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Nominations Committee

Current Nominat​ions Committee Members​

The Nominations Committee oversees nominations and selects candidates for the elected offices of APS (Councilor at Large [CAL] and Vice President [VP]). The committee also helps identify APS members who can be considered for the position of director/chair on various boards and offices of the society.

Mission of the Nominations Committee

• Oversee the overall election process for CAL and VP positions of APS.

• Oversee a robust process for soliciting nominations and applications for the CAL and VP positions.

• Evaluate applications for these offices and select the two candidates for each office.

• Work with APS headquarters staff in coordinating all election procedures.

• Contribute towards identifying interested and appropriately skilled members for the Society’s Boards and Offices.

Organizational Structure

The committee shall be composed of members having rotating 3-year terms. To carry out its responsibilities, the committee is comprised of a chair, a chair-elect (during the last year of the current chair’s term), and eight regular members.

• Chair. The chair will be a former APS President and be appointed by Council. This position will manage the affairs of the committee and will serve as the liaison with the President of APS and the rest of Council, and also coordinate all committee activities with appropriate headquarters staff members.
• Chair-elect. A chair-elect will be appointed by Council during the last year of the current chair’s term. The chair-elect must meet the qualifications for chair of the Nominations Committee.
• Eight regular members will be selected from key groups (constituencies) in APS that have historically been instrumental in the leadership of the society. These members will include the following:
• One member will be selected by Council from among the current Council members (the Council liaison). Typically, this will be the current Senior CAL. Unlike the other members, this individual will serve for one year.
• One member will be selected (elected) by the Divisional Forum. This person will have responsibility to announce and promote the nomination process through all the Divisions. The person will work with other Divisional officers to help identify and nominate individuals for CAL and VP, and to also identify individuals who could serve on other APS Boards and Offices.
  
• One member will be selected (elected) by the Publications Board.
  
• Other groups and constituencies will be invited to recommend individuals for membership on the Nominations Committee. The current committee members will select the new members by vote. Strong effort will be made to maintain diversity and a balance of experiences and perspectives on the committee. 
• Recommendations for committee membership will be sought from:
• The Committee for Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion
  
• The Subject Matter Expertise and Career Path​way Committees​ (through the Senior Councilor-at-Large)​
  
• The members of the current Nominations Committee
  
• Other groups and committees, as appropriate, in order to maintain diversity of employment categories, experiences, and backgrounds.
• The chair and other members of the c​ommittee cannot serve more than two consecutive terms. 

• Ensure that the APS Nominations Committee includes members from key societal constituencies and that the members have experience in, or knowledge of, the range of APS functions and activities.
• Oversee the nomination process for CAL and VP positions; invite selected nominees to apply for the positions; and select candidates for each position to stand for election, as prescribed in Article IV, Section 1, of the APS Constitution.
• Encourage the membership to be aware of volunteer leadership positions and to nominate individuals for the CAL and VP positions.
• Set clear and well-articulated qualifications needed to be considered for each open position. Make these qualifications available on Nomination webpage.
• Review all qualified applicants for elected office, and evaluate for experience, previous success in or potential for leadership, demonstrated ability to complete tasks in a timely manner, and APS volunteerism. Diversity and leadership needs should be considered in the evaluations.
• Select the most qualified applications as the final candidates for each office position (CAL and VP). The selection should reflect the current leadership needs of APS.
• Advise non-selected applicants that they were not selected during the current election cycle. Advise these applicants on the types of activities they could seek to strengthen their experience and competitiveness for elected positions in APS. Inform these candidates of other Offices and Boards within APS where they could contribute.
• Work with APS staff to provide committees, Boards, and Offices with the names of individuals interested in taking on various volunteer assignments. 

• The Chair of the Nominations Committee is responsible for complying with the provisions of Article IV, Section 1, of the APS Constitution for leading the committee in the selection of candidates for CAL and VP, and for meeting the various time deadlines associated with nominations, applications, and elections of officers.​  
• The Chair works with headquarters staff on all aspects of the nomination, application, evaluation, and election process.
• The Chair specifically works with headquarters staff to prepare and distribute a call for members to nominate candidates for CAL and VP. Notices are prepared for Phytopathology News and the APS News Capsule. Nominations are open for at least 6 months (starting in June), and special reminders are distributed in the Summer and Fall.
• The Chair convenes a conference-call meeting of the committee members and appropriate headquarters staff in early January to discuss the nominations. Based on the committee deliberations, selected nominees are asked to apply for the position of CAL or VP. Each committee member is assigned a collection of individuals to contact by phone. These contacts should be done in  January. The assigned committee member will check that the application was received before the deadline.
• The Chair convenes a conference-call meeting of the committee members and appropriate headquarters staff in early February to discuss the applicants and to select the candidates for CAL and candidates for VP.
• The Chair contacts the selected candidates for the two officer positions and informs them of the election deadlines and the written material that they need to prepare. Candidates are told to work with headquarters staff in preparing the “candidate statements (biographies)”. Time deadlines are emphasized. 
• The Chair informs Council of the selected candidates.
• The Chair also contacts the applicants who were not selected to be candidates in the current election cycle.
  
• In March, the Chair along with headquarters staff will prepare a call for volunteers notice for those Chair/Director appointments that are expiring in August and will need appointment approval by Council. 
  
• ​In April, the Chair will present recommendations of Chair/Director/Editor-in-Chief, Associate EIC, or other leadership appsointments that require approval by Council. 
  
• Council typically will approve these appointments from May-August​. 
  
• The Chair works with headquarters staff on the preparation and distribution of election ballots. Usually, the election occurs during the month of May.
• The Chair receives the election results from headquarters staff and notifies the President of APS of the results. The Chair of the Nominations Committee then informs all candidates of the outcome of the election (both elected and those not elected) as well as the current members of Council and members of the Nominations Committee are also notified of the results. ​
  
• The Chair may call other (conference-call) committee meetings throughout the year, as needed to accomplish committee​ functions.