The Association of
Retired Rice University Faculty
Welcome to ARRUF, where innovation and collaboration transform retirement.
Here, friends and colleagues join in discussions, workshops, and research projects to rethink the role of retired faculty in the University and invent new forms of participation. Members share interests through groups that meet via ZOOM and, in the future, with in-peson events.
ARRUF WELCOMES THREE NEW DIRECTORS
Dr. Stephen Klineberg
Dr. Stephen Klineberg, Founding Director, Kinder Institute for Urban Research, has been shaping local thought on the ongoing trends in Houston for forty years. As the founding-director of the annual “Kinder Houston Area Survey” (1982-2021), he has tracked the economic outlooks, demographic patterns, experiences, and beliefs among successive representative samples of Harris County residents during 40 years of remarkable change. His book exploring the national implications of this research, entitled Prophetic City: Houston on the Cusp of a Changing America, was published in June 2020 by Simon & Schuster. Klineberg is the recipient of twelve major teaching awards at Rice and is a much sought-after speaker in the Houston community and beyond. He is a graduate of Haverford College, with an MA from the University of Paris and a PhD from Harvard. He and his wife Margaret have lived in Houston since the early 1970s; they have two children and five grandchildren, four of whom have graduated from Rice.
Dr. Klineberg has recently retired into emeritus status as a sociology professor at Rice, but continues to do research and to write reports and articles at the Kinder Institute. He looks forward to working together with the other directors and committee chairs--with everyone--to develop even better outreach programs and new initiatives in the years ahead.
Dr. Meredith Skura
Dr. Meredith Skura came to Rice in 1978 when it was a much smaller, looser and less ambitious place, and she has watched it grow into the powerful presence we know today. In the English Department she specialized in early modern literature –centering on Shakespeare and other writers in his period, but she has extensive administrative experience. She served as chair of the Department of English twice, as Acting Dean of Humanities for one year, during which she coordinated the efforts of a varied group of faculty. Since then she has served on the Faculty Senate and the Executive Committee of the Faculty Senate. Several years ago she took over as Chair for the Education Department and helped establish a new and more unified department, believing in the importance of Rice’s advanced expertise in shaping secondary school education.
She has advocated that ARRUF should keep track of all retired faculty and provide opportunities for members to meet and get to know one another. ARRUF should continue to provide interesting speakers at its monthly general meetings and to welcome new interest groups like the ones already established. ARRUF is a new group that has enabled many activities and interchanges; She plans to build on that strength.
Dr. Bart Sinclair
Dr. Bart Sinclair joined the faculty of the Department of Electrical Engineering (later Electrical and Computer Engineering) at Rice in 1978 as an assistant professor upon receiving his Ph.D. from Rice. His research was in the area of computer engineering, and particularly in performance evaluation of computers, distributed systems and networks. In 1999 he joined the office of the Dean of Engineering as assistant dean and in 2002 became associate dean, with responsibilities in undergraduate education, budget management, alumni relations, and facilities, to name a few. He retired from the dean’s office as senior associate dean for finance and administration in 2019. Dr. SInclair notes that he enjoyed 38 years as a faculty associate at Brown College and a member of the University Marshals Committee for over 30 years. He served as a member of many committees, most recently on the Classroom Task Force, and the Data Security Task Force (chair).
Dr. Sinclair particularly looks forward to restarting in-person meetings later this year. Those meetings could be at Rice, but ARRUF may be more adventurous and explore some of the many interesting sites and activities of the Houston area. The ZOOM meetings have the advantage of being able to include faculty who have retired outside the immediate area or have limited mobility; he expects to continue meeting in that format at least occasionally.
SHAPE ARRUF's FUTURE
Volunteers are needed for the following committees to support ARRUF's new directors as we expand into full operation again.
• The Activities Committee needs a new co-chair and additional members.
* The Membership Committee, newly formed (Thad Logan and Meredith Skura, co-chairs) has produced a list of all current members and intends to expand this project. They could use your help!
* The first Benefits and Privileges Committee, we hope you noted, succeeded in fostering changes in the library policies for retired faculty. Their survey is now over two years old; we need an update!
Want to get involved in virtual committeee work? For more information, please contact Director Mark Kulstad at kulstad@rice.edu.
WANT TO KNOW ALL ABOUT ARRUF? Read our history.
The ARRUF ANNUAL REPORT for 2019-2020
The ARRUF ANNUAL REPORT for 2020-2021.
Use this website and its reports and newsletters to explore past events, resources, and members' profiles.
NUMBERS THAT MATTER: "Globally, the number of people age 60 and over is projected to double to more than 2 billion by mid-century. To ready for this demographic shift, the public and private sectors must adapt to the wants and needs of older adults. Now is the time to plan—and act." from the Milken Institute Center for the Future of Aging website.
VIQUI'S BACK! READ VIQUI ARBIZU-SABATER'S NEW NOTES:
ARRUF INTERNATIONAL AMBASSADOR'S NOTEBOOK:
Spring JAN-FEB 2021 MID-SUMMER JULY-AUG 2020 APRIL MAY 2020 Viqui and Alfonso's Recipe for Gazpacho Andaluz (a really top notch recipe!)
International ARRUF Ambassador Viqui Arbizu Sabater has been devoting her time to caring for Covid-19 victims in her family in Seville. Now, She's BACK. CLICK ABOVE on the most recent notes. Meanwhile, she and Alfonso DuLuc are sharing the leadership of the Travel Interest Group.
Join them at the JULY 21st Travel Group reception and meeting as ARRUF reopens its Fondren 412 headquarters!
INTEREST GROUP OWLS SAY: "IF YOU'RE IN ARRUF, YOU'RE INTERESTED!"
Read this essay by Mark Kulstad on the options for new interest groups.
Fill out the form for proposing new interest groups.
SEND US YOUR IDEAS FOR OTHER EVENTS AND FUN TO arruf.invites@rice.edu
TRAVEL GROUP NEWS: ON JULY 21st, the Travel Group Shares Best Moments EITHER in FONDREN 412 or via ZOOM.
Coming up soon!
Travel informs and indelibly imprints joy and beauty in marvelous memories. Tell ARRUF members about YOUR best moments as one of seven speakers with a tale to tell about great food, fabulous sunsets, hot bars, or other moments vivid in YOUR memory. Or listen from your own home via ZOOM.
The Travel Group's new leaders, Viqui Arbizu-Sabater and Alfonso DuLuc, owners of a travel company in Seville, Spain, are back in Houston for a visit and will coordinate the session. ARRUF friends of the couple are happy to share this opportunity to greet them again in Houston.
TO BE AMONG THE CELEBRANTS, send an email to Travel Group Leader Viqui Arbizu-Sabater at varbizu@rice.edu either (1) to sign up as one who will share memories of a best meal, best view, best resort or other delight, or (2) to attend as part of the audience. A ZOOM invitation will be sent out on the 20th for those who will attend via ZOOM.
ARTS GROUP NEWS
THE COLLECTING, ARTS and MUSEUMS GROUP met on June 21th, MONDAY, 1:00 p.m.
Technical problems prevented our June 10th ZOOM meeting to plan fall excursions, speakers, concerts and more, but we succeeded on Monday, June 21st.
Fortified with our best beverages or after-luncheon spritz, we came up with a long list of possibilities, which will afford the group many in-person and ZOOM adventures. By fall, most in our age group will have been vaccinated, so we should be able to have some ZOOM meetings to places across the country and across the world and some in-person attendance at neat Houston spots.
To recall, the Arts Group had a single, delightful ZOOM pre-concert meeting in March, but it now needs to choose leaders and select places to go, things to see, and music to hear. (There are Schumann fans in the group.)
Where shall we go and hear or see when we're vaccinated and the pandemic ebbs?
Associate Provost C. Fred Higgs III and Speaker Dr. Roger Baldwin
THE AUGUST GENERAL MEETING: DIRECTORS LEAD DISCUSSION "OUR VOICES / OUR FUTURE"
At ARRUF’s first conference, in 2018, Dr. Roger Baldwin reported on his study of retired faculty organizations across the country. His most serious criticism was that most programs fail to evaluate progress toward long-term goals. They underuse resources as a result. From the beginning, Rice University's provosts and associate provosts, including C. Fred Higgs III, (shown above) have urged ARRUF to develop a special role for retired faculty.
The August conversation among members and our three new directors (Bart Sinclair, Meredith Skura, and Steve Klineberg) focused on what has “gone well” and “not so well.” Reacting to the constraints of the pandemic inspired constant reimagining evident in the ARRUF Annual Report for 2020-2021. Despite moving to an on-line format, a consistent set of themes was explored in ARRUF programs: Changes at the University; Longevity and Retirement Issues, and Political, Environmental and Social Justice. Three interest groups also enabled small groups to meet about travel, nature, and arts. Activities proposed for the coming year will help members maintain a close, beneficial connection to one another and the university community.
NATURE GROUP NEWS: SPRING TOUR IN 2022?
HILL COUNTRY TRIP RESCHEDULED FOR SPRING 2022: ARRUF is going to be on the move in the year ahead as we use our vaccination status and shared goals to enjoy venturing together.
In April 2021 the Nature Group held a session to hear Professor Emeritus Andre Droxler describe an area he has been studying in the Hill Country. The destination is of interest to NASA because of its similarities to an area to be investigated on Mars. A day trip to the site, planned for the fall, has been rescheduled. A spring trip is now planned. The trip should include a range of activities over a weekend, with a nearby resort serving as ARRUF headquarters.
If you would like to be contacted about this trip, reply by clicking ARRUF.invites@rice.edu. You will receive more details as they become available.