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 aim 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.
The coming year is a very special one for YURA as we celebrate our 40th anniversary with a reception and sit-down lunch to take place on Wednesday May 13th, 2026 in the Second Student Centre on the Keele campus. The theme of our celebration will be “Celebrating our past and inspiring our future”. We envision a very enjoyable mix of remembering what has been accomplished and honouring those who made it happen, as well as imagining a dynamic age-friendly future for our members and our association at York University. Details of how to register will be forthcoming in the early months of 2026. If you wish to assist us with planning the event, we have set aside the mornings of Jan 16, Feb 6, Mar 6, Mar 27 and Apr 24 to gather photos and other materials to make our celebration a truly memorable one. We will create a timeline of YURA, to be displayed against a backdrop of developments at York University and in the province of Ontario. We plan to display photos, recollect the names of those in key roles, and thus re-create a sense of the four decades during which YURA has actively engaged retirees in the life of the York University community. If you have photos, reminiscences or wish to assist us, simply send an email to yura@yorku.ca. We’d love to hear from you.
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., September through June). We thank our Office Volunteers and 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.
We ask also that you help us continue YURA’s strong tradition of “giving back” and supporting York and its students. YURA is justifiably proud of having raised sufficient funds over the decades to endow a series of awards; we are very moved by the messages of gratitude we have received from students who received the 9 awards given in 2025. We have also raised funds during 2023 and 2024 to support student food security on campus. Our current initiative is a collaboration with the York Libraries to provide study pods for students. Details about this YURA Challenge and how to donate can be found by clicking here.
YURA has other ways of “giving back” and supporting York and its students. Our Senior Scholars continue their scholarship and publications and thus enhance the reputation of the university. Many YURA members act as “research subjects” in various projects undertaken by researchers at the York University Centre for Aging Research and Education. Other members serve on panels to provide feedback and mentoring, all very important and rewarding activities.
All of the above contribute to the sense of purpose of our members and reinforce the work to have York accredited as an Age-Friendly University. At our most recent AGM, we were delighted to have as our guest speaker Dr. Christine O’Kelly of Dublin City University in Ireland who is Co-ordinator of the Age Friendly University Global Network. Her talk on “Positive Aging, Intergenerational Solidarity and the Role of Higher Education” was relevant, engaging and inspiring.
Please take a few minutes to explore this website. We think you will enjoy the photos, including those of our YURA Challenge Walk last October and the November 4th reception for new retirees and YURA members. YURA is fortunate to have a robust set of communication tools, including this website, a listserv, 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.
We look forward to seeing you at an upcoming activity such as the online, interactive YURA Café, any of our sessions to prepare for the 40th anniversary (as mentioned above), or any of the “fun-learning”/social outings currently being planned by YURA for the 2026 calendar year. Most of all, please make sure that you have marked May 13th, 2026 on your calendar to celebrate with us!