Past Retiree Center Events

April BrainFood Talk - April 13, 2023 - Dr. Kathryn Olmsted

Kathryn Olmsted is a professor of history at UC Davis. She specializes in the political and cultural history of the twentieth and twenty-first century United States. Her most recent book, The Newspaper Axis: Six Press Barons Who Enabled Hitler, examines how the most powerful newspaper publishers in the United States and the United Kingdom worked together to pressure their governments to ignore or minimize the Nazi threat. Her other four books and numerous articles cover topics ranging from Soviet espionage in America to conspiracy theories in U.S. history. She also writes for popular media outlets. Her work has appeared in the Washington Post, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Le Monde, and other publications.

Click here to watch the full presentation on YouTube

March BrainFood Talk - March 9, 2023 - Dr. David Mackill and Dr. Ashley DuVal 

David Mackill was Director for Genetics and Breeding, Cocoa R&D, Mars Wrigley until his retirement in 2022. He is currently an Adjunct Professor in the Plant Sciences Department at the University of California, Davis. He was Principal Scientist, Rainfed Lowlands Program leader and Head of the Plant Breeding Genetics and Biotechnology Division at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) during 2001 to 2011. He has developed over 20 rice varieties and published research on the genetics of resistance to rice blast disease and submergence and drought tolerance. He is recipient of the Innovation Prize for Agricultural Technology of the American Society of Plant Biologists, and the Award of Distinction from the UC Davis College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences; and is a Tech Award Laureate for International Development. During the talk, Dr. Mackill will provide the introduction and background on setting up the Mars Wrigley Cacao Sciences group in Davis and on campus.

Dr. Ashley DuVal received a Bachelor of Science from UC Berkeley in Conservation and Resource studies, Masters in Forestry from Yale and PhD in Horticulture and Genetics from University of Florida. Before joining the Mars cacao plant sciences team in 2015, She worked as a consultant for the FAO and Bioversity International, a CGIAR center, on issues related to crop diversification for resilience against climate change.  Dr. DuVal moved to Davis in 2019 and have been involved with the establishment of their research program in the new campus cacao greenhouses, as well as overseeing rootstock breeding projects at our various research stations.

Click here to watch the full presentation on YouTube

RA Speaker Series - Friday, February 15, 2023 - "Ins and Outs of Social Security" and Q&A with Spencer Richards

Spencer Richards, a Fidelity Workplace Financial Consultant, has more than 11 years with the company and has been dedicated to University of California since 2012. He was previously a retirement counselor for Fidelity’s Tax-Exempt Market. A Chartered Retirement Planning CounselorSM and investment advisor representative, Spencer holds a bachelor’s degree in communications (with a minor in business) from Brigham Young University. The purpose of this talk is to help our retirees get a good understanding of social security. Spencer will be able to answer any questions you may have at the end of his talk. If you plan to attend in-person, the event will be held at the Alumni Center located at 530 Alumni Ln, Davis.

Click here to watch the full presentation on YouTube

January BrainFood Talk - January 12, 2023 - William Ristenpart Ph. D., Chemical Engineering

William Ristenpart is a Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of California Davis. He received his Ph.D. from Princeton University and did his post-doctoral work at Harvard University. At UC Davis he developed the course "Design of Coffee: An Introduction to Chemical Engineering," which now teaches more than 2000 students per year. He is also the founding director of the U.C. Davis Coffee Center, the mission of which is to advance the state of research and education focused on the world’s most popular complex fluid.

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RA Speaker Series - Wednesday, December 7, 2022 - Yolo County Healthy Aging Alliance with Sheila Allen, RN, PhD.

Sheila is the founding Executive Director of the Yolo Healthy Aging Alliance serving for the last 12 years. She has been instrumental in building an organization that serves as a vital voice for older adults in Yolo County and elected officials and community leaders consider her the expert in addressing senior issues. Sheila also serves as staff to Yolo County Supervisor Jim Provenza and to the Yolo County Commission on Aging and Adult Services that is focusing on emergency preparedness for older adults.

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Joint Fall Meeting featuring Guerren Solbach, UC Davis Healthcare Facilitator - Open Enrollment 2023 - October 25, 2022

Featured speaker, Health Care Facilitator Guerren Solbach will highlight the upcoming open enrollment period, discuss changes for retiree health plans in 2023, and give you an opportunity to get your open enrollment questions answered. Retiree Center Interim Director Juliane Crowley will update you on the Retiree Center's operations, staffing updates and more.

Click here to watch the full presentation on YouTube


November BrainFood Talk - Thursday, November 10, 2022 - Peter Moyle, Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Department of Wildlife, Fish and Conservation Biology

Peter B. Moyle is Distinguished Professor Emeritus in the Department of Wildlife, Fish and Conservation Biology and associate director of the Center for Watershed Sciences at the University of California, Davis. He has studied the ecology and conservation of fishes in freshwater and estuarine habitats in California (US) for over fifty years.

Click here to watch the full presentation on YouTube

 

October BrainFood Talk - Thursday, October 20, 2022 - Holly Cooper, UC Davis School of Law

Holly Cooper, Co-director of the Immigration Law Clinic, has extensive litigation experience defending the rights of immigrants and is a nationally recognized expert on immigration detention issues and on the immigration consequences of criminal convictions. Cooper is a graduate of UC Davis School of Law, where she was on the Board of the King Hall Legal Foundation and an active member of the National Lawyers Guild. She received her B.A. degree in Political Science from the University of California, San Diego.

If you would like to follow along with the slides that can not be seen in the video, please click on Dr. Cooper's Presentation.

Click here to watch the full presentation on YouTube

 

Distinguished Emeritus Lecture featuring Kenneth C. Burtis- June 2nd, 2022

2022 Distinguished Emeritus Award winner Ken Burtis is featured in this June 2022 lecture. Professor Emeritus Burtis was awarded the Distinguished Emeritus award in 2022 based on his essential contributions since retirement to the Healthy Davis Together (HDT) Program, including extending asymptomatic COVID-19 testing established at UC Davis to the city of Davis and the broader Yolo County community.

Click here to watch the full presentation on YouTube

Distinguished Emeritus Lecture featuring Thomas L. Rost- May 19th, 2022

 2021 Distinguished Emeritus Award Winner Thomas L. Rost discussed his work with the Global Engagement Office in CA&ES to extend his distinguished academic career in service to the university’s global vision for “international engagement in learning, discovery and action”. His courageous efforts to disseminate UC Davis research on sustainable agriculture and food security to the Middle East, East Asia, etc. and create effective agricultural education programs will have an impact in these regions for years to come.

Click here to watch the full presentation on YouTube

Spring Joint Meeting featuring Chancellor Gary May- May 10th, 2022

Chancellor May  provided a brief campus update and answered questions from retirees and emeriti in attendance. Following Chancellor May, Kyle Urban provided a Retiree Center update, John Meyer and Jo Ann Boorkman provided CUCRA-CUCEA updates, while Sue Barnes gave a CUCRA travel update.

Click here to watch the full presentation on YouTube

CUCRA CUCEA Conversation with UC Chief Financial Officer Jagdeep Singh Baccher- April 1, 2022

 

The Council of University of California Emeriti Associations (CUCEA) and the Council of University of California Retiree Associations (CUCRA) leadership responded to Jagdeep Bachher’s kind invitation to have a Q&A webinar featuring questions you wanted to ask him. Jagdeep Singh Bachher is responsible for managing the UC pension, endowment, short-term, and total-return investment pools. He reports directly to the Board of Regents on investment matters and the President on administrative issues related to managing a group of more than 60 investment professionals and staff. Jim Chalfant (UCD), an Agricultural and Resource Economics Emeritus, well known in Academic Senate circles, hosted the Webinar.

Click here to watch the full presentation on YouTube

Winter Joint Meeting, February 10th, 2022 featuring Leslie Kemp, Director of Aggie Compass

Join the UC Davis Retirees' Association and UC Davis Emeriti Association for the Winter Joint Meeting where we welcomed three guests:

  • Leslie Kemp, Director of Aggie Compass
  • Suad Joseph, Vice President, Emeriti Association
  • Kyle Urban, Director of Retiree Center

The Aggie Compass is a comfortable space for students to build community and learn about basic needs resources, pick up fresh fruits and vegetables, receive CalFresh enrollment assistance and help finding stable housing. Their mission is to help mitigate the effects of food and housing insecurity on students, while working to change policy, systems and environment that will affect long term change. Along with Director Leslie Kemp, we heard from Suad Joseph, Vice President of UCDEA, who provided updates on the upcoming UCDEA-UCDRA Give Day campaign benefitting Aggie Compass.

Kyle Urban, Director of the UC Davis Retiree Center, provided updates on the UC Davis Retiree Center in the wake of the Omicron variant. He'll discuss Retiree Center operations in present times, plans for the future, and leave time for folks to make suggestions on events & activities they would be interested in engaging in. 

Click here to watch the full presentation on YouTube

Click here to watch the Aggie Compass presentation

Simply Hemingway by Peter Hays, February 17, 2022

Peter Hays joined the faculty in 1966 after teaching at Ohio State University. He has also taught at Johannes-Gutenberg-University in Mainz, Germany, and guest lectured at Purdue. His areas of interest are twentieth-century American literature, especially the period of high modernism, and drama.

He retired in 2004. He has been a reader for the Hemingway Review and a reviewer for American Literature; he has also been a member of the F. Scott Fitzgerald Society Board, the Edith Wharton Society Board and the Ernest Hemingway Foundation. He is editor of News and Notes for The Fitzgerald Newsletter.

Peter has served on the UC Davis Emeriti Association board, has authored 9 books, 7 on Hemingway, including the current one, and over 100 articles and notes.

Click here to watch the presentation on YouTube

Fall Joint Meeting, October 28th, 2021 featuring Vice Chancellor Shaun Keister and Health Care Facilitator Guerren Solbach

Join members of both the UC Davis Retirees' Association and UC Davis Emeriti Association as we host the annual Fall Joint Meeting. Whether you are an association member or not, you are welcome to join the meeting this Fall. At the meeting this year, you can expect to hear updates from the following folks:

•    Featured speaker, Vice Chancellor Shaun Keister, will provide an update on UC Davis' Expect Greater Campaign and discuss how retirees and emeriti can get involved.

•   Featured speaker, Health Care Facilitator Guerren Solbach will highlight the upcoming open enrollment period, discuss changes for retiree health plans in 2022, and give you an opportunity to get your open enrollment questions answered.

•   Retiree Center Director Kyle Urban will update you on the Retiree Center's operations, plans to return to in-person programming, and more.

Click here to watch the presentation on YouTube

October BrainFood Talk

Update on COVID-19 Variants
October 14, 2021

Stuart Cohen, MD

Dr. Cohen will review the current state of the Coronavirus in California and the US. In his talk he will discuss the epidemiology and variants of COVID-19, vaccines and boosters and current therapeutics.

 Dr. Cohen is the Chief, Division of Infectious Diseases; Director of Hospital Epidemiology and Infection Control; Professor | Infectious Diseases, Internal Medicine, Surgery - Transplant

Click here to watch the presentation on YouTube

End of Life Series Three Part Series

June, Part 3 of 3- End of Life Option Act featuring Dr. Nathan Fairman 

Dr. Fairman is board-certified in general psychiatry, with subspecialty certification in hospice and palliative medicine. He is currently an assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the UC Davis School of Medicine.

He holds appointments in psychosomatic medicine and palliative care, serving as an attending physician on both consult services at the UC Davis Medical Center. In addition, he sees patients in the psycho-oncology clinic at the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Dr. Fairman is also a faculty associate in the Bioethics Program in the UC Davis School of Medicine. Dr. Fairman has a variety of teaching responsibilities throughout the UC Davis Health System, focused primarily on palliative care, communication, and bioethics.

Click here to watch the presentation on YouTube

May Part 2 of 3- Palliative Care featuring Dr. Nathan Fairman

Click here to watch the presentation on YouTube

April Part 1 of 3- Advanced Planning featuring Dr. Nathan Fairman

Click here to watch the presentation on YouTube

 

April Brainfood Talk featuring Chancellor Gary May


Chancellor May provided UC Davis updates, highlighted plans for the 2021-22 academic year and participated in a question and answer session with retirees and emeriti. This was a wonderful opportunity to interact with campus leadership and we sincerely hope you enjoy this recording.

Click here to watch the presentation on YouTube

March 2021

Gratitude as Mind-Body Medicine, featuring Dr. Robert Emmons

Gratitude, the affirmation and recognition of benefits received, is both a personal good and a social good, valuable for the person who possesses it and valuable for society at large. Two decades of research has verified that gratitude generates a positive ripple effect through every area of our lives, potentially satisfying some of our deepest yearnings—our desire for happiness, our pursuit of better relationships, our ability to make meaning out of suffering, and our ceaseless quest for inner peace, health, wholeness, and wellness.

Dr. Emmons is Professor of Psychology at the University of California, Davis where he has taught since 1988. He received his Ph.D. degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana‑Champaign. He is the author of over 200 original publications in peer‑reviewed journals or chapters and has written or edited eight books.

Click here to watch the presentation on YouTube

February 2021

Winter Joint Retirees' Association & Emeriti Association Meeting

Featuring Provost Mary Croughan, with updates from Association Presidents Barry Klein and Mike Chandler

Join the UC Davis Retiree's Association and UC Davis Emeriti Association as we welcome UC Davis Provost Mary Croughan to our Winter Joint Association meeting on Zoom. Provost Croughan will share UC Davis updates, highlight her experience thus far in her first months as Provost and participate in a question and answer session with retirees and emeriti. This is a wonderful opportunity to interact with campus leadership and we sincerely hope you'll join us. 

Click here to watch the presentation on YouTube

January 2021

Retiree Center Speaker Series

The Family Caregiving Institute: Goals, Accomplishments and Services

Dr. Terri Harvath, Ph.D., R.N., F.A.A.N., F.G.S.A.

Dr. Harvath provided an overview of the Family Caregiving Institute, some information for family caregivers during the COVID-19 pandemic and described the exciting new services that are being planned as part of UC Davis Health's Aging Initiative. Two FCI staff will also joined in case there are questions or follow-up needed.

Terri Harvath is the senior director for strategic initiatives at the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing at UC Davis. She is also the director of the Family Caregiving Institute at the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing.

Click here to watch the presentation on YouTube

January 2021

Brainfood Talk: Steve Ostoja

Will climate change reshape California's natural and working landscapes?

Steve Ostoja, Director, USDA California Climate Hub

California is home to some of the worlds most visited and iconic natural places. After all it was Sierra Nevada of California that sparked the modern environmental movement through the influence of John Muir and Ansel Adams leading to widespread land protection. And due to the abundant water resources and our Mediterranean climate the state is the among the most productive agricultural regions on the globe. But climate change, replete with heat waves, flooding, reductions in snowpack and wildfires are just a few of the impacts that put our forests and agriculture fields at risk. Steven Ostoja will discuss how these impacts are expected to force change on these sectors and what we are doing today to help prepare for California’s changing climate.

Steven Ostoja is director of the USDA California Regional Climate Hub at the Agricultural Research Service and Fellow at the John Muir Institute of the Environment at UC Davis. The Climate Hubs were designed to develop and deliver science-based, region-specific information and technologies to enable climate-informed decision-making. The California Hub program was established to provide solutions to these challenges for the states forestry and agriculture sectors.

Click here to watch the presentation on YouTube

December 2020

December Brainfood Talk

Update on COVID-19: Epidemiology, prevention and management

Dr. Chris Miller, DVM, PhD

This talk provided an update on the virology and immunology of SARS-CoV-2 infection and reviewed the biology and current status of leading SARS-CoV-2 vaccine candidates 

Dr. Miller is a Professor of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology in the SVM and an Adjunct Professor of Medicine in the SOM. His laboratory uses animal models of AIDS, influenza and SARS-COVID 19 to study the pathogenesis of, protective antiviral immunity to, and test vaccines and immunotherapeutic strategies against these viral diseases. 

Click here to watch the presentation on YouTube


November 2020

November BrainFood Talk

Update on COVID-19: Epidemiology, prevention and management

Stuart Cohen, MD

This talk reviewed the epidemiology of COVID-19 in the US and California, discussed some of the issues regarding treatment of COVID-19, briefly discussed vaccines and clarified data regarding the use of masks and other non-pharmacological interventions.

 Dr. Cohen is the Chief, Division of Infectious Diseases; Director of Hospital Epidemiology and Infection Control; Professor | Infectious Diseases, Internal Medicine, Surgery - Transplant

Click here to watch the presentation on YouTube


August 2020

UC Davis Arboretum and Public Gardens

Responding to COVID-19

Kathleen Socolofsky, Carmia Feldman and more of the APG staff

Join the UC Davis Retiree Center for another exciting presentation from our campus partner, the Arboretum.

Like many at UC Davis this spring, the Arboretum and Public Garden (APG) had to get creative as the university moved to suspended operations at the start of the COVID-19 lockdown. Learn how the APG was able to quickly adapt its student leadership program, Learning by Leading™, into a virtual leadership internship program for spring quarter. Additionally, learn how the staff worked to address other challenges such as keeping the Arboretum and other campus landscapes open to the public while its staff transitioned from full operations, to suspended operations and finally back to limited operations. The APG staff will also look forward to sharing some of their plans for the coming year.

Click here to watch the presentation on YouTube