Retirees NewsletterP u b l i s h e d b y t h e S U N Y R e t i r e e s S e r v i c e C o r p s

Volume 2, Issue 2

Retirees Service CorpsConnecting with Our Retirees Through Service

Fall/Winter 2013

High-tech Retirees Conference to be Held at SUNY College of Nanoscale Science and Engineeringby Pierre F. Radimak, Editor, SUNY Retirees Newsletter

I n t h i s I s s u e

Curtis L. Lloyd, Vice Chancellor ofHuman Resources, and Julie Petti,

Director of University-wide Human Re-sources, have announced that the third bi-ennial conference on SUNY retirees willtake place on Wednesday, November 20,2013. Connecting SUNY Retirees in theDigital Age will be held at the SUNY Col-lege of Nanoscale Science and Engineer-ing (CNSE) in Albany. CNSE and theUniversity at Albany Emeritus Center arejoining the SUNY Retirees Service Corps(RSC) as event co-sponsors.

“We are thrilled to be holdingthis year’s conference atCNSE,” Petti said, “an excitingvenue which supports ourtheme perfectly -- exploringRSC and campus efforts toreach SUNY retirees online.”

A variety of notable speakers will ad-dress diverse topics, including: a demon-stration of the SUNY Retirees Network, anew component of the SUNY RetireesService Corps website designed to con-nect SUNY retirees via a secure online di-rectory, promote online interaction amongretirees, and connect interested retireeswith volunteer opportunities; Open SUNY,which may become the largest onlinelearning environment in the world, and itspotential impact on SUNY retirees; UAl-bany’s Center for Excellence in Aging andCommunity Wellness and its innovativeonline and in-person health promotionprograms for seniors state-wide; onlineresources for older New Yorkers availablethrough the New York State Office for theAging website; and SUNY Retirees andVibrant Communities, which will explorethe role retirees can play in the VibrantCommunities initiative of The Power ofSUNY, SUNY’s current strategic plan.

The conference program brochure,which contains event details, registration,and lodging information, may be viewedonline by visiting www.suny.edu/retirees/index.cfm and selecting “Click here tosee the conference program and relateddetails.”

Connecting SUNY Retirees in the Digi-tal Age is open to current and future re-tirees of SUNY’s 64 campuses andSystem Administration, individuals whooversee existing campus retirement pro-grams, and those interested in starting orexpanding a retiree organization at theircampus.

In addition to the various presentations,the $20 conference registration fee cov-ers lunch, refreshments, networking op-portunities, and a tour of the SUNYCollege of Nanoscale Science and Engi-neering’s Albany NanoTech Complex.

Due to anticipated interest in the con-ference topics and unique venue, earlyregistration is strongly recommended. Thedeadline is Wednesday, November 6. Reg-istration will be limited to 100 people.

Register online athttp://fs9.formsite.com/zetadonut/form49/index.html.

Conference and registration-related ques-tions may be emailed toretirees@suny.edu or call 518-320-1354.

For more, see Eight Good Reasons to At-tend the Third Biennial SUNY RetireesConference by Curtis Lloyd on page 14.

2013 SUNY Retirees Conference Preview . . . . 1

SUNY Retiree Profile: August Mueller . . . . . . . 2

Do You Have a Retirement Story to Tell? . . . . . 3

Campus Retiree Program Profile: TheRetirees Association of Schenectady

County Community College . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

AROHE Enhances Member Benefits for

Retiree Organizations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Free AROHE Membership for SUNY Campuses 5

Healthy Aging: What Is Aging? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Social Security and the Chain Consumer

Price Index: What it Means for You . . . . . . . . . . 7

The End of DOMA: A Victory for Retirees . . . . . 9

Shifting Gears . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Endangered Sounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Comments, Content Suggestions? . . . . . . . . . . 11

Useful Links and Resources for Current

and Future SUNY Retirees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

SUNY Campus Retiree Organization Contacts . 13

The Last Word: Eight Good Reasons to Attendthe SUNY Retirees Conference . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

About the SUNY Retirees Newsletter . . . . . . . . . 15

SUNY Retirees Newsletter Fall/Winter 2013

2August Mueller

Many of us have come to realize thatone of the major objectives in life is

to live longer and well; to be productive,content, healthy, and to enjoy each day tothe fullest. Thankfully, many manage to dojust that. Articles in this publication givecredence to this.

I retired from Binghamton University inAugust 1998 after 36 years of service.The transition was no difficulty at all. Ihad an office on campus for about fiveyears post-retirement. I remained quiteactive in the Binghamton Outdoor Pur-suits (BOP) program (http://www2.bing-hamton.edu/campus-recreation/outdoor-pursuits/), leading cross-country ski trips,bicycle trips, hikes, white water raftingtrips and more. I still attendseminars/talks at BU when topics piquemy interest.

The secret to having a fulfilling retire-ment era often is having one or more pas-sions. One of my passions is the bicycle. Irecently celebrated my 80th year with 50of my bicycling friends riding 50-plusmiles in the Southern Tier of New Yorkwith a celebratory luncheon mid-trip. Wecall ourselves the W2M group, for Wheelsto Meals, and we manage to do somethingsimilar to this feat twice a week, on Tues-day and Thursday – weather permitting.The group consists mostly of older re-tirees and the average age is near 75. Thenumbers vary, but 20 or more partici-pants is not uncommon with a typical bi-cycling distance of 20-50 miles.

Several years ago a young personasked how long I had been bicycling. Myanswer was "over 70 years." Suitably im-

pressed, his follow-up question was howfar I had bicycled in those 70-plus years.This required some contemplative calcu-lations with my answer being "at least aquarter-million miles." And still going.

I bicycled 100 miles a few Sundays agoas I accompanied some overnight Califor-nia- bound guests on ahttp://www.warmshowers.org/ sojournfrom Binghamton to Ithaca before bicy-cling home. I had not planned this verypleasant day. It just happened. One of themany joys of retirement is a relaxed Sun-day evening without the concerns of thecoming work week.

How do the retirement years differfrom the working years? We seem to beas busy, but not as rushed. We have thetime to do many pleasant things we putoff or were forced to limit during thoseyears of employment; activities like travel,added personal enrichment, and increasedinvolvement and volunteering in thingsthat really matter to us.

I currently serve as the secretary to theBinghamton University Retiree Club,which meets for luncheons and programs

monthly when the University is in session.Our programs often feature current fac-ulty members as well as some of ourmember retirees. This coming year wehave scheduled a session called "Volun-teerism: What We Do in Retirement – ACollaborative Report." I am hopeful ourmembers will enlighten us on how theyhave found purpose and meaning in re-tirement. Many of us will have difficultyon what to feature as we are involved inmultiple activities.

I cite my own dilemma as an example.My wife Joan and I are volunteer ushersfor the local Anderson Center for the Artson the Binghamton Campus. Joan alsokeeps the books for the Broome CountyHabitat for Humanity chapter, is the treas-urer of her church, serves on the board ofthe local Mac Users Club (http://mac-stac.org/), and more. I still interact withthe Binghamton University BOP (Bing-hamton Outdoor Pursuits), a unit that Ihelped create and served as the co-direc-tor during my working years.

About seven years ago I fielded a callfrom a local church social worker whowas running a summer program and waswondering how the participants would getto the program site. She decided bicyclesmight be the answer and asked if shecould get 100 old bicycles donated, could Ihead a program to refurbish them to giveaway to her program participants. Antici-pating she might get 10 such machines, Iagreed to her plan and was surprisedwhen, two weeks later, she had 115 do-nated bicycles. Seven years later, aboutfive of us are still doing the deed and havegiven more than 1,100 bicycles with noend in sight.

Was this type of volunteer servicesomething new to me? Not really, as Imaintained 40-50 bicycles on the Bing-hamton campus which fit in well withserving as the Newing College FacultyMaster for 16 years. In my last year asmaster, I would let students take a bicyclewith the requirement that they not returnit. I am told some of those bicycles canstill be seen in New York City and on theboardwalk of Atlantic City, NJ.

What advice would I offer to SUNY em-ployees who are about to retire? I would

SUNY Retiree ProfileThe Retirement Era by August MuellerAssociate Professor of Biology (Emeritus), Binghamton University

Editor’s Note: The SUNY Retirees Service Corps asked retirees to share their retire-ment experiences, such as planning for retirement, how they spent time after retiring,and any thoughts they would like to share with those thinking about retirement. We arepleased to feature the story of Binghamton University retiree August “Augie” Mueller,in his own words.

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SUNY Retirees Newsletter Fall/Winter 2013

point out the danger of making the jobyour life. Some do and find themselveslike a fish out of water when the job is nomore. Their identity is/was the job and inits absence they only identify with whothey had been – not who they are now.And that is a serious mistake. We all haddays of better glory than the present. It’seasy to dwell on them rather than thepresent. After all, sweet memories are tobe savored. BUT they should continuallybe added to as well. Age might slow youdown, but it should not stop you.

While many move to climes they covet,staying in the area and connected to theiremploying institution has many rewards.Binghamton has done a great job on mak-ing their retirees feel welcome and appre-ciated. We are specifically invited to manyevents on campus. I still have and feel astrong connection to Binghamton Univer-sity. Certainly one of the reasons I choseto remain in the area.

Many of us retirees just do more ofwhat we did while working, but havemore time to do it. A joyful thing! The funcontinues…

Do You Have A Retirement Story to Tell?

One of the objectives of the

SUNY Retirees Newsletter is to

share activities of SUNY re-

tirees. We know many of you

are doing great things in retire-

ment. Your story can inspire

others. Please share your story

or tell us about a colleague’s

retirement story by contacting

the SUNY Retirees Service

Corps at

retirees@suny.edu.

Campus Retiree Program ProfileThe Retirees Association of Schenectady County Community Collegeby Peggy King, (President) and Stan Strauss, (Vice President)

Peggy: The year before I was consideringretirement, the SUNY Retirees ServiceCorps hosted a conference in Albanycalled Re-imagining SUNY Retirementwhich I decided to attend. The focus ofthe conference was on encouragingSUNY institutions to consider forming or-ganizations for retirees. While many of thefour-year institutions had already done so,very few community colleges had retireegroups.

Stan: Fortunately, Suffolk Community Col-lege had done a great deal of work in cre-ating a retiree organization and theirrepresentative at the conference, PeterHerron, provided detailed informationabout the steps they took, the problemsthey encountered, and their successes.While four-year institution retiree organi-zations tend to focus primarily on retiredfaculty, Suffolk was very inclusive and in-cluded faculty, staff, administration, andsupport staff.

Peggy: I returned to campus excited aboutthe possibilities for Schenectady CountyCommunity College. I talked with a num-ber of colleagues including Stan Strauss,our current vice president, PresidentEmeritus Gabe Basil, and President Quin-ton Bullock. We formed a steering com-mittee of current and future retirees andstarted to plan. With the help of Suffolk,we adapted their set of by-laws and talkedabout the focus of our group. We decidedto keep it social and we also decided to

keep dues low as a way to be more inclu-sive. Once we had our by-laws in place,we received the endorsement of ourBoard of Trustees and we voted forelected officers. The Retirees Associationof Schenectady County Community Col-lege (RASCCC) was now official.

Stan: In our first two years we had anumber of small, monthly meetings withspeakers who focused on topics such asphysical fitness, financial planning, andhealth insurance as well as local leadersdiscussing the role of Metroplex in down-town Schenectady development, the

growth of Proctor’s Theatre, and the like.These meetings were attended by 10 – 25individuals. We also decided to hold oneluncheon each semester to take advan-tage of our wonderful culinary/hotelrestaurant management programs. Thosewere typically attended by about 30 indi-viduals representing all groups at the Col-lege. The luncheons are social and we

Participants in Retirees Association ofSchenectady County Community Collegetrip to West Point. RASCCC presidentPeggy King is in first row (long coat);RASCCC vice president Stan Strauss ison far left.

Peggy King Stan Strauss

Continued on page 5

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SUNY Retirees Newsletter Fall/Winter 2013

The Associationof Retirement

Organizations inHigher Education (AROHE) offers oppor-tunities for retiree organizations to net-work, share successful practices, andbrainstorm solutions to challenges.AROHE has recently launched severalnew member benefits and SUNY retireeorganizations are encouraged to makeuse of these benefits. AROHE member-ships have been granted at no cost to in-dividual SUNY organizations throughJune 30, 2014, the result of a specialthree-year agreement between AROHEand SUNY (see sidebar on page 5). Newmember benefits include:

Member-to-Member MentoringThis just-launched service pairs mem-

ber organizations that would like one-on-one assistance with an experiencedAROHE member. Are you starting a neworganization, struggling with member re-cruitment, or trying to increase your levelof campus support? These and other is-sues have been successfully navigated byAROHE members who are willing to sharetheir expertise.

In one of the first mentor pairings,Ellen Jones of Kennesaw State Universityadvised Carolyn Zelaya from Santa ClaraUniversity. Santa Clara is just starting todevelop retiree programs and would liketo form a retiree organization. They re-cently conducted a survey of their retireesand needed assistance with their nextsteps. Carolyn was thrilled with the helpshe received from Ellen, saying “I foundher insight on the process tremendously

helpful. She guided me toward partneringwith areas on campus that would bestserve the needs of our developing associ-ation. By having an AROHE mentor, itgreatly increases our association’schances for success. The AROHE mentor-ing program is about not having to rein-vent the wheel and about developing asupport network within our like-mindedcommunity.”

To request a mentor, visit the AROHEwebsite at http://arohe.org or contact theAROHE Office at (213) 740-5037.

Online Member Discussion ForumThe new AROHE discussion forum of-

fers members the opportunity to askquestions or seek advice from othermembers. No matter what problem an or-ganization is facing, chances are that an-other member organization hassuccessfully navigated that problem.AROHE members can subscribe to thediscussion forum to receive daily orweekly summaries of forum comments byvisiting the AROHE website and clickingon “Discussion Forum” under the “Mem-ber” tab.

Member-shared ResourcesThe AROHE website features a variety

of member-shared resources includingsurveys, annual reports, brochures andmore. Resources are grouped by eighttopics:

1. Program and Events

2. Awards and Recognition

3. Fundraising and Scholarships

4. Volunteers and Service

5. Pre-Retirement Programs

6. Communications and Marketing

7. Organization Management

8. Surveys and Reports

The resources pages are new anditems are being added on a regular basis.

AROHE members can log in athttp://arohe.org/MemberResources toview, download or print items of interestto them. Members are also encouraged tosubmit their resources for the benefit ofothers.

AROHE Matters e-newsletterAROHE Matters, a new e-newsletter

that was launched in January 2013, fea-tures profiles of successful programs andservices, tips for improving retiree pro-grams, and other helpful information forretiree organization leaders. The newslet-ter is distributed every other month (Jan-uary, March, May, July, September andNovember). If you would like to submit anewsletter article (limit 100 words), visithttp://arohe.org/newsletters or emailyour submission to Jeri Frederick,newsletter editor, at jerii@uci.edu.

The resources pages are new anditems are being added on a regular basis.AROHE members can log in athttp://arohe.org/MemberResources toview, download or print items of interestto them. Members are also encouraged tosubmit their resources for the benefit ofothers.

Online Member DirectoryAROHE members can search the new

online member directory using a varietyof criteria, including geographic location,types of programs offered, type of organi-zation and more. Members are encour-aged to update their profile with theircampus’ information so other memberscan find them when conducting a search.Members can also upload a photo ofthemselves so that other members willhave a face to connect with a name.

AROHE BlogThe AROHE blog features twice-

monthly posts of timely topics for retireeorganization leaders. To read the posts orsubscribe to the blog, visithttp://arohe.org. Recent posts include:

• Effective Boards are Built, Not BornHow can you as a retiree organizationleader ensure that your board is work-ing in an effective manner?

• Reflection on Retirement"Retiring” can be difficult. Just ask Dr.

AROHE Enhances Member Benefits forRetiree Organizations

by Sue Barnes,President

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SUNY Retirees Newsletter Fall/Winter 2013

always have a speaker who can give up-dates on the new happenings at SCCC.

Peggy: Grayce Burian, founder and long-time director of SCCC’s highly successfultheatre program, spoke at our October16th luncheon about her new memoir(From Jerry to Jarka: A Breezy Memoir ofa Long, Peripatetic Marriage) and did abook signing afterwards.

Stan: Last year we arranged our first tripwith a Yankee Trails West Point tour (seephoto on page 3). Twenty retirees partici-pated and had a wonderful time. We re-cently did another Yankee Trails trip, thistime to Vermont.

Peggy: The RASCCC encourages retireesto participate in College events. We pro-vided tours of the new student housingand music wing addition. In addition, several of us have served as “greeters”for the first few days of classes each semester.

Stan: While the Retirees Association ofSchenectady County Community Collegehas been well received, keeping up mo-mentum is a continuing challenge. Someretirees want to be involved while othersmove on to other things. Our goals con-tinue to be to further grow the associationand find ways to contribute to the College.

Peggy: We look forward to an exciting yearand appreciate the ongoing support ofPresident Bullock, the Board of Trustees,and current faculty and staff.

RASCCCContinued from page 3

Ram Chugh, a SUNY Potsdam retireewho helped create and directed theSUNY Retirees Service Corps from2008 until his second retirement in Sep-tember 2012.

• Retiree Contributions: Toot Your OwnHorn!Retired faculty and staff make valuablecontributions. Is your campus aware ofthose contributions?

Susanne Thomas, director of EmeryUniversity’s Emeritus College, recalledthat she was inspired after reading theAROHE blog post on the importance oftooting your own horn. “I followed the ad-vice in the blog and surveyed our emeriti.Sorting the data was a tremendous task,but quite worth the effort. I managed toget this information into an article onBankrate.com by way of an interview.”This type of self-promotion can be a veryeffective means of garnering additionalcampus support.

AROHE board member Trudy Fernan-dez, director of human resources rela-tions at Florida International University,coordinates the blog posts. Guest posts(400 words or less) by AROHE membersare welcome. Topics should be of generalinterest to retiree organization leaders.Please send blog submissions toTrudy.Fernandez@fiu.edu.

Increased Number of OrganizationalRepresentativesEach member organization can now

designate up to eight members to receive

AROHE communications and accessmembers-only resources. SUNY organiza-tions may wish to add their officers, com-mittee chairs, or others who wish tonetwork with AROHE colleagues. The or-ganization’s primary representative canadd additional members by logging intothe AROHE website and clicking on “Viewmy profile” or by contacting AROHE.

About AROHEAROHE is a nonprofit association that

develops, enhances and advances cam-pus-based retiree organizations and pro-grams. By sharing research, innovativeideas and successful practices, AROHEemphasizes service to retired faculty andstaff as they continue to make valuablecontributions to their academic institu-tions. Contact AROHE at info@arohe.orgor (213) 740-5037.

About the AuthorSue Barnes is the director of the Re-

tiree Center at the University of California,Davis. She previously worked in severalother management positions on the cam-pus and served as the first recreation di-rector for the University RetirementCommunity in Davis, where she discov-ered her passion for engaging olderadults. She has developed and overseenextensive volunteer programs. She holds aB.S. degree in visual communication fromWestern Washington University.

FREE AROHE MEMBERSHIP FOR SUNY CAMPUSES

The Association of Retirement Organizations in Higher Education (AROHE)

signed an agreement with SUNY System Administration whereby individual

SUNY campuses and retirement organizations can join AROHE at no cost to

the campuses. The membership is good through June 30, 2014. We hope

most SUNY campuses will take advantage of this special offer. For additional

information on this agreement, contact the SUNY Retirees Service Corps at

retirees@suny.edu. To learn more about AROHE, visit http://arohe.org.

SUNY Retirement Stories are available at:

http://www.suny.edu/retirees/retiree_experiences/experiences.cfm

Healthy Aging

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SUNY Retirees Newsletter Fall/Winter 2013

Editor’s Note: Dr. Wolff is chair of the SUNYRetirees Service Corps Advisory Council.

In his book, Aging, But Never Old (1),Juergen Bludau, MD, Director of Geri-atric Clinical Services at Boston’sWomen’s and Children’s Hospital, dis-cusses the realities and myths of aging,the anti-aging movement, and a host of issues pertaining to maintaining success-ful aging. Over the next several issues of the SUNY Retirees Newsletter, I willexplore some of the concepts in Dr. Bludau’s book.

Old age itself is not a disease. It is agift, a wonder of the beauty of life, and isunique to each person. It is a collection oflife experiences that may bring wisdomand happiness, and changes a person’sperspective on life. What was important inyouth may not be so in old age. Olderadults do not have to prove themselves,they can enjoy life’s moments more richly.Although good health is important inaging, being older can mean being morevulnerable to certain states of ill health.

What is aging, really? Is it a time pe-riod? Is it a process of maturing? Is it justgrowing old? Aging is relative, activity-specific, and cultural. A mosquito is old ina day, a human in 90 years, and a tortoisein 250 years. Forty years old is old forbaseball, but young for politics. Whenmost of the population was younger than30, anyone older than 30 was “old.”

Now we speak of the “young old” as 65-74, “middle old” as 75-84 and “old-old” as 85+.

One definition of aging is a “gradualdeterioration of physiological function(normal functions of the body)” resultingin a “loss of viability and increased vul-nerability” (2). Another is summarized by Bludau:

• Aging is not a disease or a collection ofdiseases.

• The aging process varies considerablyin individuals.

• Aging makes our bodies more suscepti-ble to various diseases.

There are several theories on the fun-damental cause of aging, but no definitiveanswers, and most are controversial.

“Wear-and-Tear Theory” portrays agingas a slow but steady wearing out of dif-ferent parts of the body. The “Autoim-mune Theory” suggests the body’simmune system tends to malfunction withage and starts to attack itself. The “AgingClock Theory” contends the body justwinds down as hormones decrease or,more recently, as the end tips of chromo-somes called telomeres shorten each timea cell divides. The “Cellular Theory” isbased on the idea that cells can replicateonly so many times until they run out ofsteam. Finally, there are two theoriesbased on the accumulation of waste prod-ucts that build up and destroy our tissues,the “Cross-Linkage Theory” and “FreeRadical Theory.” (3)

Dr. Bludau likes to compare aging ofthe human body to the aging of a house.When new, everything is in pristine condi-tion, but over the years parts of the housewear out and weather, and repairs arenecessary. So we maintain our house bypainting it regularly, repairing the roof,fixing damage, cleaning the gutters, etc.The same holds true for our bodies. Weshould maintain them by not smoking,

drinking alcohol in moderation, exercising,and watching our diet. Although we cannot change our genetics (unless wepick different parents!!), we can screenfor certain diseases so we can catch them early enough to treat them moresuccessfully.

So, skipping the theories, what actuallyhappens with aging? Sit down and put onsome soothing music before reading fur-ther – you’ll need it!

Fortunately, aging is a painless andamazingly slow process you don’t recog-nize on a daily basis. As we get older wetend to get shorter and add weight. Mengain mostly around the middle (waist) andwomen gain in the hips. Our skin getsthinner and more wrinkled, our hair grayand thinner, mucous membranes drier,and we have fewer sweat glands, so wecannot regulate temperature as well andtend to feel colder. Our hearing steadilydeclines, men more than women. Thelenses in our eyes become less transpar-ent (cataracts), the pressure in our eyescan increase (glaucoma), and the centralvisual part of the eye can degenerate(macular degeneration). Our sense ofsmell deteriorates and the number oftaste buds on our tongue decreases, al-tering our ability to taste.

Our joints tend to start to creak, acheand get stiff from constant wear and tear,so we can predict the weather better thanmost meteorologists! Our lungs getstiffer, arteries and heart valves get lesselastic and harder the older we get, andour kidney function is usually reduced byhalf by our ninetieth birthday. That lastfact is why we must be so careful withmedications as we age, since we can’t getrid of (excrete) them as easily. Our diges-tive system continues to work very well,albeit slower. We come to a greater ap-preciation for the ads for constipation!

As we age, our levels of sex hormonesdiminish – testosterone in men and estro-gen and progesterone in women. This

Healthy AgingWhat is Aging?

by L. ThomasWolff, M.D.,DistinguishedTeaching Pro-fessor Emeritus

Upstate MedicalUniversity

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SUNY Retirees Newsletter Fall/Winter 2013

causes a shrinking uterus and weakenedpelvic floor muscles in women and en-larging of the prostate in men. Both ofthese events can cause problems withurination and interrupted sleep. Finally,the brain and nervous system degenerateas well, which is why we often havechanges in gait and balance as we age.

Fortunately, advances in geriatricmedicine and gerontology have allowedus to manage chronic disease better, andengage supportive care. We now can takemedications to help decrease coronaryheart disease to minimize heart attacks,control hypertension to reduce strokes,and manage diabetes to name a few con-ditions. Invasive techniques through ar-teries and veins can stop heart attacksand strokes in their tracks and we can re-place worn-out joints.

A recent article entitled “ReplaceableYou” in the September 2013 issue ofSmithsonian Magazine (4) shows all theremarkable parts of the body that can nowbe replaced artificially – even if not all arerelevant to our aging body.

Over the next several columns I willdiscuss some of ways we can keep our-selves well while aging and manage someof the aging disabilities we may face.

This poem opens Dr. Bludau’s book andI think sets a wonderful tone for aging:

I shall not mindthe whiteness of my hair,or that slow stepsfalter on the stair,

or what strange imagegreets me in the glass…if I can feel,as roots feel in the sod,that I am growing old to bloombefore the face of God.

Author unknown

“What is Aging?” References:

(1) Bludau, Juergen. Aging, But Never Old:The Realities, Myths, and Misrepresenta-tions of the Anti-Aging Movement. Praeger,2010

(2) de Magalhaes, João Pedro. IntegrativeGenomics of Ageing Group (2008), ”Whatis Aging?” http//www.senescence.info/aging_definition.html

(3) Moody, Harry. Aging: Concepts andControversies. (Thousand Oaks, CA: PineForge Press, 2009), 57.

(4) Brumfiel, Geoff. Replaceable You.Smithsonian. September 2013.

Social Security and the Chain Consumer Price Index:What It Means for You

Editor’s Note: Peter Herron is a member ofthe SUNY Retirees Service Corps AdvisoryCouncil.

President Obama’s 2014 budget pro-posal includes provisions that will sig-

nificantly change Social Security,Medicare and retirement accounts. SocialSecurity benefits are adjusted for inflationeach year (through the COLA, or cost ofliving adjustment) as measured by the

Consumer Price Index for Urban WageEarners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W).Obama’s budget proposes changing themeasure of inflation to the Chain CPI (C-CPI-U) beginning in 2015. Read on for anexplanation.

Three CPIsBefore we consider the impact this

change will have on Social Security bene-fits we need to know the differencesamong three Consumer Price indexespublished by The Bureau of Labor Statis-tics, the Consumer Price Index for AllUrban Consumers (CPI-U), the Chain Con-sumer Price Index (C-CPI-U) and the Con-sumer Price Index for Urban WageEarners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W).The C-CPI-U supplements the other twoindexes by employing a formula that re-flects the effect of substitution that con-sumers make across item categories inresponse to changes in relative prices.

CPI-U and C-CPI-U indexes are de-signed to measure price changes faced byurban consumers, while the CPI-W is de-signed to measure the price changesfaced by urban wage earners and clericalworkers. Population coverage is the onlydifference between the CPI-U and CPI-W.The C-CPI-U is further distinguished from

Continued on page 8

What is Aging?Continued from page 6

by Peter Herron,Professor ofMathematicsEmeritus

Suffolk CountyCommunity College

adjustment by an average of about 0.3 per-centage points. A retiree receiving a$1,000 monthly benefit in 2014 would seea $27 increase instead of the $30 increaseretirees would get using the current meas-ure. By 2033, the loss of $3 per monthwould become $30 per month because ofcompounding. C-CPI-U would not impactinitial benefits but it would reduce futureCOLA. If a worker who claimed retirementbenefits at age 62 would, on average, re-ceive 2.5% less than current law and at 93,this person would receive an average of7.2% less in Social Security in her/his

lifetime.

Calculation Problemswith C-CPI-U

Currently, Social SecurityCOLA is calculated by com-paring the third-quarter aver-age CPI-W to the previousyear’s C-CPI-W and the COLAbased on the percent increase(if there is one) becomespayable in January. The C-CPI-U takes considerablylonger to calculate, and thevalues are revised over a pe-riod of years. To obtain a Jan-uary COLA an estimate of theC-CPI-U would have to beused. This estimate couldcontain errors. The C-CPI-Uwill underestimate the infla-tion senior citizens experi-ence because health careprices are a greater part ofolder people’s spending thanit is for younger people.

So What’s the Verdict onUsing C-CPI-U to Calcu-late Social SecurityCOLA?

Ever since inception of Social Securitythere have been attempts to eliminate thismost popular government program. Youmay recall President George W. Bush’s at-tempt at the beginning of his second termto privatize Social Security. Popular out-cry stopped it in its tracks. Since eliminat-ing Social Security is currently impossible,opponents of Social Security will do

8

SUNY Retirees Newsletter Fall/Winter 2013

the CPI-U and CPI-W based upon the expenditure weights and formula used to produce aggregate measures of price change.

In the CPI-U and CPI-W, expendituresfrom a previous (or lagged) two-year pe-riod are used to calculate aggregate in-dexes. These weights remain fixed for 24months before being replaced with up-dated expenditures. The final C-CPI-U, onthe other hand, utilizes contemporaneousmonthly expenditure estimates for each ofthe 8,018 elementary indexes. As such,expenditure data required for the calcula-tion of the C-CPI-U are available only witha time lag. Thus, the C-CPI-U is issuedfirst in preliminary form, and is subject totwo subsequent revisions. In each subse-quent year, indexes for the months in theyear two years prior will be issued in finalform and those values for one year priorwill be revised and issued as interim.

In its final form, the C-CPI-U is amonthly chained price index with the ex-penditure weights varying each month.The CPI-U and CPI-W, on the other hand,are biennial chained price indexes wheretheir expenditure weights are updatedevery two years. Within the two-yearspan, these indexes are fixed-weight series, where the changes in these in-dexes reflect only changes in prices, and not expenditure shares, which areheld constant.

The C-CPI-U, which in final form issaid to be a "superlative" index, is de-signed to be a closer approximation to acost-of-living index than other CPI meas-ures. That said, BLS publishes thousandsof indexes each month; these indexes can vary by which items, geographicareas, and populations are covered. Asdifferent users have different needs, BLScannot say which index is necessarilybetter than another. As such, BLS takesno position on what the Congress or theAdministration should use to make ad-justments to Social Security or any otherfederal program.

The Impact of the Chain CPI onSocial Security Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA)Currently, Social Security benefits are

calculated using CPI-W or the ConsumerPrice Index for Urban Wage Earners andClerical Workers. Using the C-CPI-U in-stead of CPI-W means the rate at whichthose benefits increase would be lower,because the former reflects substitutionsconsumers would make in response torising prices of certain items. That is whyC-CPI-U is called the Chained CPI. From

December 1999 to December 2011 theCPI-W grew at an average annual rate of2.5% compared to 2.2% for C-CPI-U. Thischange would save the federal govern-ment between $130 and $230 billion overthe next decade.

Using the chained CPI would decreasethe annual Social Security cost-of-living

Social SecurityContinued from page 7

9

SUNY Retirees Newsletter Fall/Winter 2013

everything in their power to weaken itsbenefits. President Obama’s proposal ap-pears to be an attempt to appease con-gressional legislators who oppose SocialSecurity so he can get some of hisagenda through Congress. The C-CPI-Uproposal is, by many accounts, the latesteffort to reduce Social Security Benefits.

What Can Retirees Do About It?If you believe that Social Security ben-

efits should not be reduced, tell your sen-ators and representative that switchingfrom the CPI-W to the C-CPI-U in calcu-lating Social Security COLA is a bad ideabecause it would reduce Social Securitybenefits, which will hurt the elderly andthe vulnerable. Touching Social Securityis a political third rail.

Sources: Thepoliticalcarnival.net, U.S.News & World Report, April 29, 2013,“How the Chain CPI Affects Social Secu-rity Payments,” Emily Brandon, Bureau ofLabor Statistics.

The End of the Defence of Marriage Act(DOMA): A Victory for Retirees

Editor’s Note: Patty Bentley is a member ofthe SUNY Retiree Service Corps AdvisoryCouncil.

The Supreme Court of the United Statesthis year declared the 1996 Defense of

Marriage Act (P.L. 104-199) unconstitu-tional. Politics aside, the end of DOMAwas a victory for retirees, championed bya petite, “grandmotherly” New Yorker,Edie Windsor, who after 42 years of a lov-ing, committed partnership and marriageto Thea Spyer, was billed $363,000 in estate taxes by the IRS and another$275,000 by New York State. The coupleshared love, life and assets until Spyer’sdeath in 2009, but because of DOMA, theestate was treated as inherited propertyand excluded from the marriage estate ex-emption all heterosexual marriages aregranted at the death of a spouse.

Edie sued, the ACLU took the case onthe merits of fairness, and many LGBT or-ganizations filed briefs and offered sup-port. The case was argued before theSupreme Court on March 27 and the his-toric decision, anxiously awaited until thelast day of the Court Session, was ren-dered on June 26, 2013.

Same-sex married couples in ANYstate recognizing such marriages werenow treated equally for pension, inheri-tance and estate taxes, health benefits (in-cluding, it appears, “cafeteria” or healthbenefit plans). For those of us who are re-tired, straight or gay, the Supreme Court’sdecision to overturn DOMA shone a lighton the protection of joint estates, protect-

ing spouses for life after the death of aspouse. It pointed out the significant ef-fect of estate planning, taxation, pensions,and health care for older Americans.Since New York State passed its MarriageEquality Act July 24, 2011, many of ourcolleagues were directly affected.

As the federal government worksthrough the implications of DOMA beingdeclared unconstitutional this year, it isvery important for retirees to pay atten-tion and ask questions of your accountantor tax software when filing tax returns for 2013. The tax on imputed income* for spousal and family health coverage(averaging $1,300 for same-sex couples)is refundable for at least tax years 2011and 2012.

For those who lost a spouse and paidtaxes on the estate, those taxes are likelyrefundable (Federal and State). ALL married, same-sex couples should seekthe advice of a tax professional and per-haps an attorney to be sure they are made “whole” by the Supreme CourtDOMA ruling.

For those who are still working, otherbenefits, such as Health Benefit Plans,Family Medical Leave Act, insurance cov-erage, custody and care of a disabled orincapacitated spouse are also affected.Many same-sex couples have gone toconsiderable legal expense to protectthemselves and their spouse for coverageand survivorship, not to mention powersfor decision-making in the event of cata-strophic illness, accident or death. Sur-viving spouses will also be eligible forSocial Security and/or Veteran’s benefits,which had previously been denied tosame-sex partners.

New York has had Domestic Partnerbenefits for state employees since Janu-ary 1994. But the benefit for the partnerAND any children covered by a family

Continued on page 10

by Patricia “Patty"Bentley, LibrarianEmerita

SUNY Plattsburgh

SUNY Retirees Newsletter Fall/Winter 2013

10

health plan was “imputed” as income be-yond a single party coverage – so thesecouples and families paid additional tax onthe “benefit.” It is unclear whether enti-ties which have offered Domestic Part-nership plans will abandon these in thewake of the DOMA ruling but we knowthere are MANY same-sex and heterosex-ual couples who, for myriad reasons, electfor Domestic Partnerships rather thanmarriage. WE, collectively, should bemindful of that and caution against a blan-ket dissolution of Domestic Partnershipsas it could have a serious and negativeimpact on many retirees.

The end of the Defense of MarriageAct has also affected an obscure discrim-ination against our academic colleaguesin that, because of DOMA, spousal bene-fits and accommodations for FulbrightScholars were extended only to hetero-sexual couples. Visas, work permits and travel and housing stipends adminis-tered through the State Department werethus denied to partners of LGBT scholars.No more.

For the many bi-national couples whohave had to expatriate in order to live to-gether because a same-sex partner wasnot recognized for visa purposes – youcan now come home. In SUNY, with somany of us traveling and working abroad,love knows no border.

Our veterans and those in active serv-ice who are married and live in states rec-ognizing marriage equality are alsoaffected by the end of DOMA in manyways: in addition to Veteran’s survivor’sbenefits, including access to base facili-ties and services, not to mention, that withthe end of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” partnersand spouses can now be present in everyway at deployments and return of troops.Imagine not being able to wave goodbye,or rush to welcome the person you lovefrom a deployment.

While marriage equality is still far fromuniversal and remains controversial, evenamong our members, I encourage EACHand ALL of you to consider the ramifica-tions for you, your friends, family and col-leagues in terms of quality of life,preservation of assets and dignity in laterlife. Talk about this, think about it and re-

Shifting Gears

Editor’s Note: Sharon Cramer, who lovedher job as a SUNY Distinguished ServiceProfessor of Exceptional Education at Buf-falo State, has been exploring post-worklife in Western New York and other loca-tions for the past two years. She is picturedabove the Musée d’Orsay in Paris

Leaves turning, thermometer dropping,school buses transform easy summer

routes into stop and go. It is “Back toSchool” for many throughout westernNew York – but not for everyone. Forsome, packing up the classroom lastspring was for keeps; the decision to dosomething different with the autumnmeant that the school year would start upwithout us. While others in August dreamof the first day of school, we ponderedwhat we would like to do with the monthof September.

A word like “retirement” implies thatthere are only backward looks, a separa-tion from the world as it was. Instead of adynamic week, broken up only by eachweekend’s treasures, many conjure theweek of the retired as a lake’s calm sur-face, with no need to stuff all errands intotwo days. How we spend our time maydepend in part on who we were, but forthose of us lucky enough to make theswitch while healthy, our time is also de-termined by what we choose to do.

mind those you may know who could beaffected by this sweeping change – theyprobably have money coming back, plansto make, and things to talk about.

We can thank an 83-year-old widow,tiny of stature but mighty of heart, whochallenged Goliath and won a mighty vic-tory for Fairness, Equality and Humanity.In addition, Edie Windsor received a re-fund of $638,000 from both the federaland NYS tax departments. Her lawyersand accountants are suing for interestwhich could be as much as $70,000. TheSupreme Court’s decision in Edie’s favoris a symbolic tribute to her and TheaSpyer for their productive and loving livestogether.

*Imputed income is the value of the healthinsurance premiums paid by the state forany policy over the individual limit, meaningthat the "value" of the benefit is calculatedas what the state spends for family cover-age, less the "value” of an individual plan.These values vary by the benefits of theplan but are typically reported as around$6,000, with taxes withheld accordingly.

It is time to invent a new word, a newway to think about what happens after alifetime of work. I offer this new image,“shifting gears” in life, along with theimage of two gears working together, withthanks to www.robogames.net for the ba-sics of gears. The big gear, “pre-retire-ment life,” works with any small gear, thethings introduced into our lives during thenew era of life, retirement.

If you turn the small gear, the big geargoes slower. New small gears are theparts of our lives that we insert, opportu-nities we had limited time for, during ourworking lives. We gradually change theway we live, as the big gear (who wewere) is no longer driving us. Many peoplebring their grandchildren into their lives,and they get new ways to participate in“Grandparents Days” at school, or helpingtheir children with routine after-schoolcare. Some of us take up new hobbies –photography, in my case – and find that

The End of DOMAContinued from page 9

by Sharon Cramer,SUNY DistinguishedService ProfessorEmerita

Buffalo State College

SUNY Retirees Newsletter Fall/Winter 2013

11

Comments, Content Suggestions?We value your input and want to

hear from you! Please drop us a line at

retirees@suny.edu if you have anything

you’d like to say about this issue of the

SUNY Retirees Newsletter or if you

have something you’d like to see us in-

clude in future issues. Whether it be

events listings, retiree accomplish-

ments, an In Memorium section, or

other type of content, let us know and

we’ll see what we can do! �

“who we were” lessens, while “who weare” evolves.

There are other small gears that cancontrol us – health crises, home repairnecessities, financial concerns leading toa return to new kind of work. Each ofthese move us, to bring who we were intofocus in a new way, as we draw upon ourold lives to help us with the new.

If you turn the big gear, the small geargoes faster. Shifting gears emerges fromour lifetime of interests, curiosities, andrequirements. One good, new experienceleads to others. I recently participated inamazing bus and walking tours of Buffalo;along with visitors, local people were ex-ploring their roots. For some, the tours in-volved a return to the neighborhoodswhere they once had lived. For others, the

tour visited parts of the city where oncethey had worked. But the “pre-retirement”self was guiding an awareness of the his-tory, culture and art available here inWestern New York. Each tour was led byan articulate, well-informed docent –someone whose gears were bringing to-gether past, present and future.

The slow one has more torque (it canpush harder) and The fast one has lesstorque, but more speed. New times in liferequire choices. We must decide how toprioritize, to generate options, to spendtime with people who really matter. Whatis more important? We can either havestrength or speed, not both. Ideally, wechoose, and with each choice we make,we are distancing ourselves from who wewere, and deliberately, consciously, mov-ing toward who we will become.

Nostalgia is ram-pant and it is a

condition we seemto welcome. Our email box continuouslyfills with memories. The Subject line “Re-member this?” clues us in to what awaitsus should we open the email. Disciplineinstilled in us from our professional livesadvises us to press the Delete key and geton with the more important mail of theday. There surely will be myriad emailsthat are more urgent: the cell phone com-pany thanking us for a just posted elec-tronic payment; American Expresscheerfully greeting us with our monthlybill; the library advising us that our re-served copy of Caro’s “Johnson: The Pas-sage of Power” is now ready for pick-up;

ENDANGERED SOUNDSand an unexpected note from the PeaceCorps letting us know that they have re-vised their age limitations and we are wel-come to again apply for service in Kenya.

All this awaits us—but we choose toopen “Remember this?” And what do wefind? We see pictures of a two-tone Dodgecar with huge side fins looking as thoughit were ready for takeoff from LaGuardiaairport; slick, aerodynamic design was notyet in vogue. We see a segmented tin car-rier holding glass bottles of milk whosecream is visible on the top of each bottle;homogenization had not yet become popu-lar. We see kids, wearing brown and whitesaddle shoes, tossing a ball; decades ago,only serious athletes wore sneakers.

We see a domestic scene where thefamily (the mother always in a frilly halfapron) is watching a small-screen TV withthe rabbit ears protruding almost to theceiling; flush wall-mounts were a half-century away. We see office settings withsecretaries using carbon paper; Xerox®

machines werenot in use beforethe Sixties. At achildren’s picnic,we see momtrying to includeall the silly-hat-ted youngstersin her KODAK

box camera viewfinder; the ubiquitouscameras hidden in mobile phones wereway beyond the horizon.

Of course, there were no plastic bag-gies, no remote control TVs, and no cell-phones. So much of what comprises ourdaily life today was not yet invented ahalf-century ago and thus is absent fromthe “Remember This?” download. Evenwithout such downloads of images, weare able to bring to our mind’s eye recol-lections of times past by thumbing through

Continued on page 12

Shifting GearsContinued from page 10

by Sivia Kaye, Pro-fessor of English(Emeritus)

Nassau CommunityCollege

SUNY Retirees Newsletter Fall/Winter 2013

RETIREMENT PLANNINGhttp://www.suny.edu/benefits/ - Scrolldown to “Planning for Retirement” in left-hand column, click “+” sign to right of thatcategory to see links to a variety of poli-cies, forms, organizations, and tools thatcan be of assistance when consideringretirement from SUNY.

SUNY RETIREE BENEFITS/DISCOUNTSBenefits for SUNY Retirees http://www.suny.edu/BENEFITS/index.cfm - Scroll down to “SUNY Retirees” inleft-hand column, click "+" sign to right ofthat category to see links to a variety ofretiree-oriented forms, policies, and web-sites, including www.myretirement.org

our photo album: we spot pictures of ourhigh school graduation and our first preg-nancy. We file these pictures away, but ata whim (or a family reunion) we can re-trieve them and enjoy the reminiscencesthat spring forth.

Sounds, however, being more transient,have been more difficult to retrieve. Nowthis has been remedied. Creative sponsorsof the Museum of Endangered Soundshave begun archiving aural sensations ofour past. These are now on tap to swellour memory banks with yet another formof sensory stimulation.

While we are all aware that 10-inchbulky TV sets have been replaced by flat,wall-mounted screens, we may not beaware that so many sounds of our child-hood have all but disappeared. How fortu-nate we are that some creative computertech has recently corralled these endan-gered sounds, and has archived them asaural memories. We can visit them at willon the Internet. By clicking on the link to

the Museum of Endangered Sounds(http://savethesounds.info/), we canrecreate events of our childhood in ourmind’s eye.

I can still hear the pre-dawn slap ofhorses’ hooves pulling the truck deliveringmilk in Brooklyn. And the whir of cassettetapes when they spin back on rewind tothe tape’s beginning. And the high-pitched

whistle of the pres-sure cooker in thekitchen. This unpleas-ant squeal (which lit-erally commandedyou to shut thestove’s pilot light) sig-naled to my mother

that her 15-minute dinner preparation wasnow ready; it had replaced the traditionalthree hour cooking time.

When coal was delivered to my Bor-ough Park apartment house, the kidswould line up to watch the huge truck ma-nipulate its long metal chute into a smallbasement window. Then a release shaftwas raised by the driver, and the shinyblack pieces would slide into the base-

ment. Accompanying its decent was acontinuous and soothing sound, unlikeanything we could replicate today. In ourpresent living quarters, heat responds topressing an on/off button in our apart-ments: the special sound of sliding coalwas, until now, forever lost. Sounds suchas these, once intimate, have becomestrangers. Their role has metamorphosedfrom being our daily accompaniment tobecoming residents in our personal auralarchive.

We can now herald a new wrinkle tothe collective nostalgia obsession: that ofEndangered Sounds. We must applaud thedesigners of this museum for harkingback to Marcel Proust, and viewing Mem-ories as one of Life’s special treats. Theyare one of the few pleasures open to sen-iors whose physical prowess has beenlessened by age,but whose ca-pacity for relivingthe milestones oftheir personaldecades is verymuch intact.

12

Useful Links and Resources for Current and Future RetireesSUNY Retiree Discount Programshttp://www.suny.edu/benefits/dis-counts/retirees.cfm - Open to all SUNYretirees, including retirees of state-oper-ated and community college campuses,Research Foundation and ConstructionFund retirees, etc.

GOVERNMENT AGENCIES

Medicare Information:http://www.medicare.gov/

Social Security Administrationhttp://www.ssa.gov/

The New York State Commission on National and Community Service/New Yorkers Volunteerwww.newyorkersvolunteer.ny.gov

New York State Office for the Aginghttp://www.aging.ny.gov/

National Institutes of Healthhttp://www.nih.gov/

U.S. Department of Health and Human Serviceshttp://www.dhhs.gov/

LEARNING AND LEISURE

ACTIVITIES

New York Capital Region OASIS http://www.oasisnet.org/Cities/East/AlbanyNY.aspx

Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at StonyBrook University http://www.stonybrook.edu/spd/olli/index.html

Road Scholar Adventures in LifelongLearning (formerly Elderhostel, Inc.) http://www.roadscholar.org/

Endangered SoundsContinued from page 11

Continued on page 13

SUNY Retirees Newsletter Fall/Winter 2013

Editor’s Note: There are approximately 15SUNY campuses with a retiree organizationor retiree program of some sort. Below arethe contact persons for several campus programs. The SUNY Retirees ServiceCorps is providing this information in theevent that representatives of these programswant to network with their counterpartsand as a resource for campuses or retireesinterested in starting their own retiree program or organization.

STATE-OPERATED CAMPUSESUniversity at AlbanyGeorge Hastings, PresidentUniversity at Albany Emeritus Center BoardHastings@nycap.rr.com(518) 439-6917

Binghamton UniversityCorinna KrumanBinghamton University Retiree Services Coordinatorckruman@binghamton.edu(607) 777-5959

University at BuffaloJack BakerUniversity at Buffalo Emeritus Centerbakerja@buffalo.edu

SUNY CobleskillAnne Donnelly, FacilitatorSUNY Cobleskill Retiree Network donnelal@cobleskill.edu(518) 234-7502

SUNY GeneseoDonald Lackey, CoordinatorGeneseo Emeriti Associationndlackey@localnet.com(585) 243-0901

SUNY New PaltzAlan Dunefsky, ChairNew Paltz Faculty Emeriti Groupdunefska@newpaltz.edu(845) 257-3986 (O), (845) 338-2680 (H)

College at OneontaRichard Burr, President, Retired Faculty,Administrators & Professionals Association at SUNY Oneontarrburr4@gmail.com(607) 432-0517

SUNY OswegoVernon Tryon, PresidentSUNY Oswego Emeriti Associationvernon@tryon.com(315) 343-9692

SUNY PlattsburghSarah Reyell, Health Benefits Administratorreyellsg@plattsburgh.edu(518) 564-5062

SUNY PotsdamCarol Rourke, Assistant to the Presidentrourkecm@potsdam.edu(315) 267-2128

Stony Brook UniversityDave Smith, WebmasterStony Brook Emeritus Faculty Associationdrsmith36@optonline.net

Upstate Medical UniversityJohn C. Farruggio, Administrator“The Retiree Associates” ProgramBenefits Manager, Upstate Medical Universityfarruggj@upstate.edu(315) 464-4942

SUNY Campus Retiree Organization Contact Information

13

COMMUNITY COLLEGESHudson Valley Community CollegeWilliam Muller, Member“Keepers of the Flame” Programw.muller@hvcc.edu(518) 449-4974

Schenectady County Community CollegePeggy King, Presidentmcking43@aol.com(518) 370-1885

Stan Strauss, Vice Presidentsstrauss@nycap.rr.com(518) 377-3610

Suffolk County Community CollegePeter Herron, WebmasterRetiree Association of Suffolk Community College rc39pete@optonline.net

Westchester Community CollegeBarbara ChristesenAlumni Communications CoordinatorWestchester Community College FoundationBarbara.Christesen@sunywcc.edu(914) 606-6559

If your campus has a retiree programthat is not listed above, please reach outto the SUNY Retirees Service Corps at retirees@suny.edu and share your pro-gram name and contact person so that wemay include your information in the nextSUNY Retirees Newsletter.

Rochester OASIS http://www.oasisnet.org/Cities/East/RochesterNY.aspx

Syracuse OASIS http://www.oasisnet.org/Cities/East/SyracuseNY.aspx

RETIREE ORGANIZATIONS AND ASSOCIATIONS

AARPhttp://www.aarp.org/

Association of Retirement Organizationsin Higher Education (AROHE) http://arohe.org

National Council on Aging http://www.ncoa.org/

NY StateWide Senior Action Council http://www.nysenior.org/

Useful LinksContinued from page 12

Editor’s Note: Curtis Lloyd is a member ofthe SUNY Retirees Service Corps AdvisoryCouncil.

SUNY retirees and campus administra-tors who read the cover story on the

Connecting SUNY Retirees in the DigitalAge conference might be asking them-selves, “What’s so special about thisevent?” or “Why should I attend?”

To help answer those questions, I havecompiled the following list of eight goodreasons to attend the November 20th con-ference:

1. Location, Location, Location: Thethird biennial conference on SUNYretirees is being held at the SUNYCollege of Nanoscale Science andEngineering (CNSE) in Albany. CNSEis the world’s first college dedicatedto nanoscience, nanoengineering,nanobioscience, and nanoeconomics.It offers students a unique academicexperience and provides over 300corporate partners with access to themost advanced $17 billion nanotech-nology R&D ecosystem anywhere inthe world. So what does that have todo with retirees? This amazing venueties in beautifully with the theme ofthe conference. See Good Reason #2.

2. Topicality: Retirees today, especiallyretirees of academic institutions, are

more technically savvy than ever,commonly using email, websites, andeven blogs. Connecting SUNY Re-tirees in the Digital Age stems from a2010 SUNY Retirees Service Corps(RSC) survey in which the majority ofSUNY retirees questioned indicatedthat they wanted mechanisms thatwould allow them to stay connectedwith their former campus and col-leagues. This conference will exploreRSC and campus efforts to reach andserve SUNY retirees online, wheremany of them feel at home.

3. Dual Appeal: Connecting SUNY Re-tirees in the Digital Age is designedto appeal not only to current and fu-ture retirees, but also to organizersof campus retiree programs and

Eight Good Reasons to Attend the ThirdBiennial SUNY Retirees Conference

campus-based retiree organizations.

4. Exciting Innovation: Conference at-tendees will have the opportunity tolearn about cutting-edge efforts thatwill impact how SUNY retirees con-nect with each other, their communi-ties, and the world. Among them: theSUNY Retirees Network, an excitingnew component of the SUNY Re-tirees Service Corps website whichwill link registered retirees via a se-cure online directory and interactiveblog, and eventually connect inter-ested retirees with volunteer oppor-tunities on campus and in the

community. Such a combination ofwebsite features and services maybe unique in academia. Another con-ference highlight: insider insights onOpen SUNY, which, according toChancellor Nancy Zimpher, will bethe largest online learning environ-ment in the world. The presentationwill also look at Open SUNY’s poten-tial impact on SUNY retirees. For adescription of the other fascinatingConnecting SUNY Retirees in theDigital Age sessions, go towww.suny.edu/retirees/index.cfmand select “Click here to see theconference program and related de-tails.”

5. Networking Opportunities: Whereelse will you have the chance to net-work with retirees and retiree pro-gram and retiree organizationcoordinators from all across SUNY?The November 20th conference in-cludes a session that will give atten-

The Last Word_____________The Last Word_____________

14

dees the opportunity to compare ex-periences and share helpful hints onstarting or expanding a retiree organ-ization, getting retirees involved,campus benefits for retirees, and anyother topic that interests attendees.There will also be display tables con-taining helpful literature from partici-pating organizations.

6. Question and Answer Session withDr. Alain Kaloyeros: Conference at-tendees will have the unique opportu-nity to interact with Dr. Kaloyeros,Senior Vice President and Chief Executive Officer of the College of

SUNY Retirees Newsletter Fall/Winter 2013

by Curtis L. Lloyd,Vice Chancellor forHuman Resources

SUNY System Administration

About the SUNY Retirees NewsletterThe SUNY Retirees Newsletter is designed to share information abouthappenings at various campuses andSystem-wide which are of interest toretirees. The newsletter is put togetherby the SUNY Retirees Service Corps(RSC) with the assistance of the following people, who constitute the Editorial Committee:

Dave DeMarcoDegree Planning Project Director, SUNY System Administration

Anne DonnellyMember, SUNY Retirees Service CorpsAdvisory Council; Professor of Biology(Emeritus), SUNY Cobleskill

Jim KalasVice Chair, SUNY Retiree Service CorpsAdvisory Council; Associate Provost,Academic Affairs (Ret.), SUNY SystemAdministration

Curtis LloydVice Chancellor for Human Resources,SUNY System Administration

Julie PettiDirector, University-wide Human Resources, SUNY System Administration

Pierre RadimakEditor, SUNY Retirees Newsletter; Coordinator, SUNY Retirees ServiceCorps, SUNY System Administration

The RSC welcomes content submissionfrom retirees and campuses for inclusionin the newsletter, which will be issuedtwice annually (spring/summer and fall/winter). For more information, contactPierre Radimak at retirees@suny.eduor (518) 320-1354.

15

Senior Vice President and Chief Executive Officer of the College ofNanoscale Science and Engineering(CNSE). Dr. Kaloyeros was a keyplayer in the creation of CNSE andhas been actively involved in the de-velopment and implementation ofNew York's high-tech strategy to be-come a global leader in the nanotech-nology-driven economy of the 21stCentury. Bring your questions!

7. Tours of the College of NanoscaleScience and Engineering’s AlbanyNanoTech Complex: Interested atten-dees will be able to go on guidedtours of the world-class and world-famous facility. The longer version ofthe tour includes a look at the newNanoFab Extension Building, fromwhich President Obama delivered aspeech on the economy during hisMay 2012 tour of the Albany NanoTech Complex.

8. Affordable Lodging for Out-of-TownAttendees: A block of rooms wasbooked at the brand new ResidenceInn Albany, 124 Washington AvenueExtension (12203) at the special rateof $95/night for a studio or one-bed-room suite or $135 for a two-bed-room suite for the nights ofNovember 19 and 20, 2013 and in-cludes on-site parking. The hotel isadjacent to Best Buy at CrossgatesMall (an opportunity to start your hol-iday shopping early!) and is approxi-mately one mile from the SUNYCollege of Nanoscale Science & Engi-neering. The special rate expired onOctober 31. The hotel, however, maybe willing to honor the rate if theyhave space available. Attendeesshould ask Brianna the sales man-ager for the “SUNY Retirees Conference rate” and specify thenight(s) you want to stay and the typeof room you want. Contact informa-

tion is included in the online confer-ence registration form (see linkbelow).

If any of my eight reasons above haveconvinced you that the Connecting SUNYRetirees in the Digital Age conference isworth attending, you can register online athttp://fs9.formsite.com/zetadonut/form49/index.html. Be sure to register by theWednesday, November 6 deadline. Youwon’t regret it.

Connecting SUNY Retirees in the Digi-tal Age is in keeping with the fine traditionof former Retirees Service Corps Execu-tive Director Ram Chugh, who organizedthe first two biennial SUNY retiree confer-ences – Reimagining SUNY Retirementand The Power of SUNY Retirees. Both ofthese events brought SUNY retirees andadministrators together to learn about thepotential of SUNY retirees and actionsthey could take to connect them. Thisyear’s conference promises to expand onthose opportunities and connections.

I would like to close by commendingthe co-sponsors of Connecting SUNY Re-tirees in the Digital Age – the SUNY Re-tirees Service Corps, the University atAlbany Emeritus Center Board, and theSUNY College of Nanoscale Science andEngineering – for coming together to hostsuch a thought-provoking and timelyevent.

I hope to see you there!

SUNY Retirees Newsletter Fall/Winter 2013

Governor Cuomo and President Obama touringthe Albany NanoTech Complex (May 8, 2012)

Eight Good ReasonsContinued from page 14

www.suny.edu/retirees

Below is a picture of the SUNY Retirees Service Corps website home page. Come visit us at www.suny.edu/retirees!

SUNY Retirees Newsletter Fall/Winter 2013