SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY RETIREES ASSOCIATION
ANNUAL GENERAL REPORT TO MEMBERS
PURPOSE OF THE SFURA
In support of the enhancement of interest in the University and each other, the
purposes of the Association are:
to provide a link between retired employees, the University and each other; to
provide the opportunity for the social interaction of its members; to act as a forum
for discussion about the University and education generally, and to promote and
further higher education; to support the University in the larger community; to
encourage members to donate their time and resources to appropriate University
activities; to encourage the University and its various employee groups to take into
account requirements of its retirees and to facilitate interaction with other
retiree/seniors organizations.
SFURA CONSTITUTION (Part 1, Section 2)
______________________________________________________________________________
1
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING - TUESDAY MAY 5, 2015
DIAMOND ALUMNI CENTRE, BURNABY MOUNTAIN CAMPUS
AGM AGENDA
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MEETING CALLED TO ORDER (5:30)
WELCOME -- PRESIDENT
APPROVAL OF AGENDA
APPROVAL OF 2014 AGM MINUTES
EXECUTIVE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
PRESIDENT’S ANNUAL REPORT
TREASURER’S REPORT
SECRETARY’S REPORT
NOMINATIONS COMMITTEE REPORT
BOARD COMMITTEE REPORTS
SPECIAL MOTION FOR THE SFURA MEMBERSHIP
EXPANDING THE SFURA MEMBERSHIP BASE
ONGOING PROJECTS MANAGED BY SFURA MEMBERS
ELECTION 2014 – 2015 EXECUTIVE BOARD
ANY OTHER BUSINESS
ADJOURNMENT
P.3
P.5
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______________________________________________________________________________
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DRAFT AGM MINUTES
EAGLE CREEK RESTAURANT, BURNABY BC
Thursday May 1, 2014
1. Call to order. John D’Auria welcomed attendees and called the meeting to order.
2. Approval of Agenda. Moved by Percilla Groves, seconded by Marv Wideen, and carried, that the agenda
be approved as circulated.
3.
Approval of Minutes. Moved by John Walkley, seconded by Hiromi Matsui, and carried, that the minutes
be approved as previously circulated.
4.
President’s Report. John D’Auria introduced the attached President’s report. He made special mention
of the introduction of PayPal as a means of paying for membership dues and special events. He also
explained that the SFU parking system may change in the coming year and that members will receive
information about this as details are made known prior to implementation. At a recent meeting of the TriU group (retirees associations from UBC, SFU, University of Victoria) there was substantial interest in the
funding for individual retiree research and activities now available from the SFU Faculty of Arts and Social
Sciences and from the Faculty of Science. At the Tri-U meeting the UBC group reported that UBC pays for
an assistant to that association. D’Auria noted that SFURA membership continues to be static at around
350. In order to attract new members possibly SFURA could offer free membership to new retirees for
one year.
5.
Secretary’s Report. The report is attached.
6.
Treasurer’s Report. Denyse Dallaire presented the Treasurer’s Report as attached. She emphasized that
SFURA is in good financial shape. Moved by Marilyn Bowman, seconded by Marv Wideen, and carried,
that the Treasurer’s Report be accepted.
7.
Committee Reports. Reports from the SFURA Archives committee chair Evelyn Palmer, Seminar Series
coordinator Jacqueline Viswanathan , Special Social Events Coordinator Tom O’Shea, Financial Interest
Group organizers Marvin Wideen, Tom O’Shea, and Philip Mah and Walking Group organizers Ted Cohn
and David Ryeburn were distributed prior to the meeting. Marv Wideen asked on behalf of the Financial
Interest Group for suggestions of new speakers and mentioned an upcoming session on quantitative
easing. Ted Cohn spoke on behalf of the Walking Group mentioning that many participants appreciate
the introduction of two levels of walks, one longer and more challenging than the other.
8.
New Business. John D’Auria reminded the group that a motion about a proposed 50th Anniversary Award
was circulated prior to the meeting. He explained that as SFURA was in a very strong financial position,
the organization could make ten thousand dollars available as a beginning toward the establishment of an
ongoing scholarship. With this money as matching funds SFURA would try to raise another ten thousand
dollars in personal donations. He introduced a guest, Wanda Dekleva from the SFU University
Advancement Office, who was invited to attend as a resource person to speak about the process of
establishing a scholarship. Dekleva explained that from a total of $25,000 ($10,000 in individual
donations, another $10,000 in SFURA matching funds, an additional $5,000 from SFU if the first $20,000
3
were raised by the end of June 2014) an annual scholarship of one thousand dollars would be possible.
Dekleva stated that fund-raising for this scholarship could be part of the university’s “annual giving
campaign” conducted in June 2014. She explained that the naming of the scholarship and the terms of
reference for awarding the scholarship would be decided by SFURA.
The motion as circulated read:
"Moved that in celebration of the 50th anniversary of Simon Fraser University, SFURA provides up to
$10,000 in matching funds for an undergraduate scholarship honouring academic achievement."
Moved by Shaughn Clement, seconded by Marv Wideen, and carried unanimously.
9
Election of Officers. Hiromi Matsui reported on behalf of the Nominating Committee (Tom O’Shea,
Marilyn Bowman, and herself). Nominated were Jim Boyd, John D’Auria, Denyse Dallaire, Maurice
Gibbons, Percilla Groves, Jean Trask and Ralph Korteling. John D’Auria. will continue as Past President ex
officio. Moved by Marilyn Bowman, seconded by Evelyn Palmer, and carried, that the list of nominees be
approved. The President, Vice-President, Treasurer, and Secretary are to be elected by the incoming
board from among its members.
10 Other business. Moved by Hiromi Matsui, seconded by Marv Wideen, and carried, that thanks be given to
the outgoing board, and especially to John D’Auria as outgoing President.
11 Adjournment. Marilyn Bowman moved adjournment.
MINUTES OF SPECIAL MEETING
EAGLE CREEK RESTAURANT, BURNABY BC
Thursday May 1, 2014
Meeting of the elected Board took place at The Eagle Creek Restaurant following adjournment of the
SFURA Annual General Meeting.
Present: John D’Auria, Chair, Past President (2013/2014), Jim Boyd, Percilla Groves, Ralph Korteling, Jean
Trask, Denyse Dallaire,
Absent: Maurice Gibbons
Per the constitution at their first meeting of each year, the Board shall elect from its newly elected and
continuing members four Officers of the Association, namely, the President, Vice-President, Treasurer,
and Secretary.
Following a brief discussion among the Board members, Jim Boyd was unanimously elected by the Board
to the position of President of the SFU Retirees Association for the fiscal year 2014/15.
The appointment of the Vice-President, Treasurer and Secretary was delayed until the next Board meeting
scheduled for May 8th/14.
Meeting was adjourned at 6:45 pm.
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______________________________________________________________________________
The SFURA Executive Board of Directors for 2014 - 2015
President:
Vice-President
Past-President:
Treasurer:
Secretary:
Directors:
Jim Boyd
Ralph Korterling
John D’Auria
Denyse Dallaire (membership)
Jean Trask
Evelyn Palmer - Archives
Maurice Gibbons - Newsletter
Reo Audette – Member at Large (membership)
Vacant position – Social Coordinator
______________________________________________________________________________
PRESIDENT’S REPORT
Jim Boyd
Introduction
It has been an interesting year for me as President of the SFURA Board and I have certainly learned a lot in a
very short period of time. It has been made easier for me with the assistance and advice of other board
members, past and present. The word easier is only relative as it has also been hard work organizing and
expediting the events and issues that we as a board have had to deal with.
Our long time volunteer for administrative support, Margaret Jones will be leaving SFU this summer after a 50
years relationship with the University. We wish her well and send her our undisputed gratitude for all her
many years of assistance. Below is a summary of the year’s activities.
SFURA Membership Status
The membership of SFURA is about 339, down slightly from last year. We seem to be having difficulty in
attracting more recent retirees to join, which in time will impact recruiting efforts for board members. Our
board is researching the possibility of creating some form of associate memberships to bolster our ranks.
Please see some ideas proposed later in this report. New membership cards will be designed next year.
SFURA is definitely at a crossroads where we are trying to grow our membership base commensurate with
SFU’s continual growth. However, we feel that SFURA members are important ambassadors to help spread
the good word about the quality of SFU’s programs and research capabilities.
SFURA Email Lists Management
We have completed the separation the membership email list into two categories. One is for announcements
of business and event activities for use by the Board and Committees to send out important messages and
avoid other types of ‘opinion noise’. The original list has been retained for use as a forum for discussions of
interest between members and with a feature enabling members to unsubscribe from that list if they so wish.
5
Parking Arrangements
A free parking benefit for SFURA members on an occasional basis is still available on the Burnaby Campus. A
new SFU parking system is being designed to use license plate numbers to track all SFU usage and meetings
have been held with the parking administration to ensure that no benefits are lost and to propose a more
efficient and equitable service for SFURA members.
PayPal System
SFURA members have been able to pay their membership fees using PayPal and it is being expanded to cover
payments for events on-line through the SFURA web site and PayPal. This has reduced the need for volunteer
efforts to receive, record, and receipt such payments and is growing in acceptance by our members.
SFURA and SFU Administration Engagement Activities
Ralph Korterling and I had a very cordial meeting with SFU President Petter on January 21, 2015, an annual
tradition with the SFURA Board and SFU Senior management. President Petter’s Strategic Vision for SFU seeks
to establish SFU as “the leading engaged university…” where his third main goal is “Engaging Communities”.
SFURA itself has promoted an engagement philosophy in various ways.
SFURA is active in CURAC, College and University Retiree Associations of Canada for information exchange
important to all retirees, with me as their treasurer. Last year three board members participated in the CURAC
national conference put on by at McMaster. Our newsletter editor was sent to a Northwest Regional Retirees
Association Conference in Seattle in September after which he prepared an extensive report to our board.
SFU hosted the annual Tri-University Retirees Boards’ Group Summit with directors from SFU, UBC and UVIC at
the Simon Fraser University Campus at Vancouver Harbour Centre on Tuesday, April 21st, from 9:45am to
3:15pm. Attendees: were SFU [Jim Boyd, John D’Auria, Ralph Korteling], UBC [Richard Tees, Donald Blake, Paul
Marantz, Richard Spencer, Sandra vanArk], UVIC [David Docherty, Peter Liddell].
SFURA “Simon Says…” Newsletter
Our popular Newsletter published three times a year is receiving positive feedback from all members and also
from external organizations. An important project we have undertaken for this summer in connection with the
SFU 50th anniversary celebration is to publish a more substantial newsletter than our normal 16 pages in order
to capture the “Early Stories” of SFU’s beginnings from memories of the many long careers of SFU retired
faculty and staff as our contribution to the SFU 50th ceremonies. The spring 2015 issue has now been released.
Retirees Research Funding
There are many retired, former faculty members that are continuing research projects for the benefit of the
reputation of the University. We have instituted a departmental representation system with three SFU
faculties to maintain a stronger connection with SFU to keep informed on activities of mutual interest.
SFURA Financial Position
Financially the Association is in a reasonable position. Our closing financial funds are down by about $3,000.00
at March 31st compared to the previous fiscal year due to an operating deficit of a similar amount. Please see
the Treasurer’s report enclosed.
6
SFU Archives and Oral History
The SFURA Archives Committee is Percilla Groves, Len Evenden and Evelyn Palmer. Ongoing activity involves
sorting, classifying material and adding recent newsletters and documents of interest to the files. The Board is
creating a database for documents previously on paper. See the separate report enclosed.
Speakers Program
Seven seminars were arranged by Yasmin Jamal and Evelyn Palmer with attendance ranging from 13 to 39
participants. See the separate report enclosed.
Financial Interest Group
The Financial Interest Group under the organization of Marv Wideen, Tom O’Shea and Philip Mah organized
four seminar presentations this past year. See the separate report enclosed.
Social Events
The Social Activities Coordinator position has been vacant for several years due to lack of volunteers, and I
believe our membership number suffers because of a lack of external social activities. See the separate report
enclosed. However we did hold a Welcome Back luncheon was held in the fall followed by the annual Fall
Dinner. A luncheon was also held in January for members who volunteered their time for SFURA events, along
with pre-retirees. Then our Ides of March reception was held recently with good membership attendance.
SFURA Walking Group
Ted Cohn and Dave Ryeburn led this active group for walks every Wednesday throughout the lower Mainland.
SFURA members form the core of the group but it is also open to other non-members. Numbers on recent
walks have ranged from about 15 to 30. See the separate report enclosed.
Common Data Storage Project for SFURA executive usage and archives
Another initiative from the SFURA board is developing a common data storage system to ensure the legacy of
SFURA and assist the transition of board member duties from one year to the next. Ralph Korterling has
initiated the development of the new SFURA data site which is located on an SFU IT computer and will be
maintained by IT professionals. This is a work-in-progress and Ralph is commended for his efforts in getting it
off the ground. See the separate report enclosed.
SFU Celebrating 50 Years: 1965 - 2015
SFU celebrates its 50th Anniversary in 2015. A project team and steering committee have been set up to plan
and execute the celebration. See the separate report enclosed. In honor of this, the Executive expedited the
initiative for a Scholarship created by SFURA. Details are available in the Treasurer’s report.
KIVA Small Development Loan Project Re: SFU’s 50th Anniversary
This is a project that your Board has decided to support and has successfully enlisted the support of
the SFU administration again as a tribute to SFU’s 50 th. See the separate report enclosed.
______________________________________________________________________________
7
TREASURER’S REPORT
Denyse Dallaire
SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY RETIREES ASSOCIATION
FINANCIAL INFORMATION FOR THE YEAR ENDED MARCH 31, 2015
CASH AND INVESTMENTS
Balance in Vancity Chequing Account
Funds held with SFU
Cash available (Note 2)
MARCH 2015
$
15,500
3,956
$
19,456
MARCH 2014
13,639
33,095
18,537
$ 35,876
Term Deposits (Note 3)
Total Funds Available at March 31st
$
$ 17,092
247
$ 17,339
STATEMENT OF RECEIPTS & DISBURSEMENTS
FOR THE YEAR ENDED MARCH 31, 2015
Statement includes transactions in the Vancity Bank and SFU Grant Accounts
RECEIPTS
MARCH 2015
Members’ Dues (Note 4)
$
9,943
Grant from Simon Fraser University
3,500
Grant from Simon Fraser University VP Finance
5,000
Grant from Simon Fraser University for Tri-U Summit
Events (Note 5)
6,056
CURAC Travel Subsidy
Johnson/Medoc Travel Insurance
1,772
Miscellaneous Revenue (DVD/Mugs)
122
Total Receipts
$ 26,393
DISBURSEMENTS
Events (Note 5)
TRI-University Conference
CURAC Membership and Travel to Conference
Donation to SFU for Scholarship (Note 6)
DVD Production
Executive Assistant
Newsletters
Office Expenses & Supplies
PayPal Fees
Postage
Printing & Paper
Speaker Series (Room, Audio Visual & Speakers Lunches)
Telephone
Travel to conferences (ferries etc.)
Web Site Design & Support
8
10,450
1,514
10,000
1,500
360
365
148
396
828
2,348
300
95
1,044
MARCH 2014
$ 9,620
3,500
800
5,573
190
1,860
114
21,657
9,896
556
2,124
412
750
518
756
1,017
1,045
1,565
140
387
Total Disbursements
29,348
Surplus (Shortfall) end of the year
_
$
(2,955)
19,166
$
2,491
____________________
Jim Boyd, President
I have reviewed the above accounts and the final balance of the SFU Retirees Association and found
them to accurately reflect the operation for the year ended March 31st, 2015.
Original report signed by Mr. Philip Mah (see report final page)
_____________________
Philip Mah
NOTES TO THE ANNUAL FINANCIAL REPORT
1. BACKGROUND
The Simon Fraser University Retirees Association was incorporated in 1998 to provide an opportunity
for interaction with other retired SFU employees. The Association presently has
339 members
2. CASH AVAILABLE
Cash Available, April 1st, 2014
Term Deposit Cashed
Plus Receipts (from page 1)
Less Disbursements (from page 1)
Cash Available, March 31st, 2015
MARCH 2015
MARCH 2014
$ 17,339
5,072
26,393
(29,348)
$ 19,456
$ 14,848
21,657
(19,166)
$ 17,339
3. TERM DEPOSITS
The investments include two cashable term deposits of $5,138 each and one of $3,363 totaling
$13,639. Earning interest at 1.3%, the investments have a maturity date of September 20th/2015.
9
4. DUES AND MEMBERSHIP
As of March 31st, 243 members had paid their dues for the new fiscal year.
New members who joined or rejoined the Association this year were:
Andrew Barton, VP Research Office
Bruce Brandhorst, MBB
Bruce Brenton, Facilities Services
John Czerniej Facilities Management
Maria Davis, Teaching & Learning Centre
Brenda Harrison, French Department
Margit Nance, Continuing Studies
Louise Norman, Philosophy
Walter Piovesan, Library
Diane Pogue, Mathematics
Marlene Sawatsky, English Department
Allen Seager, History Department
Michael Warsh, Education
Joanie Wolfe, Library
5. EVENTS
Annual General Meeting, May 2014
Day at the Races
Fall Dinner
Ides of March
$
$
Receipts
2,145
781
2,840
290
6,056
$
$
Costs
3,419
781
4,282
1,968
10,450
6. DONATION TO SFU FOR SFURA 50TH ANNIVERSARY ENDOWMENT
In September 2014 the terms of reference of the new SFURA 50th Anniversary Endowment were
finalized. Total endowed donations received in the year, including $10,000 in matching funds from
SFU Retirees Association, totaled $30,150 plus interest of $1,677 for a total endowment fund of
$31,827 at year-end. An estimated $1,591 in interest, or 5% of the endowment, will be available for
scholarships in the next fiscal year.
______________________________________________________________________________
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SECRETARY’S REPORT
Jean Trask
During my first year as Secretary for the SFURA I attended 10 Board meetings for which I acted as recording
secretary. I would prepare draft minutes and then circulate those by email to the Executive for corrections
prior to the next Board meeting. The Board approved minutes are retained as part of the permanent records
of the SFURA.
As part of the ongoing efforts of the Board, and together with fellow Board member Maurice Gibbons, I
explored ways by which membership in the Association might be increased. We prepared a proposal setting
out several ideas to achieve that goal, and some of those suggestions have been adopted and are now in
effect.
During the period I also assisted with the organization and delivery of several SFURA-sponsored social events
including the 2014 AGM at Eagle Ridge (63 attendees), the annual Fall dinner at La Piazza Dario (76 attendees),
and the 2015 Ides of March at the Halpern Centre (61 attendees). For these events, and together with Marg
Jones and Denyse Dallaire, I provided reception services and the provision of name badges for SFURA member
attendees and guests.
April 27, 2015
_____________________________________________________________________________
NOMINATIONS COMMITTEE REPORT
John D’Auria
For the 2015 Annual General Meeting of the Simon Fraser University Retirees Association
to be held 5:30 pm on Tuesday, May 5,2015 at the Diamond Alumni Centre(DAC)atSFUBurnaby
The Nominations Committee chaired by John D’Auria, Past President obtained
sufficient number of nominees to proceed. The nominee slate requires six (6) members
and the following have agreed to let their names stand for election to the 2015 - 2016
SFURA executive board:
Reo Audette
Jim Boyd
Maurice Gibbons
Ted Hickin
Walter Piovesan
Jean Trask
The committee is pleased to recommend this strong slate of candidates for consideration by the
members.
________________________________________________________________________
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BOARD COMMITTEE REPORTS
SFURA Archives and Oral History DVD’s
Evelyn Palmer
SFURA Archives
The SFURA Archives committee is composed of Percilla Groves, Len Evenden and Evelyn Palmer. The Archives
are housed in the SFURA Office Suite in AQ 3048. Items include the documents registering SFURA under the
Societies Act, financial reports, lists of social events, information from other Retirement Associations, minutes
of Annual General Meetings, minutes of Executive Board meetings, old and current newsletters, brochures and
photograph albums of Social Events.
We also have copies of our Oral History DVD's and details of their production, and other documents related to
the history of SFU and the SFURA. The Human Resources Department published booklets honouring new
retirees each year for several years. These booklets are also in the files.
Ongoing activity includes sorting and classifying material in the files and adding recent Newsletters and other
documents of interest to the files.
The Executive Board is setting up a database to include most of the documents which were previously on
paper; membership lists, minutes of AGM and Board meetings, policy and procedure descriptions, and SFURA
events.
SFURA Oral History Project
The SFURA has produced six Oral History DVD’s in the period 2005 - 2013.
Descriptions of the Oral History Project can be found on the SFURA web page under the Column “About Us”, at
http://www.sfu.ca/retirees/about-us/dvd-oral-histories-of-sfu.html
During the 2014-2015 year the first three DVD's were added to the SFURA website to be viewed online, so now
all six are available online through Summit, the Library’s electronic archive. The first four DVD’s are also
offered for sale and can be ordered through the website.
The titles of the six DVD’s are;
1) The Excitement of the Early Years (2005)
2) The Instant University (2006)
3) Thelma Finlayson: A Conversation with John Webster (2007)
4) A Conversation with Erickson and Massey, SFU Architects (2006) also on You Tube through the SFU website:
http://www.sfu.ca/sfunews/news/story_05210901.shtml
5) SFU: The Years of Turbulence (2012)
6) Creating SFU: An Inside Story by Ron Baker (2013)
________________________________________________________________________
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SFURA SPEAKERS PROGRAM
Yasmin Jamal and Evelyn Palmer
Fall 2014 and Spring 2015
The SFURA Seminar Series was renamed the SFURA Speakers Program in 2014. It was coordinated by Evelyn
and Leigh Palmer in Fall 2014 and by Yasmin Jamal in Spring 2015. Presentations are free and open to all
members of SFU and the public. They are held in Halpern Centre Room 114 at 11:30 am on Tuesdays with a
talk of approximately 50 minutes, plus a short question period. Members of the audience are invited to join
the speaker and executive board for lunch following the talk.
September 16, 2014:
Rosie Redfield, Professor, Department of Zoology, UBC,
A faculty perspective on MOOCs' or 'What should we teach and who should we teach it to?
October 21, 2014:
Len Berggren Professor Emeritus of Mathematics, SFU
A Brief History of Time (keeping)
November 18, 2014:
Harvey De Roo, Retired from the SFU English Department and as Instructor in Continuing Studies, SFU
Who's Afraid of Richard Wagner?
January 20, 2015:
Marilyn Bowman, Professor Emerita, Department of Psychology, SFU
Ladakh: a remote Himalayan kingdom
February 17, 2015:
Sanford Osler, Vancouver Paddler and author,
The varying roles of canoes in British Columbia
March 24, 2015:
Leigh Palmer, Professor Emeritus, Department of Physics, SFU
The science of predicting the future climate of Earth
April 14, 2015:
Dr. Elizabeth Bryce, Regional Medical Director for Infection Control at Vancouver Coastal Health Acute and
Clinical Professor at UBC.
Healthcare Acquired Infections
_____________________________________________________________________
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FINANCIAL INTEREST GROUP SEMINARS REPORT
Marvin Wideen, Tom O’Shea, and Phil Mah
This past year the Financial Interest Group, organized four seminars covering quantitative easing, planning
efficient money withdrawals from retirement funds, and managing U.S taxation when living in Canada.
June, 2014, David Andolfatto, Professor of Economics at SFU and Vice President of Economic Research at the
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis explained the concept of Quantitative Easing, which involves the printing of
money by the US government to stimulate the economy. He also discussed how it and other monetary policies
evolved, described different interpretations of the recovery dynamic since the Great Recession, and
summarized key macroeconomic indicators. His research is shown in this link:
http://research.stlouisfed.org/econ/andolfatto/
December, 2014, Jim Cavers from SFU raised the question as to how long our retirement funds will last given
the usual 4% withdrawal guideline. He described a calculator he had prepared to help us sharpen those
guesses. It accounts for accelerated withdrawals from RRIFs and LIFs and for our tax structure, including OAS
claw-backs. It presents its calculations as a set of graphs that illustrate money flows and indications of marketdependent fund longevities. Jim provided examples of how his system can be applied.
March 5th, 2015, the seminar dealt with the problems encountered by Canadians dealing with US tax laws was
introduced by Barbara McDaniel and Jay Burr. The open discussion that followed indicated that changes in
laws and practices in the United States make it more complicated now for Canadians to invest, own property,
work, or spend much time living south of the border. Canadians preparing US tax and financial forms often
have trouble getting help, and some will face penalties, and regulations keep changing.
April 7, 2015, the seminar was presented by Pat Fournier of JPS Financial and Accounting Services who
described the many forms and regulations Canadians must face in dealing with US tax laws. In her power point
presentation she described the differences in Canadian and US tax laws and illustrated some 20 different forms
Canadians might face in preparing taxes. An audio tape of her presentation is available as well as a copy of her
power point presentation.
________________________________________________________________________
SPECIAL SOCIAL EVENTS COORDINATOR
Tom O’Shea
Your ex-social events coordinator coordinated two events since the 2014 AGM. The first was what has become
an annual event at Nat Bailey Stadium where 17 of us on June 20th 2014 saw the Vancouver Canadians defeat
the Spokane Indians, on their way to winning the division title in the Northwest League. The second was our
annual Day at the Races at Hastings Racetrack on July 19th 2014 which attracted 28 SFURA diners and punters,
most of whom ended up, as in previous years, portlier and poorer at the end of the day.
____________________________________________________________________________
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SFURA WALKING/HIKING GROUP REPORT
Ted Cohn, Robert Horsfall, and David Ryeburn
In late Summer 2009, three retired SFU faculty members noted above organized the SFURA walking group; our
first walk, led by Ted, was a somewhat shorter version of the Deer Lake walk that we now do several times a
year. Nearly six years later the group has grown, and much of what we do now has to be considered hiking,
often with considerable altitude gain, though just this week we did a relatively short and flat walk mostly in the
Colony Farm Park area. Parveen Bawa also stands out among the many women actively participating in our
group. She helps keep things going, and takes on a lot of leadership duties, leading hikes more often than I do.
She's going on a hike reconnaissance trip with me tomorrow.
From the beginning the group welcomed non-SFU people, usually friends of existing group member who were
SFU retirees or their spouses, and some of these people, particularly Clarence Aasen and Joe Kalmek, have
been very active, introducing new hikes to the group and leading such hikes. In the past year and a quarter we
have gone to more than 30 different areas; about a year ago we even included a snowshoe trip, but lack of
good snow kept us from doing that again this year.
Most of our walks and hikes are within roughly 50 km of Burnaby, sometimes much closer than that when bad
weather makes places such as the North Shore less inviting. We very rarely cancel a hike because of wet or
snowy weather, but we will make last minute changes in location when that seems appropriate. I don’t think
we have missed a single Wednesday in the past year. Attendance at hikes and walks is generally up,
sometimes in the high 20s. With a group that large, it often will split into two subgroups, one going further
and faster (up to 4 hours and covering as much as 15 km with altitude gain several hundred metres) and the
other going a shorter distance and at a slower pace (typically 2 hours and less than 10 km, with less altitude
gain).
Last summer as an experiment and not as an official SFURA hiking group trip, a number of us spent several
days in Manning Park, staying overnight at the lodge or at one of the campgrounds, and going on two hikes,
one relatively flat and at low altitude and the other a more ambitious, higher-altitude trip. That was so
successful that this year we’re going to schedule several multi-day groups of hikes at a distance from
Vancouver, doing them as SFURA hiking group activities.
One issue of concern to us is liability. We have now developed a waiver form, patterned after those used by
several of the hiking groups active in the Lower Mainland, and we require participants to sign this form. Some
of us feel that this is but a first step, and that we should check into various ways to obtain insurance, ideally
with support from SFURA or from the University. Getting such insurance, however, is more complicated and
more expensive than might appear to be the case at first, so this issue is still being discussed.
Our group is certainly the most active SFURA group that I know of. We hike, we talk, we pause to look at
scenery and plants and animals, and we eat—generally we have lunch either on the trail or at the end of the
hike. You don’t have to be a hiking expert to enjoy our trips. All SFU retirees are encouraged to join us; if
you’re new to hiking, you’ll find others new to it too. The exercise is good, and beginners turn into very good
hikers (and perhaps trip leaders) quite quickly. You get to meet a lot of interesting people, from all areas of
the University (and from outside it), and you get to go interesting places you might not know about and to see
interesting things.
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______________________________________________________________________________
SPECIAL MOTION FOR THE SFURA MEMBERSHIP
Jim Boyd
Rationale
Simon Fraser University Retirees Association from time to time will require updates and amendments to its
Constitution in order to properly affect current operational efficiencies. Certain sections are currently worded
that are inconsistent with the advances in modern technology. One such situation, 3.0 involves notices for
holding an Annual General Meeting (AGM) as we are doing tonight.
The current wording states that:
The Annual General Meeting of the Association shall be held not more than three (3) months after the end of
the Association's fiscal year, in April, May or June. All members of the Association will be given at least fourteen
days notice by mail of the date, time and place of the Annual General Meeting.
It is proposed that the above wording be revised to reflect the use of email notifications where practical in
addition to regular mail where needed and to reduce the notice period from 14 days to 10 days.
Motion: That SFURA amend its Constitution and By Laws to reflect updates noted above to
conform to modern practices and that it is made effective retroactively for this 2015 AGM.
______________________________________________________________________________
DISCUSSIONS PROPOSALS TO EXPAND THE SFURA MEMBERSHIP BASE:
Board members have proposed considerations to change the SFURA Constitution to include some form of
Associate Membership. Please consider whether to move forward on some aspect of these ideas or to send it
back to the Board for further discussion and research.
A) One view is the following:
Associate Members would not have all the rights of Regular Members (i.e., free parking) but pay the same
membership dues. They might include:
• Employees of the University who have not yet retired but will within a specified time period
• Past employees of the University who left before retirement but wish to maintain an SFU connection
• Individuals who have contributed I some way to the University but were not employed by the University
Associate Members who eventually retire from the University automatically become Regular Members.
Honorary Members would have all the rights of Regular Members but not pay membership dues. These are
individuals who have made an extraordinary contribution to our Association.
Reo Audette
B) An alternate view is the following:
All employees of SFU are eligible to join the SFURA upon retirement. We are different from the associations of
many other universities who have separate associations (or none) for faculty, staff and administrators.
Among the sort of people many of us would like to invite to join are;
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a) A person who has worked for many years at SFU as a research associate, but not technically an SFU retiree
because his/her salary was paid by faculty from grants. One such woman was very active in her department
and other SFU activities including United Way and plant sales.
b) A retired professor from another university who became an associate in one of the SFU departments and
was active in departmental activities, research and teaching but not drawing a salary as an employee although
is otherwise part of the university.
c) Staff or Faculty who made significant contributions to SFU, who moved away prior to retirement, but have
returned to the area permanently, maintaining close connections with SFU.
d) Others retired from other institutions or occupations living in the area now that regularly attend our talks
and/or walks and have formed friendships with active SFURA members.
I believe our association would be richer with the inclusion of many people such as these. It is
already policy that surviving spouses of deceased members are eligible to be full members.
It is up to the membership to determine whether to include or exclude people who are still drawing a salary
from SFU. I do hope that you will consider extending associate membership in the cases I mentioned.
Evelyn Palmer
______________________________________________________________________________
SFU CELEBRATING 50 YEARS: 1965 – 2015
Hiromi Matsui
SFU celebrates its 50th Anniversary in 2015 and a project team and steering committee have been set up to
plan and execute the celebration. Members of the executive steering committee include Philip Steekkamp, VP
External Relations, Chair; John Craig, Dean, FASS; Joanne Curry, Dean (Pro Tem), Lifelong Learning; Chardaye
Bueckert, SFSS; Pat Hibbits, VP Finance and Administration; Cathy Daminato, VP Advancement and Alumni
Engagement; Melissa MacAskill, GSS; Hiromi Matsui, Retirees Association; Lien Yeung, Alumni Association.
Special events include the SFU Legacy Song Contest; release of archived materials; Surrey Fusion Festival;
Motorcade and Bike Parade to Burnaby Mountain; launch of documentary films; a festive evening on
September 9th with food and fireworks n the AQ; (tickets on sale June 1st); a charter reception for charter
faculty, students and staff.
In addition, two productions from the acclaimed playwright and director, Robert Lepage will be performed at
Woodward’s Cultural Unit in 2016. The first is Project 887 and will run January 12 – 17, 2016. The second is
Needles and Opium and will run January 25 – 31, 2016.
“Pure Land Digital Exposition” will be held at Woodward’s Cultural Unit, Fall 2015 - Spring 2016. This digital
recreation of one of the famous Chinese cave temples in Dunhuang that was a gateway on the Silk Road, will
give an experience that allows visitors to feel as though they are inside the cave.
A number of Faculty and Department Initiatives will take place including a celebration of SFU Authors and a
Homecoming event by Athletics. Detailed information on the Celebration, SFU History and Alumni information
is available at: http://www.sfu.ca/50.html
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_________________________________________________________________________
KIVA SMALL DEVELOPMENT LOAN PROJECT Re: SFU’s 50th Anniversary
Daniel McDonald Make a Big Difference. It’s easy at: http://www.kiva.org/
KIVA is a not for profit organization that acts as a clearing house linking willing lenders to lend, not give, money
to individuals or groups that have an articulated business plan and have been vetted by a micro-lending
organization in their home country. This is targeted foreign aid. As the loans you participate in are repaid, the
money comes back into your Kiva account and you can relend to others or withdraw your money. This is the do
good and feels good aspect, giving a hand up rather than a hand out to others. Kiva has been awarded Charity
Navigator's highest rating.
Various firms and organizations have teams of Kiva lenders that encourage their members to lend and in many
cases engage in friendly competition with other teams. Of the over 37,000 teams world-wide, there are 1700
University and College teams. SFU now ranks #55 of these 1700, just one step behind the University of
Toronto which ranks #54/1700. A good way to celebrate SFU’s 50th anniversary would be to raise our status
to the top ranked University KIVA team in Canada and be one of the top 50 University teams in the world.
Right now, SFU with loans of $41,725 is only $650 behind University of Toronto with loans of $42,375. To
reach the top 50 ranking in the world, we must get past the present #50 which is Michigan State and we trail
them by only $1,250. That is well within our reach. The total amount lent by each university does not vary all
that much from one quarter to the next, most likely because outstanding loans are reinvested when they
mature. So the main way to move up the ranking is by attracting new lenders.
The SFU Alumni will be adding their support in the following ways:
1. Potential promotion through select editions of the SFU Alumni Relations monthly newsletter
2. A possible top 50 story in connection with SFU’s 50th anniversary year through University
Communications.
3.
A possible community project hosted in SFU Live (SFU’s portal for community engagement) and also a
way to profile the SFURA as an organization within that site.
What you can do and the sequence is important:
1. Join KIVA at Kiva.org
2.
Sign on as a member of the SFU KIVA Team
3.
Complete a profile which can be largely anonymous if you wish but please identify yourself as a SFU
retiree.
4.
Make some loans. The money can go in via credit card or paypal. If you choose to make a donation to
KIVA to assist in its operations that counts as a charitable donation and is tax deductible from any US income
you may have.
Dan McDonald has volunteered to be a telephone help line for anyone wanting a little hand up in getting
started or continuing with KIVA. 604.433.5776. d._mcdonald@telus.net
_________________________________________________________________________
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INFORMATION ON THE SFURA DATABASE PROJECT
Ralph Korteling
A. Connection to the Data Site
Since the Data Site is located on SFU computers under the control of SFU IT connection to the Data Site is
restricted to those with SFU user IDs. If you have a @sfu.ca email address you have a SFU user ID.
You can set up a connection to the Data Site via Remote Desktop on all the computers you will use – normally
just one unless you routinely use both a Desktop and a Laptop. The connection must be made on each of
them. The desktop looks and acts just like a Windows desktop on your own computer with all the Windows
applications, such as Excel and Word, but is actually running on an IT server.
To setup the SFURA Data Site connection on your computer:
1. Click on the webpage( https://wake.its.sfu.ca/webwake/rdp.php?mode=new_connection ). It will
open the browser to the right page to define your connection.
2. On the website make the following selections:
a. Select Screen size - whatever is appropriate for the computer you will use.
b. Connection Type - use Direct Connection for local connections (this is the one normally used)
-use Remote Desktop Gateway for traveling
c. Target Computer - use GPS - SFU ITS General Purpose Terminal Server (sfu-gpts.sfu.ca)
d. Do not download the connection from the website – wait for the email that will be sent to you.
e. Submit request for a connection
IT Services will send you an email with the connection as an attachment. Copy the connection to your desktop
(Win users drag and drop; Mac users whatever the equivalent action is) and access the site with that
connection. You can edit the connection by right clicking on the “Connect to sfu-gsts.sfu.ca” icon and selecting
“Edit” from the menu.
1. You are in the “General” tab of the Remote Desktop Connection form
2. Here you can check the “Allow me to save credential” box to make things easier for you when you
connect.
3. Then Click on the “Display” tab to fine tune the display on your computer. Normally you will move the
slider all the way to Large to generate a full screen display. If you have multiple displays you can Check
the “Use all my monitors for the remote session” box.
4. Then Click on “Local Resources” tab. Here you can check the “Printers” box to have your local printer
connected to the server.
5. Click on “More” button
6. Check the box next to “Drives” and select the local drive(s) you want connected to the server. This will
allow you to transfer files between that drive(s) and the server.
7. Then go back to the General display by Clicking on the “General” tab
8. Click the “Save” button
9. You can now Click on the “Connect” button to connect to the server.
The Remote Desktop is a Windows operating system. Mac users will need to use equivalent actions windows
actions (I don’t know what they are). On the desktop you can connect to the SFURA directories mapped to the
R drive. You can access them using Windows Explorer or by making a shortcut to them on the desktop. If you
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run into problems contact me or Fred Chin (the IT person in chemistry who is helping us with this site) at
<hchin@sfu.ca>.
C. Access and use of the site
The data site is located on an SFU IT computer and only those who have an SFU computer ID will have access. I
believe that will include all SFU retirees. However, it will restrict access to anyone whom the Board wishes to
add to the Board who was not an SFU retiree or who does not have an SFU ID.
User access to the site is via Remote Desktop, a Windows feature which allows you to use a foreign computer
as if it were your own. That is, you have all the functionality you have using your own computer including all
the Windows applications such as Word, Excel etc. You can therefore work on the site rather than create a file
on your own computer and then upload it to the site.
In fact, I would encourage you to do so in most cases. Since everyone will have access to the site, everyone can
read, and possibly modify, any document without having various copies circulating via email. There will be only
one copy and it will be the latest version.
At present I have loaded over 200 files that I have gotten from John D’Auria, the SFURA Mac computer and
Marilyn Bowman. The earliest ones date from about 2010 and I can’t guaranty that I have placed all of them in
the right directories. For some I couldn’t decide which subdirectory they belonged in and simply placed them
in the main directory. Once you have gained access you can load any you have not already placed there. In
due course I will integrate the ability to send emails from the site to an individual or group of individuals. This
will be included in the membership Database I am developing.
I encourage you to try this site out and to let me know the problems you run into and your suggestions for
improvements. I will be willing to demo it at the next meeting or at some other specified time and place. I also
hope to have a rudimentary version of the Database working by mid-April for you to try.
March29, 2015
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