Noteworthy Decisions from the July 2013 Board of Trustees Meeting

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By Marilynn Kulieke, vice president, Urantia Foundation, Lincolnshire, Illinois, United States

Urantia Books

• Urantia Book sales for the first six months of 2013 were flat compared to sales in the first six months of 2012. To reach the board’s goal of an annual growth rate of seven percent, the board appointed Associate Trustee Share Beasley to serve as North American sales manager. With Share and her husband, Bill, working to sell books, we feel confident about future book sales.
• The editing of an index to The Urantia Book should be completed by the end of December. Electronic and physical publication plans are underway.
• With the Russian translation reprinted after the fire in St. Petersburg, and with the translation stored in a warehouse in Rotterdam, Georges Michelson-Dupont and Jay Peregrine will attend the book fair in Frankfurt, Germany this October with aspirations to find a new distributor in Russia.

Translations and Revisions

• The Czech Translation:Vaclàv and Helen Kadrnka have translated all of The Urantia Book into the Czech language except for the last three papers. After completing this first draft, they will commence revising, correcting, and polishing the translation, which will require at least two more years.
• The Farsi Translation:The Farsi translation is a translation of The Urantia Book into a language spoken by a people who are predominantly Muslims. The work on this translation started many years ago. You may read the inspiring story at www.urantia.org/news/2013-06/translating-urantia-book-farsi-inspiring-story-how-project-began. The translation is now more than fifty percent complete.
• The Hebrew Translation:The Hebrew translation team, comprised of chief translator, Gabriel Rymberg and revision editor, Avi Dogim, has completed around twenty-eight papers.
• The Indonesian Translation:Work on this translation “officially” started a few months ago in April under the leadership of chief translator Nugroho Widi. “Unofficially” this translation started several years ago, for Widi has already translated 60 papers.
• The Japanese Translation: Congratulations, Hagiko Wattle, for completing the first draft of the Japanese translation. What a meaningful, valuable, and wonderful gift Hagiko is making to the Japanese people!
• The Spanish Revision:The team revising the Spanish translation consists of Carmelo Martínez (chief revisor from Spain), Olga López (from Spain), Raúl Pujol (from Puerto Rico), and Aníbal Pacheco (from Chile). They hope to finish this complex revision by 2018. Most of their work is done via the translators’ website and Skype; so you can imagine how much they are looking forward to an upcoming face-to-face meeting. Special thanks go to Víctor García-Bory for his steadfast leadership as the managing director of the team.
• The Portuguese Revision:Susana Huttner leads a team of five long-term readers who are now on Paper 38. Thanks to Susana’s selfless commitment, we feel confident that the revision team will complete their work in five years or so.
• The Chinese Revision:The Chinese translation of The Urantia Book has been translated and revised once. It is now undergoing a second revision. At the end of June, Richard Zhu had revised 25 papers plus the Foreword.
• The French Revision:The revision of the French translation is slated for completion in early 2014, and plans to print it are being made. Special thanks to the French revision team: Georges Michelson-Dupont, Claire Mylanus, Richard Lachance, and Jean Royer.
• Translations and Revisions Policy: Another team consisting of Marilynn Kulieke, George Michelson-Dupont, Henk Mylanus, and Jay Peregrine is developing a long-range plan for translations and revisions. This plan will include a 10-year financial forecast, a 10-year work plan, and policies and procedures for the accomplishment of translations and revisions.

Renovation of the Third Floor and Carriage House at 533 W. Diversey Parkway

The Board approved the renovation of the third floor and carriage house of the historic birthplace of the Urantia Revelation. This renovation includes making the building as energy efficient as is reasonably possible. Urantia Foundation will borrow as much as $200,000 to complete this next phase of the building renovation. After its completion, the third floor will be rented until there is need to occupy the third floor.

Urantia Foundation’s Statement of Values

The Board passed the following resolution: Resolved, That the Trustees of Urantia Foundation approve the acronym “TRUST” to express the Foundation’s statement of values. TRUST is an acronym for:

Teamwork – Respect – Unity – Service – Transparency

Education

By the end of 2013, the Urantia Book Internet School (UBIS) will start using a new educational software platform called Moodle. The new software will improve the conducting and taking of classes because it is multilingual, easy to use, and very reliable. Moodle will be a significant upgrade to the UBIS educational experience. Ralph, Betty, and Michael Zehr, thank you for your tireless efforts to research, evaluate, propose, customize, and install Moodle for UBIS.

For those of you who do not know Moodle, it is the global leader in Open Source Course Management Systems, also known as a Learning Management System or a Virtual Learning Environment. It has become a very popular tool among educators around the world for creating online dynamic websites for their students. As of this writing, Moodle is used on 86,305 registered sites in 237 countries. It is serving 7,786,448 courses with 1,297,384 teachers and 72,910,837 students.

Besides Moodle, other upgrades are coming to UBIS because Dorothy Elder and her team developed a new basic course for its curriculum. This is an important course because it provides a comprehensive, step-by-step study of The Urantia Book.

The courses presented each trimester will fit into these four categories:

• Course one. A core curriculum course.
• Course two. A course from Part IV.
• Course three. A theme or topical course–a popular or oft-requested topic.
• Course four. A course designed for new readers.

To learn more please visit: http://www.urantiabookschool.org/

Seminar on Identifying Scientific Facts and Concepts that Indicate Intelligent Planning of the Universe

In the continuing educational seminars series hosted at 533 W. Diversey Parkway in Chicago, Ralph Zehr will be facilitating a symposium to identify scientific facts that show the universe is a planned, not accidental, creation. The symposium is based on the statement, "The Urantia midwayers have assembled over fifty thousand facts of physics and chemistry which they deem to be incompatible with the laws of accidental chance, and which they contend unmistakably demonstrate the presence of intelligent purpose in the material creation." (665:6) 58:2.3

Attending this symposium is by invitation only; so if you would like to be part of the symposium, please contact Joanne Strobel at [email protected].

Outreach

The Board reaffirmed its commitment to global-book-placement programs, such as book fairs or events where The Urantia Book can be introduced to potential readers. The Foundation now offers special prices for books used at such venues. To order books or learn more, please contact Tamara Strumfeld at [email protected].

Associate Trustee Elected for another Term

The Board of Trustees elected Ms. Sandra Burga-Cisneros Pizarro to serve her second of a possible five annual terms as an associate trustee.

Renovation of the Third Floor and Carriage House at 533 W. Diversey Parkway