It’s October and the first of our events are in the books. But wait, there is more! There are a number of other events coming up, discussed below, that you might find interesting.

Board meeting

• In case you did not see the announcement, ASU President Crow (along with President Biden) announced a couple of weeks ago that the McCain Library will be located on the ASU Tempe Campus. What you may not have known or realized is that this library is going to replace the Community Services Building, where our offices are. Will Stasi, our Immediate Past Present and retiree from Facilities Management, is already mentally organizing the move. Kay Faris, ASURA President, told the Board that the move is not imminent; she had contacted Michael Latsko, the head of HR and our sponsor, who reported that when he queried the University he was told – “We have a long way to go before anyone will have to move.” So, it looks like Will will have plenty of time to get us ready.
• Pat Schneider, ASURA Seminar Chair, reported the Medicare open enrollment seminar went off smoothly. This year the Medicare open enrollment seminar was split off from the ADOA/ASRS open enrollment material. The ADOA/ASRS seminar will be held on October 19 and there are currently sixty-nine registered. If you missed the Medicare seminar you can visit our seminar event report page to get a brief write-up and links to the seminar recording and slides used.
• The Meet and Greet pizza party was a success. One of the goals of this event is to give new members a chance to learn about who we are and what we do. Jan Thompson, one of our past presidents, outdid herself bringing four new Music Department retirees. If you missed the event you can read a short story with links to event pictures on the Event report page.

Affiliated events of interest

There are several events in the next month or so that you may find interesting.

• AROHE Webinar on how to reach new retirees. This webinar will offer ideas on how to find and keep new retirees. At ASU the issue is how to better keep the new members we add each quarter from information received from HR. Board members were encouraged to attend this webinar and if you would like to attend you can register at AROHE Idea Exchange:  Member Meet-Up. Since you are a member of ASURA you are also a member of AROHE.
• The ASU Book Group is again offering a unique opportunity to read fascinating books by ASU authors and then discuss the book while the author is present. The group meets at noon, generally the last Thursday of each month (September-April). The October book is “The Circle” by Levin Lichty. To read more about the group and the upcoming books visit our Affiliated events page.
• The Emeritus College has restarted its Short Talks program which is held at Friendship Village. The next program has not been scheduled but you should periodically check our Affiliated events page to see what the Emeritus College is offering. Currently it shows three lectures to be held at Mirabella.
• Biodesign Institute is presenting another in the Arntzen Grand Challenges Lecture Series. The November 2 lecture will be given by Dr. Colin F. Camerer, California Institute of Technology. His presentation is titled “The brain hates losing (and other news from neuroeconomnics)” Neuroeconomics is a new synthesis that seeks to understand and causally influence brain mechanisms that underlie computation during economic decisions. For more information click here.

Costa Rica March 2024

Costa Rica is an interesting country. It has no standing army; is a rugged, rain forested Central American country with coastlines on the Caribbean and Pacific and has roughly a quarter of its area made up of protected forest.

If this sounds interesting and you would like to travel there with fellow ASURA members, the ASURA travel committee has a few openings still available. Sign up by the end of November and you will be included in our travel group. See our International travel page for more trip details

If you have questions or an interest, contact Joyce Harman Diaz at jaysea2022@gmail.com.

BrightFocus Foundation

The BrightFocus Foundation focuses its resources on finding cures for the diseases many of us fear the most – loss of mind and loss of sight. Thus, the Foundation funds exceptional scientific research worldwide to defeat Alzheimer’s disease, macular degeneration, and glaucoma and provides expert information on these heartbreaking diseases.

One of BrightFocus’s outreach programs is “Zoom in on Dementia & Alzheimer’s” which is a monthly virtual discussion series with medical experts to keep you informed about the latest breakthroughs and finds in the field. The next presentation on October 19 discusses “Can Alzheimer’s Be Prevented?” You can register for this discussion and/or listen to previous presentations by clinking on the link above.

Keeping website current

There are a few pages on the website that need periodic updating or creation. These tasks do not require any programing skills but rather being able to follow some written instructions on what to do. Creating a new page involves filling in a form. If you can use a browser and know your ASURITE User ID and password, you have all the tools that are necessary. Following is a list of the webpages that need updating or creation.

• Home Page (update the upcoming and past events),
• Event Reports (add a story for one of our events),
• Add latest edition of “Prime Times,”
• Add the Board Minutes (usually done by the Board Secretary),
• Add the Annual Report,
• Add the latest Pre-retirement Seminar,
• Create the new Board Member ballot,
• Add the latest E-News  (usually done by E-News editor),
• Update the Obituary page (currently done by Carolyn Minner),
• Update Board of Directors page,
• Updaate Committees and chairs,

If you see a page you would be interested in updating/creating please let one of the Website Committee co-chairs know (Connie McNeill / Barry McNeill).

Barry McNeill Editor