I recently read a news story that “a Dutch businessman has launched a legal battle to officially roll back his age 20 years, claiming he is a ‘young god’ and dating apps discriminate against him due to his age. He told a Dutch court that he didn’t feel‘comfortable’ with his date of birth and wished to have it changed from March 11, 1949, to March 11, 1969.”
If only it were that easy to roll back the clock. While we’ve all had a few “39 – or 59 – and holding” birthdays, this fellow takes it to a whole new level.
Since we can’t drop twenty years off our age, as TCU faculty and staff reach their magic age and consider retiring from the University, how might we, as experienced retirees, help them to make the transition as smooth and easy as possible?
At the national AROHE meetingthat Julie Baker and I attended in September, we heard about several colleges and universities including Emory, UC Berkeley and UNC-Chapel Hill that offer pre-retirement planning and transition programs to faculty and staff. These programs include psychosocial aspects of retirement, not just financial planning and health care choices.
We also need to be proactive in promoting TCURA to the campus community. We need to increase
our visibility not only to attract new retirees to our organization but also to keep top administrators aware of what we’re doing and our value to the University.
Many retiree organizations have a service component – on or off campus – to their organization. These opportunities vary widely and are determined by their specific campus culture and level of interest.
Julie and I raised these ideas at our recent Executive Council meetingand the group thought they wereworthy of further consideration. To that end, we will have a Task Force, chaired by Judy Groulx, to study and mull over what we might want to focus on going forward. But we would like input from our membership. If you would be interested in serving on this task force, please contact Judy at j.groulx@tcu.edu or me at jgherald@gmail.com and let us know.
I hope to see you on December 11 to share fellowship and a festive holiday meal with musical entertainment. If we miss you then, all best wishes for a happy holiday and New Year!