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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 leadership roles on various committees/boards of the society.

Purpose

• 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 CAL and VP and select the best qualified candidates for each office to appear on the election ballot sent to the membership.
  

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

• Contribute towards identifying interested and appropriately skilled members for APS committee leadership appointments.
  

Organizational Structure

To carry out its responsibilities, the committee is comprised of a chair (3-year term), a chair-elect (appointed during the last year of the current chair’s term for a one-year term to shadow the chair before taking over as chair the following year), and up to eight (8) committee members, each serving a 3-year term (except for the Senior Councilor-at-Large who serves a one-year term). ​The chair and other members of the c​ommittee​ cannot serve more than two consecutive terms. 

• Chair who is a former APS President and is 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 is 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.​
  
• Senior Councilor-at-Large
• Representative from the Divisional Forum who is elected by the Divisional Forum to sit on the Nominations Committee. 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 committees.
  
• Representative from the Publications Board who is elected by the Publications Board to sit on the Nominations Committee. 
  
• Up to five (5) additional committee​​​ members will be sought from key groups (constituencies) in APS that have historically been instrumental in the leadership of the society. Strong effort will be made to maintain diversity and a balance of experiences and perspectives on the committee. Current committee members will select the new members by vote.​
• Recommendations for Nominating ​​​committee membership will be sought from:
• Call for Volunteers to the APS membership
  
• 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.
  

• 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 the APS website.
  
• 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 volunteer opportuntieis within APS where they could contribute.
• Work with APS staff to provide APS leadership 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 member newsletter. Nominations open after the APS annual meeting with reminders distributed up until the December 1 deadline.
  
• Following the nomination deadline, the Chair will work with the appropriate staff member to schedule committee calls to discuss the nominations received and review the running list of candidates. 
• ​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. These contacts should be done in  January/February. 
  
• The Chair convenes a conference-call meeting of the committee members and appropriate headquarters staff in February to discuss the applicants and to select the best qualified candidates CAL and VP.
• The Chair contacts the selected candidates for the 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. Submission deadlines are emphasized to meet the Phytopathology News publication schedule. 
  
• 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 the spring, the Chair along with headquarters staff will prepare a call for volunteers notice for those leadership appointments that are expiring at the close of the APS annual meeting and that require appointment approval by Council. 
  
• Council typically will approve these appointments in June/July​. 
  
• The Chair works with headquarters staff on the preparation and distribution of election ballots (at least one month before the first day of the APS annual meeting) ​​in accordance with the APS Constitution Article IV, Section 2​. 
  
• The Chair receives the election results from headquarters staff and notifies the President of APS of the results. 
• ​​Afterwards, the Chair of the Nominations Committee informs all candidates of the outcome of the election (both elected and those not elected). The chair along with staff share the election results with current members of Council and the Nominations Committee.
  
• The Chair may schedule additional committee calls throughout the year, as needed to accomplish committee​ functions. ​