2 The RAPS Sheet April 2020 CO-PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Kudos to Emily for doing a vital job exceptionally well A YEARLY SPRING RITUAL for the RAPS Board involves going through the process of hiring a replacement office manager for the upcoming summer and academic year. The position is incredibly vital to the smooth operation of the RAPS organization. The office manager reports to the co-presidents, provides direct service to the RAPS Board of Directors, and responds to inquiries and requests from our membership. The office manager is also challenged with working in an isolated setting, with minimal supervision. So it has been very important that new hires are able to begin their tenure with developed skills in computer use, personal relations, and organizational and time management skills. Our past several hires have been able to be full-time students and have put in a 20-hour work week for RAPS. Our current office manager, Emily Caparelli, has more than fulfilled our expectations. Emily has taken the initiative on many projects, such as updating our phone directory, developing a Facebook presence for RAPS, and organizing RAPS files and archives to make the association run smoothly. It was a brave move for Emily to move to Portland and Portland State, as she knew no one who lived or had lived here. Because of her father’s employment Emily moved to several states as she was growing up, but she spent the majority of her adolescence in a small town in Illinois. At PSU Emily has majored in health sciences/pre-nursing and will graduate this June. She has taken on the monumental task of full-time student while also working three jobs, which has kept her extremely busy. During her time at PSU Emily has developed a close circle of friends, a love for hiking, and all the good food and tall trees that were lacking in the Midwest. Following graduation Emily plans to gain employ- ment in the healthcare sector and begin applying to nursing/nurse practitioner programs and hopes to have a career in dermatology. Emily’s time with RAPS has been very productive for our organization, and we wish her the very best in the years to come. —Dave Krug RAPS working to add presence on Facebook platform COMING SOON to a computer screen near you: RAPS’s very own Facebook page. In January the RAPS Board approved the creation of a Facebook page as a way to make information about RAPS available to a broader audience. Construction is underway. Facebook, the social media platform giant with more than 2.5 billion active users worldwide, was created in 2004 to “give people the power to build community and bring the world closer together,” according to its mission statement. The RAPS Facebook page will feature photos and posts that reflect the variety of activities RAPS members engage in: monthly meetings with guest speakers; RAPS club pursuits such as hiking, reading, and playing bridge; social events like potlucks and picnics, and RAPS-sponsored travel around the world, to name a few. Although these activities are currently on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic, they represent the ways that retired faculty and staff continue to connect with each other after their working days at the University have ended. Information on upcoming events will be easily accessible on the RAPS Facebook page, as well as highlights of recent past events. Also planned are posts that reflect PSU’s growth, from its humble beginnings in 1946 as Vanport Extension Center to its position today as the largest public university in Oregon. Once the RAPS Facebook page is “live,” posts will automatically show up in the feeds of RAPS members who are active Facebook users. Those who are not Facebook users will still be able to access the RAPS Facebook page. And for those who do not use computers or do not wish to look at Facebook at all, two reliable sources of information about RAPS activities and events remain: the RAPS Sheet, published 10 times a year and available in print and online, and the RAPS website: https://www.pdx.edu/raps.
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