Content
Purpose
Associations
Founding Members
Links
Purpose
The first Zoom meeting of Professors Emeriti Network was on June 2, 2021. There have been 5 meetings each year. Over the course of four years, the meeting chairs, together with three or four panelists, have opened up various topics to discover current problems that professors emeriti could and would like to participate in solving. In the last two years, the meetings have been recorded; the videos are posted on the Emeriti Network YouTube.
The idea to establish a Retired Professors Associations Network arose at a Zoom meeting of the Professors Emeriti Network on 19.11.2025 titled: How Retired Professors are Organized and how they eCollaborate. Presentations and discussion showed that some countries have many years of experience in organizing retired professors into associations (clubs, centers, groups). It was suggested that it would be useful if the website addresses of these associations were collected and available on a website, so that interested parties could easily find out what and how retired professors are doing in a particular association. The registered meeting participants were invited to engage as the founding members of the network.
Organizational networks play a key role in the digital age, supporting collaboration, sharing of experiences and knowledge, innovation, stakeholder engagement, and data management. They are essential for managing the complexity and challenges of the digital landscape and leveraging the benefits of technology for organizational success. The advantages of an organizational network include flexibility, simplified collaboration, resource utilization, knowledge and data sharing.
Retired professors offer decades of specialized expertise. They can serve as senior advisors or consultants, they can contribute to knowledge production and participate in expert networks and working groups, they can assist in training curriculum specialists, and support continuity and institutional memory.
Network members will be looking for the answers to the following questions:
- Which associations of retired professors want their members to e-collaborate with members of other associations?
- How does the association help professors retain their university email accounts after retirement?
- How easy is it to find out about the activities of the association on the association’s website?
- How is the association of retired professors organized?
- What is the association doing to encourage and organize the involvement of retired colleagues? How is it doing this?
The network members will participate in online meetings to discuss problem-based and action-oriented topics of concern to retired professors. They will explore opportunities for “collaboration engineering” so that retired professors would be assisted in contributing to active aging and possibly even longevity in our increasingly digitalized society.
The network is open to associations of retired professors and to associations of associations having interest in external interlinking of their websites in English to likeminded associations elsewhere. They will be expected to post a link to the Retired Professors Associations Network on their website, with the email address of the association’s contact person for website interlinking. There are no costs involved. The contact person should email data to Joze.Gricar@UM.si, website editor.
Associations
Age-Friendly Universities Global Network. Contact person for website interlinking: Dr. Aaron Guest, Aaron.Guest@ASU.edu
Association of Retirement Organizations in Higher Education – AROHE, United States. Contact person for website interlinking: Dr. Eric Hockert, EHockert@Alumni.UMN.edu
College and University Retiree Associations of Canada – CURAC, Canada. Contact person for website interlinking: Dr. Walter Archer, WArcher@UAlberta.ca
University of Western Australia Emeriti Professors College. Contact person for website interlinking: Dr. Marc Tennant, Marc.Tennant@UWA.edu.au
University of Manitoba Retirees Association, Winnipeg, Canada. Contact person for website interlinking: Dr. Bill Kops, William.Kops@UManitoba.ca
Patavinae Libertatis Emeriti Association – PLE. University of Padua. Italy. Contact person for website interlinking: Dr. Bernhard Schrefler, Bernhard.Schrefler@dicea.UniPd.it
Michigan Retirees Association, United States. Contact person for website interlinking: AHermsen@UMich.edu
USC Emeriti Center, University of Southern California, United States. Contact person for website interlinking: Debbie Jones, JonesDeb@USC.edu
Retired Faculty and Administrative Officers (RFAO) Organization, University of Vermont, United States. Contact person for website interlinking, Dr. Michael A Gurdon, Michael.Gurdon@UVm.edu
Founding Members
Dr. Walter Archer, Professor Emeritus. University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada. President, College and University Retiree Associations of Canada – CURAC. Book Review Editor, Canadian Journal of Higher Education. WArcher@UAlberta.ca
Dr. Heinz V Dreher, Independent Researcher, Professor Emeritus of Informatics, Mahogany Creek, Western Australia, H.Dreher@outlook.com
Dr. Aleksandar Erceg, Professor, Faculty of Economics and Business, Strossmayer University of Osijek, Croatia. International Center for Entrepreneurial Studies (ICES), Aleksandar.Erceg@EfOs.hr
Dr. Robert D Galliers¸ University Distinguished Professor Emeritus. Former Provost, Bentley University, United States. Former Associate Director/Senior Advisor, Quality Services, European Foundation for Management Development, Belgium. Former Research Director, Department of Information Systems, London School of Economics, UK. Professor Emeritus and former Dean, Warwick Business School, UK. Former Head and Foundation Professor, School of Information Systems, Curtin University, Australia. Former President and LEO Award recipient, The Association for Information Systems, RGalliers@Bentley.edu
Dr. Michael J. Ginzberg, Professor and Dean Emeritus, School of Business, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Partner, ELM2 Advisors LLC, Strategic Transactions for Higher Education, United States, MJGinzberg@WPI.edu
Dr. Peter Glavič, Professor Emeritus, Chemical Engineering, University of Maribor, Member, University of Maribor Centre for Professors Emeriti and Retired Higher Education Teachers, Contact person: Active Aging Networks, Peter.Glavic@UM.si
Dr. Jože Gričar, Professor Emeritus. Secretary, Professors Emeriti Network. University of Maribor, Slovenia. Program Coordinator, Inter-Municipality Initiative: Cross-border eCollaboration in the eRegion. Joze.Gricar@UM.si
Dr. Aaron Guest, Assistant Professor of Aging. Edson College, Arizona State University, Unites States of America. Head, Age-Friendly Universities Global Network Secretariat, Aaron.Guest@ASU.edu
Dr. Michael A Gurdon, Professor Emeritus of Business Administration. Grossman School of Business, The University of Vermont, United States. President, Retired Faculty and Administrative Officers (RFAO) Organization, Michael.Gurdon@UVm.edu
Al Hermsen, MBA, Member, Board of Directors, University of Michigan Retirees Association, United States, AHermsen@UMich.edu
Dr. Sandra P. Hirst, Associate Professor Emerita. Faculty of Nursing, University of Calgary Retirees Association, (UCRA), Canada. e-letter editor, College and University Retiree Associations of Canada (CURAC). Vice-President, Past Chair, Canadian Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse (CNPEA). SHirst@UCalgary.ca
Dr. Eric Hockert, University of Minnesota Retirees Association (Past President FY24). Association of Retirement Organizations in Higher Education – AROHE (President-elect), United States. Big Ten Retirees Association (BTRA) 2026 Conference Planning Group Chair. University Retirees Volunteer Center (Past Board Chair), Office for Technology Commercialization (Retired), EHockert@Alumni.UMN.edu
Debbie Jones, MPA, Director, USC Emeriti Center & Director, Faculty Retirement Navigation & Advancement. University of Southern California, Los Angeles, United States, JonesDeb@USC.edu
Dr. Michael Kunze, MD, Professor Emeritus, Public Health, Medical University of Vienna, Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Center for Public Health, Austria. Member, European Association of Professors Emeriti, Michael.Kunze@MedUniWien.ac.at
Dr. Carole-Lynne Le Navenec, Associate Professor Emerita, Nursing. University of Calgary, Previous Program Director, University of Calgary Retirees Association. Board Member, College and University Retiree Associations of Canada – CURAC , CLLeNave@UCalgary.ca
Dr.Dr.h.c. Heinrich C. Mayr, Professor Emeritus, Application Engineering, Former Rector, Alpen-Adria University of Klagenfurt, Austria. Head, Application Engineering Research Group, Department of Applied Informatics, Heinrich.Mayr@AAU.at
Dr. Nava Pliskin, Professor Emerita, Information Systems Management, Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel, PliskinN@BGU.ac.il
Dr. Danijel Rebolj, Professor Emeritus, Former Rector, University of Maribor, Slovenia, Danijel.Rebolj@UM.si
Dr. Bernhard Schrefler, Professor Emeritus, Mechanics of Biological Materials, Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering, University of Padua, Italy, Bernhard.Schrefler@dicea.UniPd.it
Dr. Nina M. Silverstein, Professor Emerita, Gerontology Institute, University of Massachusetts Boston, United States, Nina.Silverstein@UMB.edu
Dr. Giuseppe Baldovino (Pino) Suffritti, Professor. Department of Chemistry and Pharmacy, University of Sassari, Italy, Pino.Suffritti@gmail.com
Dr. Marc Tennant, Winthrop Professor. Chair of Academic Board. Member of the Senate. University of Western Australia Emeriti Professors College, Marc.Tennant@UWA.edu.au
Jodi Waterhouse, Director, Strategic Partnerships & Programs. Colorado University Denver, Anschutz Multidisciplinary Center on Aging. Office of Vice-Chancellor of Health Affairs, Department of Medicine|, Division of Geriatrics, United States, Jodi.Waterhouse@CUAnschutz.edu
Dr. Richard Welke, Regents Professor Emeritus. Computer Information Systems. Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, United States, RWelke@RWelke.com
Dr. Doug Vogel, Professor of Information Systems & eHealth Research Institute Director. Harbin Institute of Technology, China. Fellow and Past-President, Association for Information Systems – AIS. Member, Cross-border eCollaboration Consortium. Fellow, Australian Institute of Digital Health – AIDH, South Melbourne, Victoria, Australia in association with the University of the Third Age, Vogel.Doug@gmail.com
Dr. David Zitner, Professor Emeritus. Founding Director, Medical Informatics, Dalhousie University. Consultant and Policy Advisor. Retired Family Physician, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, David.Zitner@Dal.ca
Links
Emeriti Network of retired professors Importance ChatGPT 29.11.2025
Emeriti Associations of retired professors Benefits of websites interlinking ChatGPT 25.11.2025
Emeriti Collaboration engineering for retired professors ChatGPT 20.09.2025
Emeriti Associations North America vs. Europe ChatGPT 20.05.2025
Exploring retired and emeriti professors’ areas of interest in intergenerational initiatives: Enhancing Age-Friendly University (AFU) principles. Ramraj Gautam, Sarawut Sritan, Montri Khumrungsee & Karen Devereaux Melillo. Taylor & Francis Online,15 May 2025.
Emeriti Association website editors sharing experiences ChatGPT 20.01.2025
Exploring Lessons from Retired College Professors. Sara K. Moon-Seo and Jin Seo. Rogers State University, United States. Educational Research: Theory and Practice, 2024, 35(2), 31-36.
How are Retired (Emeriti) Professors Organized Within Their University? Jože Gričar. Professors Emeriti Network, 14/08/2024.
Emeriti Retired Academics Websites Interlinking Jože Gričar 22.06.2023