Members of the MU Retirees Association show their dedication to the University of Missouri through volunteering, supporting extracurricular activities and by making donations. On May 22, the association presented a check to MU for nearly $2.5 million, raised through the It’s My Mizzou fundraising campaign.
“This is the most engaged group of retirees I have seen” during my decades in academia, Loftin said at the Chancellor’s Retirees Luncheon. Nearly 340 retirees attended.
The exact amount of the gift was $2,495,672, raised between July 1, 2014, and April 30, 2015.
George Kennedy, who retired as managing editor of the Columbia Missourian in 2001, was honored as Faculty Retiree of the Year. He encouraged retirees to volunteer at the Food Bank for Central and Northeast Missouri, as he has since 2001. Susan Turner, who retired from the School of Medicine Department of Child Health in 2001, was honored as Staff Retiree of the Year. For more than 10 years, Turner has coordinated garment and toy collection for The Container Project, a nonprofit group that ships collection containers to the poor in Nicaragua. For more information on the winners, go here.
Also speaking at the event were MURA President Jim Koller and Betsy Rodriguez, vice president for human resources at the University of Missouri System. Rodriguez recognized and thanked the retirees for their many years of service to the university before and during retirement.
“You are so critical to the success of this university,” she said.