Greetings one and all:

One of my responsibilities as UIRA president is to report on the activities of the board of directors. We have been busy making sure that the implementation of the modernizing initiative that we have been pursuing is progressing appropriately. We have solved the problems that we have had historically in confidently communicating with our members through email. We have solved most of the issues that relate to keeping track of the membership contact information. We have been fortunate to have Kellie help us with solutions to these problems. She has been a life-saver in many ways.

We are implementing and testing the software that will enable us to collect dues electronically (still only $10 a year). We are getting ready to participate in a fund-raising event to contribute to our undergraduate scholarship fund. We are searching for new ways that UIRA can contribute to the Student Food Pantry and other needs of the university. We are planning the required end-of-year meeting.

The Program Committee has been busy organizing the second semester programs. The planned programs have all the right elements: they are exciting, stimulating, informative, and fun.

One of the fun UIRA activities this month has been helping serve a pancake-sausage breakfast to the UI students and faculty (see photos on page 5). Our role was to makemsure that the IMU Main Lounge area in which the approximately 1,100 breakfasts were served was kept clean. During the breakfast I discovered that these students were still smiling, still laughing, and appeared to be happy here at Iowa, this even though the breakfast was held during final exam week.

The exciting part for me personally was interacting with the students. I found the students to be friendly, polite, appreciative of us “well-seasoned” folks serving them, and generally well-raised. I hear a lot about how this generation of young people is not up to certain standards—I do not see evidence that this is generally true. I am confident that eventually these young folks will do good things for our country.

On behalf of the members of the Board of Directors, we wish everyone a happy new year, and we look forward to being able to eventually meet each other face-to-face.

That darned COVID-19!

Best wishes to all,

—Ed