Council is the governing body of LLI. Key positions are elected by the membership for two-year terms. Elections for the July 1, 2019- June 30, 2021 term will take place March 15 – 29. Members will receive a ballot via email to participate anonymously. Please review these candidates to ensure your voice is heard.
This year, open positions are for:
- 2nd Vice President
- Secretary
- Two Members at Large
Many thanks to the LLI members who are willing to serve by being candidates for these key positions. These members are shown below – be sure to thank them for being willing when you see them at LLIM
Candidates for 2nd Vice President
Mary Deady
2nd Vice President
Mary Deady is running for the 2nd Vice President bringing various LLI Committee experiences. Mary currently serves on Council as Program Support Chair and has been a member of the Planning and Evaluation Committee since June 2018. Until March 2019 she co-chaired the Membership Development Committee, worked with a small team on the Parking Task Force to resolve LLI parking issues with Bard College, and mentored new members. As member of the Program Committee, Mary helped plan last year’s Annual Meeting, handling registrations for that and the Luncheon the past few years. She has also assisted as class manager and AV guide in classes.
Being involved on these various committees has been such a wonderful way to get to know the LLI operations and the members who also value this incredible learning opportunity and organization.
Mary became a member of Bard LLI in September 2015, upon retiring from teaching. Her husband, Matthew, has been a valued member of Bard’s Physics Department for 32 years and a frequent LLI presenter.
Email: [email protected]
Ann Miller
2nd Vice President
Ann Miller, a resident of Malden, NY, is retired from a 25-year career in interior landscape design for one of the largest companies in the industry. Her focus centered on offices, hospitals, retail, and residential housing. Ann managed sales and sales support, installation logistics, maintenance, and customer relations. Her efforts contributed to the company receiving a wide array of awards. She also was part of the team introducing clients to new environmentally sound practices such as sub irrigation and Green Walls.
Ann was one of the founding members of YCSD (Yonkers Committee for Smart Development), who successfully led the continued effort of daylighting the Saw Mill River in downtown Yonkers.
Ann enjoys gardening, Tai-Chi (she’s a certified instructor), hiking, and trying desperately to play the violin. Her current LLI volunteer efforts include class manager and member of the Class Support Committee.
Email: [email protected]
Candidate for Secretary
Deborah Lanser
Secretary
I’m running for Secretary of the Bard LLI Council as a way of contributing to the organization and becoming more fully involved with the community. The position would build on my more than 40 years’ experience as a writer and editor as well as my volunteer work as secretary for a nonprofit organization in New York City. In the two and a half years since I’ve been a member of Bard LLI, I’ve worked on the Communications Committee and the Catalog Committee, and acted as a class manager.
I was raised in the Hudson River Valley, went to college in Chicago, and then moved to New York City. While my husband, Steve, and I lived in the city, we also maintained a place in Newburgh and often came up to Bard to hear some concerts. When we retired, we chose to move to Rhinebeck, knowing we would enjoy the beauty of the Hudson River Valley and the cultural riches of the area.
Our participation in Bard LLI has only enhanced our pleasure in living here. We have delighted in taking some of the intellectually challenging courses as well as some of the more lighthearted ones. And we have continued to attend many of the concerts at Bard, with a profound appreciation for the quality of the performances. But perhaps the most rewarding aspect of joining Bard LLI has been the connections we have made with so many interesting, engaged people from a diversity of backgrounds. Several of our neighbors are also LLI members, and meeting them when I stroll around the neighborhood only enhances my pleasure in this strong, vibrant community.
I am looking forward to doing what I can to help Bard LLI enrich all of our lives.
Email: [email protected]
Candidates for Members at Large
Emily Michael
Member at Large
Emily Michael, after completing a PhD in philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania, accepted a position at Brooklyn College CUNY, where she served as a professor for nearly 40 years. For most of that time, she also served as the elected chairperson of the Brooklyn College Philosophy Department, where her duties included budget, curriculum and events planning, scheduling of courses, hiring new full-time and part-time faculty members, organizing and chairing meetings, writing proposals and reports, participating in college wide planning and committees, and other responsibilities of the office. While Emily was a faculty member at Brooklyn College, besides teaching and chairing, she also published numerous papers in scholarly journals, focusing mainly on the history of philosophy and the history of science in the medieval, Renaissance, and early modern periods and on twentieth century thought.
After her retirement from Brooklyn College, Emily moved to Germantown, and, in short order, she became a member of Bard LLI, where she joined the Curriculum Committee and began planning and producing courses for LLI. She has enjoyed participating in activities and events at Bard LLI, in meeting Bard LLI members, and in becoming a part of the Bard LLI community.
Her activities include participating in the life of Germantown and in various local organizations. She is a widow, with two children and six grandchildren.
Email: [email protected]
Kim Sears
Member at Large
Kim is a new retiree having left the world of work in May of 2018. Her first act was to apply for membership to Bard LLI. The mission of “lifetime learning” seemed a natural choice for Kim who has had a reputation as being, perhaps, a bit too enthusiastic about too many things, for instance, a goal of reading all the biographies of all the presidents.
Kim did graduate and postgraduate work in Special Education at James Madison University and taught in the Shenandoah Valley. In 1986 Kim relocated to Poughkeepsie with her husband and two children so that she could join her family business, Hammond Security. For the next 32 years, Kim worked as the company’s primary residential sales consultant, co-owner and manager, including 10 years transitioning the company to new national ownership.
Kim is a member of the Communications Committee and is looking forward to serving the Bard LLI community. Other retirement projects include vegetable gardening, and most important, being Gigi to four unique, beautiful grandchildren all living back in Virginia.
Email: [email protected]
Maddy Watterson
Member at Large
I have been involved with education most of my adult life. I have been a teacher for students with special needs, a school district administrator for Special Education and a principal in both an elementary school and a high school, all in Duchess County. A member of Bard LLI for almost eight years, I have continued my love of education and have volunteered in several positions:
- Class manager
- Co-Chair of the Class Support Committee
- Chairperson of the Membership Development Committee
LLI has given me many learning opportunities and many friends. At this point I would like to continue the experience by serving as a member at large on the Council.
Email: [email protected]
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