It's all about the Web page.  I've said it frequently and I'll say it again.  Right now, for instance.  You are receiving timely information on the risky combination of booming enrollments and careening resources but you should not wait for the next issue of The Reporter for the next episode.  If ever there was a time to turn to the CSU-ERFA website to remain up to date on events in the California State University and Sacramento, this is the year.  Webmaster Mark Shapiro regularly adds gems of current information on the budget and its impact on your former colleagues.  The printed page can't keep up with your need to know what is happening to state budgets and CalPERS investments.

Constitutional amendments. And while you are thinking and worrying about the future, don't overlook the proposed constitutional amendments that you will receive with your November issue of the Reporter.  One of them (you can tell which one) hopefully will help enable CSU-ERFA to cope with our changing membership numbers with greater success.

AROHE.  I spent the final weekend of October attending the meeting of the Association of Retirement Organizations in Higher Education at USC.  It ended the day before the copy deadline for The Reporter so this comment must be brief.

The meeting was so full of good ideas and intriguing projects that I regretted that I had never attended before.  I'll have to admit that USC was a more appealing destination for me than Indiana, Tennessee and Arizona, where prior conventions were held, and even Connecticut where they will next meet in 2010.  CSU-ERFA council member Norma Summersgill from San Diego State was honored as she retired from the AROHE board.  She had attended every meeting of the organization.

The keynote address by Helen Dennis so effectively described the contributions of retirees to society and to their institutions that I wished current university administrators could be there to hear it.  There were scores of retired educators who profited from the added detail but were already convinced regarding her basic message.  The Vice President who welcomed the group to USC was on his way out of the ballroom and back to his office when she began speaking.  Because she is a resident of Los Angeles County she is someone to be considered when you are seeking an inspirational presentation.

Other speakers and topics were of such relevance that I have forwarded the program to Ted Anagnoson in case some ideas have relevance for The Reporter -- future issues, not this one. Later I'll ask Don Cameron to send copies to the Executive Committee and campus affiliates for similar reasons.  After that, if anyone wants contact information I'll be happy to provide it.

I met with Adrian Harris of UCLA who was founding chairman of the Council of University of California Retirement Associations and has chaired the Council throughout its six year history. I had never until then been aware of CUCRA until then.  Nor had the fame of CSU-ERFA reached his ears until I introduced myself.

Donald O. Dewey (Los Angeles)
CSU-ERFA President
November 2008.

(Webmaster's note:  This is a slightly edited version of the "From the president" column that will appear in the November 2008 issue of the Reporter.)