August 2008
Vol. 2008-2009 No. 1
Welcome! Or welcome back!
Welcome back to returning members of the IU Association of Retired Faculty and Staff. We hope your summer was glorious. As another academic year begins, we look forward to your “re-upping.”
And welcome to our prospective members. This issue of Newswatch is being mailed to newly retired faculty and staff. We cordially invite you to join us. Dues are modest ($10 for individuals, $15 for couples), and our meetings offer an opportunity to exchange ideas, information, and friendship.
The Retirees Association provides a voice for retirees in their continuing relationship with Indiana University. Please return the enclosed form, together with your membership dues.
September to feature Mayor Kruzan
Bloomington Mayor Mark Kruzan will be the speaker at the annual fall luncheon on Wed., Sept. 10. The doors will open at 11:45 a.m. at Terry’s Banquets & Catering, 3124 Canterbury Drive. Lunch will be served at noon.
Mayor Kruzan was first elected mayor in November 2003 and re-elected last fall. He served as Bloomington’s representative in the Indiana Legislature for 16 years, from 1986 to 2002, when he decided not to run again. He was appointed House Minority Whip in 1994. In 1996 his colleagues elected him Majority Leader of the Indiana House, a post he held for the next six years.
Mayor Kruzan graduated from IU in 1982, with degrees in journalism and political science. In 1985 he earned his JD at the IU-Bloomington School of Law. For several years, as an adjunct professor in SPEA, he taught “Indiana Politics and Policy.”
Because the mayor believes that achieving a better Bloomington is a team effort, please come with your questions and comments and hear what he has to say about the opportunities and challenges ahead.
Diners can choose between walnut chicken salad on a croissant or mushroom-spinach quiche with fresh fruit. Everyone will receive a green salad with balsamic dressing, tomato basil bisque, apple pie, rolls and butter, and a choice of coffee, tea, or iced tea. The cost is $15 per person; the deadline is Sept. 3. Please complete the enclosed reservation form.
Mark your calendar now
Save the dates for future meetings by putting them on your calendar now:
Oct. 8 – 2 p.m., Ted Carmines (political science), Election 2008
Nov. 12 – 2 p.m., Perry Metz (radio-TV), changes coming with HDTV
Dec. 3 – noon, IU coaches and swimmers/ divers, “Reflections from Beijing”
Jan. 14 – Allan Thornton, Midwest Proton Radiotherapy Institute
Feb. 11 – 2 p.m., Coach Bill Lynch, IU football
April 8 – 2 p.m., TBA
May 13 – 5:30 p.m., Bob and Pat Williams, “Cole Porter in Words and Music”
We’ll meet at the Peterson Room, Showalter House, IU Foundation, with the exception of the December meeting, when we will be once again at Terry’s. We don’t meet in March because it’s spring break.
Talbot replaces Dawson on board
In July Sue Talbot replaced Jim Dawson on the board of directors of the IU Association of Retired Faculty and Staff. Her term expires in 2010. Sue was the founding director of Hoosiers for Higher Education from 1991 until her retirement in 2000. She was director of IU’s LEAD program from 1989 to 1990 and assistant director of government relations from 1990 to 1991. In 2007 Sue was elected to a third three-year term on IU’s board of trustees.
Jim resigned because he and his wife, Martha, have moved to a continuing care retirement community in the Indianapolis suburbs. Jim writes, “Although I miss all my social involvements and many friends in Bloomington, I guess this is the place I’m supposed to be. Our daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughters (ages 10 and 7) are five minutes away. It has the advantage of care close by if we have medical emergencies.” The Dawsons’ new address: 6421 Whitewater Dr., Indianapolis, IN 46236-2976, jrdawson@indiana.edu.
In memoriam
The April issue of Newswatch included obituaries for six members of the IU Association of Retired Faculty and Staff who died during the past academic year: Robert E. Burton, Henry A. Fischel, Betty Rome Morris, Lowell C. Rose, Merle E. Simmons, and Henry Wahl. We inadvertently omitted one member, whom we memorialize in this issue.
Sharon K. Harrell died in Bloomington on Aug. 28, 2007. She was 68. Born Nov. 6, 1938, in Indianapolis, she earned her bachelor’s degree at IU and her master’s at Butler. She joined the IU School of Nursing faculty in 1966 and taught for 35 years. The Class of 1981 honored her for her teaching. She served variously as president, secretary, and treasurer of the IU School of Nursing Alumni Association and was a volunteer with the Indiana State Nurses Association and Nursing 2000. The U.S. Air Force honored her with two Service Recognition awards, and the Monroe County chapter of the American Red Cross gave her the Dr. Cyrus Houshmand Award. She is survived by John, her husband of 42 years, two daughters, and four grandchildren.
May features fine singing, dining
No one took home leftovers after the May 14 grand finale potluck dinner of the Association of Retired Faculty and Staff. But everyone was soaring high – and not just from the desserts. Introduced by the association’s past president Ted Jones, soprano Sylvia McNair, a faculty member at the Jacobs School of Music, held her audience enthralled as she traced her path from opera to pop. She brilliantly illustrated how, when rehearsing Carmen, she persistently heard echoes of “Whatever Lola Wants, Lola Gets.” While rehearsing Violetta’s toast to freedom in La Traviata, she heard “Don’t Fence Me In,” and while she sang the role of Cleopatra in Handel’s Giulio Cesare, the music of “My Sweet Embraceable You” ran through her head. She ended her program with her signature piece, “This Little Light of Mine.”
Earlier the Retirees Association paid tribute to Curt Simic for his leadership at the IU Foundation and his graciousness in hosting our meetings. Don Weaver introduced Curt as a fellow member of the Wombats, a slow-pitch softball team in the early 1960s. Curt, he said, is “one of the truly good guys in the world.” Jim Weigand reminded people that Curt was an all-city athlete – “But the city was Kouts, Ind.” Curt responded that, although he stepped down officially on June 30, he now has an office in the old Kappa Alpha Psi house on E. 17th St. His office is over the headquarters of the campus police, so he now is, in his words, “above the law.”
By popular demand recipes for a couple of dishes officially declared awesomely delectable will appear in a future issue.
