00 PM
Kendal of Ithaca
2230 N. Triphammer Rd., Ithaca
Like individuals, institutions, and communities everywhere, Cornell is trying to reduce its carbon footprint. As part of this process, Cornell is working on reducing the greenhouse gas emissions released when we burn fossil fuels to heat campus.
One possible solution may be to use “The Heat Beneath Our Feet”. Cornell is actively investigating whether they can extract abundant heat from deep underground and distribute it using the existing campus district energy system. During the most recent phase of this program, the team drilled the Cornell University Borehole Observatory – a nearly 10,000’ deep hole below campus. While many technical challenges are associated with a first-of-its-kind project like this, there are also many reasons to believe that this pioneering technique will become an important tool in the fight against global climate change.
This presentation, given by Wayne Bezner Kerr, Earth Source Heat Program Manager, Cornell University, is part of the Campus Club at Cornell’s 2023-24 Lecture Series (open to the public).
|
Nature on the Doorstep: A Year of Letters
Thursday, November 2, 2023, 4:00 - 5:00 PM
Mann Library, 160
Register
There is magic just outside your door, says Angela E. Douglas, Daljit S. and Elaine Sarkaria Professor Emerita of Insect Physiology and Toxicology in Cornell's Department of Entomology. In her new book, Nature on the Doorstep: A Year of Letters (Cornell University Press, 2023), Douglas explores the many joys and curiosities of her own upstate New York yard, cultivated with nothing more advanced than "strategic neglect."
In a hybrid Chats in the Stacks book talk, Douglas will share the simple pleasures of paying attention, and celebrate the important role even humble backyards can play in conservation efforts, and in our appreciation of the natural world.
|
Verdant Views: Cultivating a Sustainable Future: Cornell Botanic Gardens’ Native Lawn
Tuesday, November 14, 2023, 1:00 -2:00 PM
Register
Traditional turfgrass lawns provide little benefit to native biodiversity, are significant sources of air and water pollution, and require huge investments of time to maintain. In a world grappling with the climate crisis, every action counts, and adopting a new lawn paradigm that champions native biodiversity in your own backyard is a powerful way to take control of your environmental impact. In this enlightening webinar, we will discuss a visionary lawn paradigm shift – one where lush, low-growing native grasses and forbs take center stage.
As featured in the recent New York Times article by Margaret Roach, this webinar will explore the journey behind Cornell Botanic Gardens’ native lawn, from its inception to the multitude of benefits it brings, and the invaluable lessons it has taught us. Host Kevin Moss will be joined by Todd Bittner, Director of Natural Areas, and Krissy Boys, Horticulturist and Educator.
Verdant Views is a videocast series hosted by Kevin Moss of Cornell Botanic Gardens. Each episode focuses on a different topic related to plants, gardens, conservation, and the vital connections between plants and peoples around the world.
| |
Day Trip to NYC
Saturday, December 2, 2023
Create your own adventure in NYC! Day trip to NYC sponsored by the Cornell Recreation Connection. Cost is $67.00 per person.The itinerary is below:
- The bus leaves B Lot at 6:00 AM with 10:15 AM drop off at Bryant Park.
- 7:00 PM meet up at Bryant Park for departure back to Ithaca.
- Arrive at 11:15 PM at Cornell B Lot.
For more information and to purchase tickets, please visit the CRC web page.
| |
|
Southworth Library Events
24 W. Main Street, Dryden
Southworth Library has some great events coming up in November:
-
Lunch N Learn: Beavers and Other Friends with Dave Hall - Wednesday, November 1, 2023, 12:00 PM. Dave Hall will share the skills and techniques from his book, The Naturalist’s Guide: A Field Guide to Observing and Understanding Wildlife. This lecture will go well beyond dams, lodges, and bark to take a rare look into the lives of three special beavers, Merle, Apple, and Amik.
-
Cornell Raptors – Saturday, November 4 at 11:00 AM. Cornell Raptor Program Club members will be at the library, along with some feathered friends, to teach us about these amazing animals and how they are cared for. Get up close and personal with owls, falcons, and other birds! Please register to reserve your spot for this hands-on program!
For more information on additional events, please visit the library web page.
| |
NAMI Dessert Gala
Tuesday, November 7, 2023, 6:30 PM
Free Tickets
Cornell's A Seat At The Table along with the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Finger Lakes is hosting its first annual Dessert Gala! It will be a night of eating, dancing, bonding, and enjoyment. Participants will learn a little bit about NAMI Finger Lakes and what they have been up to. The event is free but requires a ticket.
| |
Why We Didn't Act on Climate and How to Act Now: Lessons Learned from Geology to Behavioral Science
Thursday, November 9, 2023, 7:00 PM
Register
Science in the Virtual Pub welcomes Dr. Caroly Shumway, Director, Center for Behavior and Climate, to explore the changing relationship between science, government, business, people, and climate action, what holds people back from acting, and how to accelerate climate actions and policies with behavior change.
Science in the Virtual Pub is a twice-monthly program where you can grab a drink and engage in some friendly science on the second and fourth Thursdays of the month from September through May, except holidays. Most sessions will be fully virtual. Some special events will be hybrid events, live streamed from different locations.
| |
Intergenerational Estrangement in Older Age
Tuesday, October 31, 2023, 12:00 -1:00 PM
Martha Van Rensselaer Hall, 1219 & via Zoom
Register
When relationships between parents and adult children break down, it leaves parents with a sense of helplessness. It is often adult children who initiate cut-offs, without parents fully understanding the reasons. Communication shutdowns block any attempts of reconciliation and parents are left with an ambiguous loss.
This presentation will discuss the changing power dynamics between parents and children from adulthood to later life and present findings from a new study on the effects of estrangement on the lives of older parents.
Andreas Nikolajsen is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Psychology and Behavioural Sciences at Aarhus University, Denmark. He is also on the staff of the EGV-foundation Social Inclusion of Older Adults, a private philanthropic foundation. His work focuses on the social and psychological dimensions of older age.
| |
Free Optometry and Optician Services
The Ithaca Free Clinic has partnered with the Ithaca Lions Club to provide free Optometry and Optician services to all Tompkins County residents and children over age 5.
Eye exams, glaucoma screenings, and prescription eyeglasses are available at no cost. Schedule an appointment by calling 607-330-1254 or by emailing clinic@ithacahealth.org.
Upcoming dates for the clinic are on Fridays: October 27, and November 3.
| |
Care.com Care Talks
With Care Talks, you’ll access exclusive events from expert speakers offering advice and guidance to help you better care for yourself and your family.
Check out these upcoming events:
-
Emotional Wellness: Gratitude - Thursday, November 2, 2023, 1:00 PM. Learn the science behind gratitude and how it can help to increase meaningful relationships in all areas of your life. The newest research empowers individuals to incorporate gratitude into their daily lives. This webinar will offer tips to help you do that.
-
Family Meetings and Having the Care Conversation - Wednesday, November 15, 2023, 1:00 PM. Family meetings are an essential part of making certain that conflict is diminished among all of your family members. This seminar will cover how to prepare for a family meeting, as well as communicate with older adults and other family members about important decisions such as health, housing, finances, and legal issues.
For additional Care.com webinars, please visit their web page.
| |
|
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Ithaca and Tompkins Urgently Needs Mentors
Big Brothers Big Sisters is committed to creating and supporting one-to-one mentoring relationships that ignite the power and promise of youth.
In Tompkins County, nearly 100 children are waiting for someone to step up to the plate and become a positive, supportive force in their lives. All types of volunteers are needed, but our current waitlist has 2x more boys than girls, so male-identified Bigs are especially needed!
The power of mentorship lies in the moments that spark curiosity, aspiration, and inspire potential. Through simple and enjoyable weekly outings like playing basketball, doing arts and crafts, cooking, or taking a hike on a trail, mentoring can expand a young person’s sights on what they can pursue and achieve.
If you are interested in applying to become a volunteer Big, or if you'd like to learn more, please visit their website, reach out to Joe Gibson at jgibson@cityofithaca.org, or call 607-273-8364 ext. 2144.
| |
|
Cornell Cooperative Extension Tompkins County Seeks New At-Large Board Members
Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) Tompkins County invites Tompkins County residents with diverse backgrounds and interests to apply to serve as At-Large members of its Board of Directors for three-year terms starting in 2024. Board members guide and shape the direction of the organization’s many programs, oversee its finances and operations, select and evaluate the performance of its director, and other duties that help to ensure CCE Tompkins County effectively meets the current needs of Tompkins County residents.
New board members would serve a 3-year term from January 2024 through December 2026.
For more information please visit bit.ly/2023CCEBoard. Applications will be accepted through November 6, 2023. Please direct any questions to tompkins@cornell.edu.
| | | | |
