Shiver me timbers but it has been a bit cold. Oh for the halcyon days of last summer when we didn’t have to break the ice off the birdbaths. This time will pass and the flowers will again hold their heads up high but right now they look a bit downcast.

Board meeting

• Kendra Burton, University Liaison, reported from the Capitol. She supplied a handout with an overview of the ASU efforts in health care. Arizona ranks poorly nationally on a number of indicators when it comes to health care. ASU has stated three health goals: 1) Improve health equity, including health care access and health education, 2) Significantly increase the production of physicians, nurses, etc., and 3) Triple ASU’s clinical partnerships. The $50M funding request includes money to create the School of Medicine and Advanced Medical Engineering and the School of Public Health Technology in downtown Phoenix.
  
  Rojann Alpers, retired nursing faculty, pointed out that the working conditions in hospitals are poor and many registered nurses refuse to work in them. She wanted to know if ASU was addressing this issue. Tara Roesler, ASURA Past President, also wanted to know what efforts were being considered to ensure adequate residency opportunities within Arizona. Kendra had no specific response to these comments / questions but did say ASU was working to make working as a healthcare professional an attractive option.
• Pat Schneider, Seminar Committee Chair, reported that thirty-five had registered for the January seminar, eight of whom were from NAU. In an email after the seminar, she reported that the seminar went really well! Lots of positive feedback. She also reported that none of the members who had registered to view the seminar in-person with in the ASURA conference room showed up -- a bit of a mystery.
• The discussion on how to keep more of the Introductory members once their free year ends continued from the November meeting. In a nutshell the issue is convincing Introductory members that:
  1. ASURA is an association that does good things for the greater good (e.g., the University, the community) and for its members.
  2. Supporting ASURA is a good thing even if you are not actively involved since your support allows those ASURA members who want to be involved to carry out ASURA’s mission as laid out in the Bylaws.

The discussion will continue. There is a survey in the works and Partha Dasgupta suggested an ASURA advertising blitz at the start of membership renewal.

Emeritus College writing workshop

Mark Lussier, Dean of the Emeritus College, again expressed the Emeritus College’s desire to share programs and events with ASURA. To that end he supplied the following write-up for the upcoming writing workshiop

Are you afraid your memoirs or fiction might read like your memos or annual performance reports? The Emeritus College has the cure. Its Creative Writing Workshops are designed to help with your memoirs, short stories, novels, poetry and anything else that you want to be readable. Workshops continue into the Spring Semester with ten 2-hour weekly sessions beginning Thursday, February 15 and ending Thursday, April 25. The workshop will not meet on March 7.

Directing the Workshop will be Annie Vitalsey, an MFA graduate at ASU. Vitalsey has published fiction in several venues, including Bennington Review and Watershed Revue. She describes the Workshop: “What makes a story? What makes a story worth reading? By exploring contemporary fiction and nonfiction, crafting original stories, and engaging in workshop discussions of others’ creative work, we will wonder about these questions and begin to answer them.”

This class is open to writers of all experience levels.” There is a $100 registration fee for the Workshop. Registration details are being sent out to membership by Emeritus College E-Card. Class size is limited, so those interested should act quickly.

Wild Apricot mobile app for members

Wild Apricot has a mobile app for both Android and iOS mobile devices. There are a number of things you can do with the app, for example:

• See a list of upcoming events and register for them.
• View the details of events you’ve registered for, and
• Find other members and contact them.

You can download and install the app (Wild Apricot for Members) from the Google Play store or the Mac App store.

Upcoming ASURA Events

Spring Events

• Area Agency on Aging (Seminar)
  Thursday February 8, 9:50-noon
• Yacht Rock (Silver Star Theater)
  Saturday February 24 5:00 pm

Pre-retirement Seminars

• 4 Steps to Money Management, and ASU email and technology after retirement.
  Monday January 22 noon
• ASRS (not posted)
  Monday February 26 noon
• Office of Human Resources.(not posted)
  Monday March 25 noon

International Travel Events

• Costa Rica
  March 11, 2024
• Ultimate Africa.
  July 28, 2024

Upcoming ASU Affiliated Events

• ASU Book Group 2023-2024.
  Thursday January 25 / February 29
• AROHE – Reimagining Retirement:  Exploring Your Life Plan.
  Tuesday Jan 30, Feb 13, and 27 11:00 am
• Creative Writing Workshop (Emeritus College)
  Thursday February 15 1:00 pm

Barry McNeill, editor

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