Nominations for ASECS Board!

8 August 2022

Dear colleagues,

I write to remind you that the ASECS Nominating Committee is accepting nominations for the following Executive Board positions. The three-year terms begin on 1 July 2023.

● Second Vice President

● 2 Members-at-Large

In order to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to consider nominating someone (including self-nominations), we are extending the nomination deadline to Wednesday, 31 August 2022 11:59pm EDT.

You can read the official details of our nominating procedures in our Constitution and Bylaws. We have also compiled a list of FAQs about the nominating process; references to Articles and Sections are from that document.

Elections and Nominations FAQs

● What does a Nominating Committee do?

o Article VII (“Elections”) of ASECS’s constitution stipulates that the Executive Board appoint a Nominating Committee as part of our annual elections. The committee’s job is to ensure that the election slate follows our society’s rules for open Board vacancies, with attention to the criteria for representation as outlined in our Constitution, accounting for a range of disciplinary fields, ranks, and institutions.

● What about other considerations?

o The Board has instructed the Nominating Committee to seek diversity, gender balance, and representation of constituencies that are currently underrepresented both within and outside ASECS.

o We are an interdisciplinary society, and our Constitution thus stipulates that our Board reflect multiple disciplines. Sometimes exceptions must be made to these stipulations, of course, and disciplines are not always clear cut, but in general:

▪ Article VII, Section 2, states that there cannot be more than 3 elected officers (i.e. excluding the Executive Director and the Treasurer) from the same discipline.

▪ Further, according to Section 5, the 2nd Vice President and 1st Vice President should not come from the same discipline. Since our current 2nd Vice President is an historian, nominees for the 2nd Vice President must come from other disciplines. (You can read more about disciplinary definitions in the Bylaws portion of the document linked above.)

● What about the 1st Vice President and President positions?

o If the current 2nd Vice President is willing to advance to the 1st Vice President position, and if the current 1st Vice President is willing to advance to the President position, the Nominating Committee does not propose other candidates.

● How do I propose a candidate to the Nominating Committee for open positions?

o It’s really easy! Just submit a name of a member and a link to their website (or you can include their c.v.), and a short note about why you think they would be a good candidate to serve on the Executive Board.

● Can I propose myself?

o Yes! It’s helpful if you include a brief statement about why you would like to serve on the Executive Board, and feel free to include a c.v. or a link to your website, just like you would if you were nominating someone else.

● What happens then?

o The Nominating Committee selects two candidates each for 2nd Vice President and members at large vacancies according to the criteria above and makes sure they have agreed to run. The Committee forwards its report to the Executive Director, who then sets up the ballot. As per the Constitution, Article VII, Section 5, instructions for additional candidates will be sent out to members. (You can read more about specific deadlines in the Bylaws section of the document linked above.)

o Then we vote!

● Oops! The nominations remind me that I forgot to renew my membership/I need tell someone how to join ASECS.

o Great! It’s easy to join or renew. Just go to this page: ASECS membership

● I still have questions about some aspect of the nominating process or election, or about the duties of Executive Board officers.

o You can contact Scott Breuninger, chair of the nominating committee (breuningersc@vcu.edu) or Benita Blessing, Executive Director (director@asecs.org).

On behalf of the Nominating Committee, thank you to everyone who participates in the nominating process.

Benita Blessing, PhD

Executive Director

director@asecs.org