Highlander Farewells is a recurring feature spotlighting faculty and staff members who recently retired or are retiring soon.

Find out more about the contributions of UCR colleagues with about 25 years or more of service in the short profiles that follow. Retirees with fewer years or who did not provide profile information are listed below. The list includes employees who filed for retirement in December 2024 and provided information to the UCR Retirement Center. 

We extend our gratitude to all our colleagues for their service and wish them well in their next chapter!

Sheri Farris, director of faculty compensation and contract revenue in finance and administration at the School of Medicine, is retiring after 39 years of service. She began her career at the UC Irvine Medical Center in multiple positions and departments, leaving as a principal financial analyst supervisor. She joined UCR in 2016 as a finance director, helping to develop the faculty compensation and contract revenue units in the School of Medicine.

Paul Simon, a web manager with University Relations, is retiring after almost 25 years of service. Simon was first hired as a print designer in 2000, creating a transfer viewbook and logos for the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. As a web designer, he created the first multipage student enrollment site in 2002 and wrote and designed the first 50 Reasons site, which has continued as the 54 Facts about UCR site. He’s designed websites for several campus organizations and worked with Information Technology Solutions to create a document upload server for the campus.

Also retiring:

Martha Patane, a teacher at the Center for Early Childhood Education, is retiring after 20 years of service.

Joe Andreu, chief procurement officer in Business and Financial Services, is retiring after 18 years of service with the University of California, the last four at UCR. 

Linda Bejenaru, a project reporting analyst in Facilities Services, is retiring after 10 years of service.

Sonja Elston, a payroll analyst with the ASSET team at UCPATH, is retiring after 10 years of service.

Jim Llano, associate director of corporate and strategic partnerships in the Office of Technology Partnerships, retired in November after nine years of service.