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Extra Extra Read All About It – ASURA is on the Move.

ASURA has a new home. On Tuesday Maria Hesse, ASURA President, updated the Board on the move. ASURA’s new home is in the University Center Building Complex, building B. Building B is north of University and just east of Rural. Maria said the space was on the second floor in the northish-eastish end of the building.

Maria further said that a small group had been working on configuring the space to meet the Association needs and it looks like they will have enough space to have several small work areas, a conference room for the Board meetings, and a nice open area when you enter the office.

Planning for the move is already in full swing. April 8 has been designated as “boxing day” and once all is boxed the University will more the boxes to the new space, likely in mid-April. This means there is going to be a period in April and perhaps early May when there will be no operating ASURA Office.

One downside of the new home is that while there is plenty of parking it is not free. ASURA is sitting down with ASU parking to see what will work best for the Association.

Wally Balou

AI Sneaks into ASURA

An interview with Pat Schneider, ASURA member, and Paul Skiera, ASURA Board member, revealed how AI has crept into the Association. Pat mentioned that she had noticed a “button” for an AI assistant with Zoom. She tried it out on the March seminar and within a very short time after the seminar ended she received an excellent report on the seminar, one that with some editing could be posted on the Association’s website. She suggested it should be used for the Zoom Board meetings as an aid to the Secretary which was done for the March Board meeting with similar encouraging results.

On a similar vein, Paul reported running one of the Video History interviews through an AI app and got a nice summary of the interview. He thought the summary could be used to create the interview metadata, i.e., the information that helps a viewer know if they want to view the interview. He said that while this was a preliminary effort and that some more testing would be done it looks very promising.

Webley Webster

ADOA Opens Up But Only With Association Member Input

Talking with our reporter, Larry Carlson, long-time member and Association’s ADOA Health Insurance contact, said he has been stonewalled by ADOA when asked for a chance to discuss member ADOA issues. He reported that recently he had found an ADOA representative who was willing to discuss issues but before the discussion could take place, he needed specific member issues. He knows members have issues since he has delt with a number of them over the years but an earlier appeal for input from the ASURA members fell on deaf ears. Larry said this is a once in a lifetime opportunity and again asked ASURA members to send him questions and suggestions at AZOrion@Gmail.com. He also indicated it would be good if members would be willing to be part of a panel discussion with ADOA.

Papa Smurf

No Hiccups in Bylaw Revision Voting

Maria Hesse, ASURA President, said in a recent interview that the ballot for the revisions to the ASURA Bylaws had been sent out to all members with no difficulties. She hoped many members would take the time to cast their ballot. She further mentioned that if a member did not get or misplaced their ballot, they could get a new ballot and vote using either of the following methods:

• Electronic Voting (highly recommended)
• Paper Ballot

Brainy Smurf

Social Security in Flux

Since readers are mostly retired and on some form of Social Security, we sent a reporter to interview John Burns, Public Affairs Specialist for Arizona. John mentioned two web sites that he thought Association members would find interesting.

• Press Releases | Press Office | SSA
• Social Security Identifies Hundreds of Millions of Dollars in Savings. The Spanish version of any release will typically be available the following day of the English release on www.segurosocial.gov.

Hefty Smurf

Board Member Election Ran Smoothly

When contacted, Kay Faris, ASURA Past President, reported that the following five members, Irma Arboleda, Gary Bitter, Tim Desch, Karen Dwyer and Pat Schneider had been elected to serve three-year terms on the Board. Kay hoped that members who knew those elected would send them congratulations. Kay said there were no problems during the election and that most members voted electronically.

Clumsy Smurf

Life and entertainment

It turns out there are many opportunities for entertainment and/or education. Trudy Perez, Chair of the ASURA Events committee, suggested members should check out the following event opportunities.

Upcoming ASURA Events

• March Spring Luncheon at Friendship Village (Wed. March 19).
• Tour: ASU Sidney Poitier New American Film School (Fri. March 21)
• March Pre-retirement seminar – ASRS Route 3: Destination in Sight (Mon. March 24)
• Tour: The Lavender Farm at Chateau De Vie (Thur. April 24)
• Discover Mata Ortiz: A Journey into Mexico’s Art and Culture (Thur. May 8 - Sun. May 11)

Affiliated Events

• Emeritus College Colloquium - John Coleman Unbanning Intellectual Freedom (Wed. March 19)
• From AROHE – Reimagining retirement: Holistic Cognitive Health – Personal Stories (Mar. 25).
• From ASU Book Group – Social Justice in Action by Neal A. Lester.

Smurfette

Barry McNeill
E-News Editor and Chief