December 1, 2021
Dear colleagues,
I feel particularly privileged to follow in the footsteps of such a capable and accomplished founding president. Ginette Lamontagne and her Executive teams (Wes Cross, Henry Leighton, Joan Wolforth, Katherine Gray-Donald, Kate Maguire, and Bob Stanley) have established a relevant association of retired members of McGill University that functions exceptionally well. I would also like to thank departing members of the Board, Kathy Mayhew, Judy Pharo and Beverlea Tallant I welcome new members John Gradwell, VP External, Patricia Forbes, Pamela Miller and Lawrence Mysak. We will work diligently to build upon these foundations. Out of a multitude of MURA activities, I would like to highlight the following as the continuing principles of the MURA Executive:
Members - MURA provides services and activities to appeal to the interests and needs of a diverse group of members from all of McGill’s employment groups. MURA’s Executive will continue to find ways to motivate, stimulate and adjust to different lifestyles of members as a way to expand its activities. Regular surveys should help to identify and correct any “activities-gap”.
Governance – The MURA Executive committee and the Board continue to practice collegiality and decision-making by consensus. Delegating activities to the members optimizes the work and creates an engaged environment.
Relationships with other organizations – MURA will continue to be collaborative and collegial with MAUT-RAC, MUNASA, M.U.N.A.C.A., SEU and other partners - synchronizing and complementing, rather than duplicating activities. We will also continue to interact with our sister organizations in Quebec, Canada and the U.S.
Relationship with the University - MURA will continue to be actively engaged in securing optimal benefits for our members, again, collaborating with our other university partners (MAUT-RAC, MUNASA, M.U.N.A.C.A., SEU).
Over the past 40-50 years, medical advancements, improvements in social care and in standard of living have resulted in life expectancy at the retirement age of 65 - of a full 18 to 20 years. MURA will continue to provide attractive and meaningful programs for an active, healthy, maturing life of our post-retirement population.
Planning during this time of COVID-19 may appear uncertain in the short term. We all hope and wish that the pandemic would eventually fade out of our lives. After 20 months of living with the virus, we have relied on patience, good will and technology – and -- in particular -- on mutual support and taking care of each other. COVID-19 pandemic has made more visible health problems caused by isolation solitude. Dealing with this problem is one of the goals of an intergenerational network linking medical students and MURA members. This collaborative spirit bodes well for MURA post-pandemic, as McGill heads into its tricentennial!
Cordially,
Ante L. Padjen, President MURA-ARUM