July 2025

A message from the SRFS president, Jo-Anne Richard:

As we settle into the rhythms of Summer, we can take a moment to reflect on this past academic year and savor any opportunities for fun, whether great or small, that propelled us along. I do hope you were able to share some fun moments with us, to participate in some of the activities and events the SRFS hosted. Attending these events is a great way to spend a few hours with others in our BU retiree community to reminisce, to chat about the places you are exploring together, and, most importantly, to share smiles and laughs.

In June, we welcomed 174 newly retired BU staff and faculty into our retiree community and what a wonderful addition they’ll be. The number of years they served BU was in itself mind-boggling. Some had clocked in thirty, forty, fifty years—one an astonishing 66 years! I had the pleasure of meeting some of these folks at their Retirement Dinner and I can’t wait for you all to meet them too!

Hopefully, many of them will attend the Annual Luncheon and Meeting next May as so many of you did this year. This past May, we were so happy to welcome President Gilliam as our special guest speaker at the Luncheon in the Trustee Ballroom. She did not disappoint! In this newsletter you will find an article about the Luncheon by a member of the Luncheon Committee.

As required by our bylaws we also had our Annual Meeting at this event. At the meeting four new members of the Board of Directors were approved. We welcomed David Eckel, Eileen Connor, Alan Pisano, and Steve Hall officially to the Board. We also recognized a long-standing, hard-working member of the Board who had decided to step off. Many of you have met Paul Clancy over the years at SRFS events, he is a huge sports fan (a seriously big fan!) and this spilled over as he organized many of the opportunities for SRFS members to attend BU hockey games, and of course, the Red Sox games. A big shout out to Paul from the entire retiree community—thank you!

In this newsletter, you can read an article written by a Board member about the most recent Red Sox game attended by our retirees on June 29 and find out about an upcoming game on August 17. There’s also an article about the Handel + Haydn concert we attended in March and one about the Waterworks Museum trip in June. There are already some plans in the works for “adventures” after the summer break so keep an eye on your inbox.

We do hope you’ll join us at these activities and share the fun with other members of the BU retiree community! To get announcements and invitations you must stay in contact with us. The only way for you to receive our newsletters and invitations is to maintain your BU email address and do not opt out of the Alumni Relations email distribution system. The SRFS email distributions are managed by a team from Alumni Relations, so it is essential that you do not opt out.

Now that you know what’s been keeping the Board busy, we’ve been wondering what everyone else is up to these days. Have you published recently? Done any amazing projects? Are you volunteering someplace? Let us know! Please also let us know when you have a concern the SRFS might be able to help with, or, if you have a fun idea for an activity. You can email us at retired@bu.edu with your thoughts.

Have a great summer, see you in the fall!

In this issue: