As YURA co-presidents we welcome you to the YURA website; here you will find information about our organization and its events and activities, and a wealth of information about social outings as well as learning and volunteer opportunities. We strive to provide relevant information about wellness and well-being during retirement; we all strive for the goal of “thriving in retirement”, while simultaneously learning to navigate the inevitable challenges. We are proud to have one of the most active university retirees’ associations in Canada, with over 450 retired staff and faculty/librarian members.
YURA has a “home” on campus in the form of our office space in the Lorna Marsden Honour Court. We invite YURA members to come and see our office with its abundance of natural light, during office hours (Tues/Wed/Thurs between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m., Sept to June). We thank our office volunteers who assist us with communications, membership processing and record-keeping. We are deeply grateful to our co-officers, Secretary Marla Chodak and Treasurer Melody King, and to all the members of our hard-working Executive Committee for their support and active participation. We encourage you to click on the tab “About YURA” and then on “Executive Committee”. At the bottom of that page, you will find short biographical sketches of our Executive Committee members. The Executive meets six times per year, in addition to the Annual General Meeting held in the Fall. We encourage all YURA members to renew their membership, to suggest to their newly retired colleagues that they join YURA, to participate in events and activities with fellow retirees, and to support our fundraising for awards, scholarships and other initiatives that assist students at York University.
YURA’s 40th anniversary is on the horizon—it will take place in 2026. In recent years, we have worked to heighten YURA’s visibility as an important, relevant and dynamic entity within the University Community. The Charity Challenge walk in October 2024 took place on the Keele campus, starting and ending at the YURA office, and raising over $15,000 to help alleviate student food insecurity on campus. And on November 1st, we were once again able to gather in person for our Annual General Meeting which we held in hybrid format, so that those who prefer virtual attendance were able to join in, and others could gather in person to enjoy a lunch together and reconnect with one another. Guest speaker, Dr. Glen Jones, gave a thoughtful and probing talk on the future of Higher Education. We think you will enjoy the photos now posted on the website; they show our members during the Charity Challenge walk and at the AGM.
YURA is fortunate to have a robust set of communication tools, including this website, a listserv (for broadcasting e-mail messages), and YURA’s quarterly newsletter. We are delighted to have a sizable group of members interested in planning activities. As plans get finalized, the calendar of events on this website will be updated. Also posted on this calendar are events to which YURA members are invited that are offered by York University and by other universities and retiree associations, many of which are online. We invite you to bookmark the YURA website and to check it regularly.