The 2026 UCLA Journey Toward Retirement Series Tomorrow, July 30
Noon registration: https://fmr.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Wm31fp4DSv2vY-X0zC-DZg#/registration --- 5 PM registration: https://fmr.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_iT6UvUHnTfixeqCENvFN3g#/registration |
Benefits Services invites you to join our upcoming Benefits Spotlight session, where we'll highlight valuable benefits information and answer your questions.
This Month's Topic: Retirement Benefits
Whether you are beginning to plan for retirement, approaching retirement, or simply want to better understand your retirement benefits, this session is a great opportunity to learn more and connect with our Benefits team.
During this session, we will cover:
The session is scheduled for today, July 22, 2026, Noon to 1:00 PM.
Join the session at https://ucla.zoom.us/j/
Steps to take to get your affairs in order:
Information for survivors:
Guide to Investing in the UC Retirement Savings Program: July 1, 2026
This class can help you understand the basics of investing with a focus on the UC Retirement Savings Program.
What will you learn in this seminar:
Basics of investing, including key investing concepts and common types of investments plus an overview of funds available through the UC Retirement Savings Program. It also includes investment approaches based on risk tolerance, investing horizon and involvement level.
Who should attend?
Participants who want to learn how to invest and help grow savings in the UC Retirement Savings Program.
Upcoming Live Sessions
July 01 - 9:00 AM
July 17 - noon
July 27 - noon
Register at https://www.myucretirement.com/webinars/calendar.
Thursday, June 11, 2026
1:00 p.m. PT
Register
Friends and family are encouraged to attend.
About the Legacy Planning Series
This webinar is the last in UC’s three-part Confident Retiree series called Legacy Planning–Peace of Mind for You and Your Loved Ones.
Together, these sessions are designed to help UC retirees and their families prepare for the future by protecting savings, organizing personal affairs, and ensuring survivors can access UC benefits when it matters most.
Additional resources
We’ve included some helpful links below to resources mentioned in the upcoming Part 3 webinar, Essential Steps for Survivors of UC Retirees: Accessing UC Benefits and More:
The slide decks and recordings for Part 1: Preserving Your Savings for Future Generations and Part 2: Getting Your Affairs in Order: Essential Planning for Peace of Mind are currently being updated to meet accessibility standards. Once available, they will be posted on the Webinars Overview page of myUCretirement.com.
From a recent email:
The Dickson Emeritus Professorship Award is funded from a gift endowment established by the late Edward A. Dickson, Regent of the University of California, to honor outstanding research, scholarly work, teaching, and service performed by an Emeritus or Emerita Professor since retirement.
Three UCLA emeriti professors have been selected to receive the 2025 – 2026 Edward A. Dickson Emeritus Professorship Award, which includes a prize of $5,000: Distinguished Research Professor Arthur P. Arnold, Professor Emeritus Sander Greenland, and Professor Emeritus David A. Talan.
Arthur P. Arnold, Distinguished Research Professor of Integrative Biology and Physiology retired in 2018. Professor Emeritus Arnold has continued to demonstrate extraordinary intellectual vitality and global leadership. As a neuroscientist and behavioral biologist, he transformed the scientific understanding of sexual differentiation by establishing that sex chromosomes directly shape brain development and disease vulnerability. During his emeritus years, he has published more than 40 peer-reviewed papers in leading journals including Science Translational Medicine, Nature Immunology, and Journal of Neuroscience. His work has redefined how researchers conceptualize sex differences in physiology and medicine and continues to influence biomedical research worldwide. Professor Emeritus Arnold has also secured competitive NIH funding during retirement, including multiple R01 awards, and has led the development of innovative Four Core Genotype rat models that will advance sex-differences research across disciplines. His service to the scientific community remains exemplary. He has served on the NIH Advisory Committee on Research on Women’s Health, contributed to a National Academies report on chronic conditions in women, and continues to shape international standards for rigor in sex-based biomedical research.
Sander Greenland, Professor Emeritus of Epidemiology and Statistics, retired in 2012. Since retirement, Professor Greenland has remained one of the most influential scholars in epidemiology worldwide. From 2019 through 2025, he has been consecutively named a Clarivate/Web of Science Highly Cited Researcher, placing him among the top 1% of researchers globally. During his emeritus years alone, he has authored or co-authored more than 90 peer-reviewed publications, many in leading journals including the American Journal of Epidemiology, and International Journal of Epidemiology. His work on causal inference, bias analysis, Bayesian methods, and meta-analysis continues to shape modern epidemiologic methodology and inform public health policy around the world; reflecting a career that bridges deep theory and practical application. He continues to mentor junior investigators and faculty across institutions internationally, serving as senior or corresponding author on numerous collaborative publications that elevate the next generation of methodologists. His leadership and intellectual generosity have sustained UCLA’s reputation as a global center for excellence in epidemiologic research and training.
David A. Talan, Professor Emeritus of Emergency Medicine retired in 2014. Dr. Talan continues to produce practice-changing research published in the highest-impact medical journals, including the New England Journal of Medicine, and The Lancet. His NIH-funded trial has reshaped emergency and infectious disease care worldwide, most notably through landmark multicenter trials of modern management of skin abscesses. As co-Principal Investigator of the landmark PCORI-funded Comparison of Antibiotic Drugs and Appendectomy (CODA) trial, he helped redefine the management of uncomplicated appendicitis, advancing patient-centered, nonoperative care worldwide. His ongoing leadership of the CDC-funded EMERGEncy ID NET and current NIH-supported investigations into antimicrobial resistance and vaccine development continue to influence global health policy and practice. He has created advanced infectious diseases educational programs within the department and established an Emerging Infections Fellowship to train the next generation of physician-scientists. His mentorship spans emergency medicine, infectious diseases, and surgery, fostering interdisciplinary collaboration across UCLA.
Please join me in wishing them a well-deserved congratulations for outstanding contributions to their respective fields since retirement and for serving as powerful examples of intellectual and professional achievement.
Sincerely,
Michael S. Levine
Chair, Edward A. Dickson Emeritus Professorship Award Selection Committee
Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs & Personnel
Some UC employees and retirees have their tax-favored savings accounts at Fidelity. And Fidelity provides other services for UC related to retirement accounts. But the glitch seems like something that could occur in any large computer system.
The moral of the tale would seem to be that it would be a good idea to keep some kind of external record of your accounts so that when someone tells you that they can't find any trace of your accounts in the system, you have a screenshot or a paper copy to prove otherwise. In this case, the victim of the SNAFU was told that because there was no record that she ever had existed, there was nothing to be done.
You can find the story at:
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/25/your-money/fidelity-investments-fraud-alert.html.
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From a recent email:
The Carole E. Goldberg Emeriti Service Award, established in 2015, recognizes UCLA emeriti for exemplary service by an emeritus/emerita professor to the academic enterprise after retirement. The award honors outstanding service in professional, University, Academic Senate, emeriti, departmental or editorial posts, or committees.
UCLA Professor Emeritus Thomas S. Klitzner has been selected to receive the 2025 – 2026 Carole E. Goldberg Emeriti Service Award, which includes a prize of $1,000.
Thomas S. Klitzner, Professor Emeritus of Pediatrics retired in 2016. Dr. Klitzner has sustained a vigorous record of service to UCLA, the medical profession, and the broader community. At UCLA, he remains an active research collaborator focused on complex care for children, advancing national models for home and care coordination. In 2022 he endowed the Thomas Klitzner Medical Home Lectureship for Complex Care, bringing leading scholars to campus to strengthen education and practice. Beyond campus, Dr. Klitzner serves on the Strategic Planning Committee of the Venice Family Clinic and chairs the board of Seeds to Plate, a nonprofit providing garden-based education in Los Angeles public schools, fostering meaningful engagement between UCLA pediatric residents and local students. His continued participation in professional and advisory roles reflects decades of leadership in pediatric health system innovation.
Please join me in wishing Professor Emeritus Klitzner a well-deserved congratulations for outstanding service to UCLA since retirement and for serving as a powerful example of intellectual and professional achievement.
Sincerely,
Michael S. Levine
Chair, Carole E. Goldberg Emeriti Service Award Selection Committee
Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs & Personnel
UC Emeriti Professors Borgerhoff Mulder and de Janvry are the fifty-sixth and fifty-seventh recipients of the Constantine Panunzio Award. Both awardees have especially long and notable records of research, teaching, and service to the University of California, their disciplines, and their communities. The late Dr. Panunzio, a Professor of Sociology at UCLA for many years, has been described as the architect of the UC Retirement System and was particularly active in improving pensions and stipends for his fellow Emeriti. The award bearing his name was established in 1983 and includes a $5,000 prize. The Panunzio Award exemplifies the tremendous contributions of Emeriti to the continued excellence of the UC System.
Monique Borgerhoff Mulder, UC Davis, Professor Emerita of Anthropology, retired in 2018. She has sustained an extraordinary level of scholarly productivity and leadership in the interdisciplinary fields of human behavioral ecology, conservation science, and sustainability studies. Her research continues to illuminate the intersections of poverty, inequality, and environmental conservation, particularly in East Africa, where she has conducted long-term collaborative fieldwork with pastoralist, fishing, and forest dependent communities. Professor Emerita Borgerhoff Mulder has secured multiple competitive research grants from the National Science Foundation, the UK Natural Environment Research Council, and the Global Challenges Research Fund. These awards, totaling several million dollars in research support, reflect the confidence of international funders in her methodological rigor and interdisciplinary vision. Elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2021, she continues to shape global scientific discourse through invited lectures, international workshops, and leadership roles in organizations such as the Cultural Evolution Society and the Santa Fe Institute. Her work also has substantial impact beyond academia. Through organizations she co-founded and advises, such as Watu Simba na Mazingira (WASIMA) and the Ngezi‑Vumawimbi Heritage Organization, she has advanced community driven conservation efforts in Tanzania and Zanzibar, strengthening local governance and supporting sustainable livelihoods. Her editorial work has set field standards and amplifies emerging voices, broadening interdisciplinary dialogue, and accelerating community engaged research.
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Alain de Janvry, UC Berkeley, Professor Emeritus of Agricultural & Resource Economics, retired in 2017. Professor Emeritus de Janvry has sustained a field defining presence in development economics, agricultural policy, poverty alleviation, and the political economy of institutions. Through ongoing collaborations with scholars and international development organizations, he remains an influential voice in the global conversation on economic development, evidence-based policy, and risk management for vulnerable populations. Additionally, he has published landmark studies in the American Economic Review and AEJ: Applied Economics on bureaucratic incentives, disaster recovery, technology diffusion, and insurance adoption. His service on scientific councils has anchored rigorous, policy relevant editorial curation and broadened access for applied research communities worldwide. Professor Emeritus de Janvry’s field experiments on subjective performance evaluations in China, index-based disaster funds in Mexico, and the diffusion of climate resilient rice varieties in India exemplify his rigorous empirical approach. He has shaped research agendas through major monographs on disaster risk finance, and impact evaluation methodologies. His experimental and quasi experimental studies, ranging from randomized farmer training interventions to regression discontinuity analyses of disaster funding, have directly influenced program designs across governments and NGOs. He remains a dedicated mentor, advising graduate students, junior faculty, as well as practitioners, and continues to advance the use of evidence in policy design and implementation.
For those at UC thinking of retirement:
April 15th @ noon UC Retirement Process: https://fmr.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_jXKPWSzETvGzr-hQ-jCSAg
April 15th @ 5:00 PM UC Retirement Process: https://fmr.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_BxHCQTc8SxK8PdScuStyEw
April 16th @ noon UC Retiree Health: https://fmr.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_VRYbYZvjTnaxJZmKZZaGcg
April 16th @ 5:00 PM UC Retiree Health: https://fmr.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_ZU0CrFpVS66p6BCrV7upwg
More cases of such diversion are being reported. If you get a UC pension, your February payment should have been sent to your chosen bank over the past weekend. You should verify that the transfer occurred.
If you did not get your payment, notify RASC. See our prior post on this matter for contact information.* We have been told that UC will reimburse diverted payments - but how long that process might take is unclear.
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*https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2026/01/pension-payments-at-risk-part-2.html.
Exactly how this breach occurred, and why the victims' were not immediately notified, remains murky.
The UC Retirement Administration Service Center (RASC) has now posted a warning on its website:
https://ucnet.universityofcalifornia.edu/employee-news/staying-safe-in-a-digital-world/
It instructs pensioners immediately to contact RASC and gives this contact information:
1-800-888-8267 (international callers: 1-510-987-0200)
Monday through Friday, 7:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (PT)
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NOTE: Apparently, it is assumed that scammers don't work evenings, nights, or weekends.
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*https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2026/01/pension-payments-at-risk.html.
What appeared to be a single case of theft now seems to have occurred more widely. Excerpt from a message by the chair of CUCEA:
...There have been further reports of pension checks not arriving because of a security failure at UCRAYS. As a precaution, we strongly encourage retirees who receive pension checks to verify that their monthly payments have been distributed as expected. If your pension check does not arrive as anticipated, please contact UCRAYS and your campus retirement center as soon as possible and let CUCEA Chair Joel Dimsdale know as well (jdimsdale@ucsd.edu).
This situation is also a timely reminder to review and update your passwords. That updating process may be slower for UCRAYS in the near future as it tightens security.
The CUCEA board wrote UCOP January 13, 2026 advising them to:
1. Institute corrective training for RASC (retirement administration service center) personnel.
2. Disable telephone-based requests for password resets. We do understand that this will adversely affect RASC response times until security is enhanced, but it is necessary.
3. Perform a “lookback” on all password change requests since December 1 and communicate with those individuals.
4. Notify all retirees about the possible threats and advise them to take necessary actions.
We will be meeting with UCOP to review progress next week...
Exactly what is being done to reimburse the victims of these thefts is also unclear at this time.
Hacking has been discovered in UCRAYS* that has changed an individual's email and bank deposit details! This was found as normal pension deposits to banks were absent. Members should be alerted that they need to verify they have received expected deposits and contact UCRAYS ASAP if not received on time.
I might note that UCRAYS automatically sends out automatic emails January 1 reminding members that they have to sign in at least once every 24 months or their accounts will be locked. If you get an emailed message from UCRAYS, rather than click on anything in the message, separately sign in and check your account.
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*UCRAYS = UC Retirement at Your Service: https://retirementatyourservice.ucop.edu/ or (800) 888-8267.
Path Forward to Retirement - Faculty - Workshop 1
Date & Time: Feb 20, 2026 09:30 AM
Description
This workshop begins with an overview of ensuring that your emerita/us years will be both secure and professionally satisfying. Topics include understanding your rights and privileges as an emeritus/a professor, negotiating a Pathways to Retirement agreement that sets out your plans for up to two years prior to retirement and three years following, and coordinating your departmental agreement with UC retirement benefits and other retirement resources. Then a representative from UC/Fidelity Services will discuss financial planning and management in your retirement years. The formal program will conclude at approximately 11:45am, at which time Q + A will be available.
I won't put the Zoom registration link here to avoid Zoom-bombing. But it you check with the UCLA Emeriti/Retirees Relations Center, you can obtain the link.
Note: Professor Emerita Rosina Becerra is UCLA Faculty Retirement Liaison as of July 1, 2025
The Chancellor’s Office created the position of Faculty Retirement Liaison in 2015 as part of its initiative to enhance the continuing role of emeriti faculty in campus research, teaching, and service.
As the Faculty Retirement Liaison, Professor Emerita Rosina Becerra serves as an advisor and advocate for faculty members who are considering retirement, as well as those who have already retired. She helps Academic Senate faculty members develop Pathways to Retirement agreements with their department chairs. She helps all retiring faculty navigate the University’s general retirement process and coordinate it with their individual pre- and post-retirement plans. She works semi-autonomously from the Academic Affairs & Personnel Office, and all her discussions with individual faculty members are confidential. She oversees the Pathways to Retirement Program and The Path Forward: Faculty Planning for Retirement Workshops.
Rosina Becerra is available for consultation year-round. She meets privately with faculty individually on campus, and by Zoom or phone.
Source: https://errc.ucla.edu/faculty.
Now columnist Dan Walters seems to have stumbled on it:
From CalMatters: The University of California is one of the world’s most prestigious centers of higher education and cutting-edge medical, technological and social research. One assumes that its faculty and administrative cadre are saturated with extremely bright people. Nevertheless, UC has succumbed to a managerial disease that has afflicted other corners of state government — the chronic inability to successfully adopt information technology...
UC’s attempt to upgrade its pension system echoes that experience. As described in an article by Politico, a website devoted to politics: “In April 2019, the University of California unveiled a new computer program that school officials promised would overhaul its clunky, outdated system for disbursing pension payments to more than 150,000 former employees.
“Glitches and bad data, however, marred the launch, delaying payments and causing other problems. Now, six years later, the university is still embroiled in a bitter legal fight with the contractors it hired to build the system, claiming the companies repeatedly misled and defrauded the university.”
...Twelve years ago, UC officials awarded contracts to two companies, Sagitec Solutions and Linea Solutions, worth $28 million to upgrade the pension system’s outdated computer system. When the upgrade was tested a half-decade later, chaos erupted. Pension payments weren’t delivered on time, pension calculations were riddled with errors, UC retirees pelted the system’s administration with complaints, and the contractors and UC executives began pointing fingers of blame at each other.
...I once asked an acquaintance who sold computer software to state agencies why so many systems failed. He said bureaucrats often don’t know what they want and are rarely conversant about tech capability, leading to misunderstandings about what will be done...
Full story at https://calmatters.org/commentary/2025/12/university-california-pensions-technology/.
*https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2025/01/a-clue-to-ongoing-mystery.html.
Nomination Portal Open for Emeriti Awards
Emeriti are encouraged to nominate colleagues or themselves for three different emeriti awards
Nominating Procedures for Awards: Departments are limited to one nomination each year for each award. Department chairs or their designees are asked to submit nominations. Individuals also may nominate colleagues for these awards, but must coordinate with the department chair to submit nominations. For awards, nominations must include a cover letter, a copy of the nominee’s curriculum vitae and two supporting letters from leaders in the field commenting specifically on the nominee’s achievements performed exclusively after retirement.
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Constantine Panunzio Award
The Constantine Panunzio Distinguished Emeriti Award created by a bequest from Professor Panunzio of UCLA, the award honors outstanding scholarly work or educational service (e.g. service in professional, University, Academic Senate, emeriti, departmental or editorial posts, or committees) performed since retirement by a University of California emeritus or emerita in the Humanities or Social Sciences.
Deadline for final nomination from each campus are due by Monday, February 9, 2026:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/panunzio2026
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Dickson Emeritus Professorships
The Dickson Award was created by a gift endowment from the late Edward A. Dickson, a Regent of the University of California from 1913 to 1946. The award honors outstanding research, scholarly work, teaching, and/or educational service (e.g. service in professional, University, Academic Senate, emeriti, departmental or editorial posts, or committees) performed by an emeritus/emerita professor performed exclusively after retirement. Each of the UC campuses has received funds that will support one or more awards each year.
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Carole Goldberg Emeriti Service Award
The Goldberg Award was created in 2014 to recognize extraordinary service by an emeritus/emerita professor to the academic enterprise performed exclusively after retirement. The award honors outstanding service in professional, University, Academic Senate, emeriti, departmental or editorial posts, or committees performed at UCLA by an emeritus/emerita professor since retirement.
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For Dickson and/or Goldberg nominations:
