Letters:

To the Editor:

Retired members of UUP now have a Web site, which can be found at http://ms.cc.sunysb.edu/~evolkersz/uupretirees or by linking from the UUP site, http://www.uupinfo.org, in several places. The Committee on Active Retired Membership (COARM) is linked under Constituencies, while other retiree-related news can be found by linking from the Links of Interest and Benefits pages.

UUP’s “Active Retirees” — all 2,251 of us — represent about 10 percent of UUP’s membership. With the Web site and our new listserv, we hope to strengthen retiree bonds, give retirees more and faster access to news, and improve retiree input on state and national issues. (To be on the listserv, contact Claire Meirowitz at cmeirowitz@yahoo.com.)

The concept of a UUP retiree Web site was suggested by Bob Kasprak of Optometry, who worked with Active Retiree newsletter editor Meirowitz of Old Westbury to develop a proposal for the proposed site. This spring, they presented the proposal to COARM, which agreed to pursue development of the site.

Evert Volkersz of Stony Brook volunteered to join the committee. He then built the site (overnight!) and, later, refined it with input from Kasprak, Meirowitz and others.

The new site will be demonstrated during the 2001 Fall Delegate Assembly on Long Island; further proposals about the site will be discussed.

We are grateful for the support and assistance of UUP Vice President for Academics Phil Smith; Stony Brook UUP member Melissa Bishop, who serves as the union’s Webmaster; Anne Marine, UUP retiree services coordinator; Karen Mattison, UUP publications specialist; and the members of UUP’s Website Policy/Review Committee.

Please give us your feedback — either on our listserv or the new Web site (click on Contact Websteward, i.e., Evert Volkersz) — and let us know what else you would like to see on these pages.

Claire Meirowitz, Bob Kasprak and Evert Volkersz, Retirees Web Advisory Committee