President's Message

By Barbara A. Parker, MD, Professor Emerita, Medicine

Dear Colleagues,

As the incoming Emeriti Association (EA) President for 2024-2025, I would like to extend my gratitude for the honor of serving our membership during this next year. I would like to thank Peter Gourevitch, the immediate Past President, and the Executive Committee for their collaboration and mentorship during this past year. I am delighted to provide an update on current activities and new developments.

We have maintained all activities of the EA as we emerged from COVID under the very capable leadership of Past Presidents Allen McCutchan (2022-23) and Peter Gourevitch (2023-24). These activities include: the Chancellor’s Scholars and Emeriti Mentor Programs, led this past year by Mae Brown, our Emeriti Faculty Lecture Series organized each year by the Vice President  (this past year by me and this coming year by Richard Madsen), the Emeriti Book Club led by Roger Spragg, and the quarterly publication of EA Chronicles with the new Editor Steven Adler assisted by Managing Editor Suzan Cioffi.

This past year the EA Executive Committee successfully recommended that Dickson Awards be given to Professor Sonia Ancoli-Israel, Professor David Jordan and Professor Martin Stein for their post-retirement exemplary service to UCSD and the community. The Executive Committee also nominated former Professor Andrew Scull for the systemwide Panunzio Award.

The Retirement Resource Center (RRC) includes two associations which serve retirees: the Emeriti Association (faculty) and the Retirement Association (RA) (all retirees). The RRC moved in late 2023 to Building 409, east of the Student Services Building and directly west of the Prebys Music Center. This move was necessitated by construction of the Triton Center. However, the new RRC space is inadequate for moderate-sized groups unless adjacent space is reserved. EA and RA leadership are working with campus administration actively to identify permanent adequate space to serve the needs of the EA and the RA and all our programs. Our energetic and skilled administrators, Vania Bailon and Jen Homrich, have been effective organizers of all activities before and after the relocation of the RRC. 

The EA General meetings will continue via Zoom in September 2024 and the Book Club will experiment with different locations, including the Faculty Club, and will continue with hybrid format (Zoom and in-person) to maximize attendance. Many RA lectures and the International Film Series, an RA program much-loved by many EA members, will continue to be offered to EA members in different modalities, both Zoom and in-person.

In February, EA Executive Committee leadership met with Chancellor Khosla to present the Annual Report of the Chancellor’s Scholars and Emeriti Mentor Programs. Due to the success of the Chancellor’s Scholars Program and its key component of mentorship, the Chancellor asked the EA to recommend elements of a parallel mentorship program that could be adopted for other scholars at UCSD. An ad hoc committee of the EA submitted a set of recommendations for the Chancellor to consider and we await his response.

In June, the Chancellor's Scholars & Emeriti Mentor Programs held their annual Closing Reception at the Faculty Club at which awards were presented to graduating scholars. The graduation of another cohort of students means new Alumni. Also, new faculty retirement means a new group of Mentors and Emeriti to participate in the vital life of the campus across the academic generations!

I look forward to meeting many of you in-person or online at EA events and activities during the year. We welcome your feedback, your engagement, and your ideas.  

Barbara Parker