This year we will elect 2 Liaison Directors and vote on 2 items related to changes to the by-laws. A link to the ballot will be sent to you by email. Please vote by Monday October 28.
The Liaison Directors shall:
- Facilitate programming with other organizations by identifying opportunities for co-sponsorship
- Communicate and advocate CoMSEF activities with other organizations.
- As members of the Executive Committee, aid the other officers in developing and carrying out CoMSEF activities and preparing the CoMSEF newsletter.
The candidates for Liaison Director are:
Item 2: Based on the outcome of discussion at the 2018 CoMSEF/1a business meeting, the CoMSEF executive committee seeks your approval on a proposed change in the by-laws to address the situation where an active CoMSEF vice-chair or chair lose their eligibility for the CoMSEF Impact award during their term of service. The motivation for this change is that the present by-laws could cause us to lose potential candidates for these leadership roles, because serving in these leadership roles would prevent their consideration for this award, which is awarded only to individuals within 15 years from receiving their highest degree.
After extensive discussion amongst the CoMSEF executive committee in which we compared many different options, including their potential impact on the operations of CoMSEF as well as the optics of a current CoMSEF vice-chair or chair being selected for one of our awards, the executive committee reached consensus to propose the following change to the by-laws that we believe will best address the potential loss of eligibility while avoiding a potential disproportionate gain in the effective years of eligibility.
The executive committee proposes the following change to the CoMSEF Impact award regulations (found here: http://comsef.org/impact)
Current:
Requirement: Nominees must be current members of CoMSEF. The CoMSEF Chair and Vice-Chair are ineligible for nomination while they hold these offices. Other CoMSEF officers are eligible for nomination.
Proposed Change:
Requirement: Nominees must be current members of CoMSEF. The CoMSEF Chair and Vice-Chair are ineligible for nomination while they hold these offices. Other CoMSEF officers are eligible for nomination. If a CoMSEF vice-chair or chair loses their eligibility (i.e., reaches 15 years since completion of their highest degree) while they are currently serving in the role of vice-chair or chair, one additional year of eligibility will be granted after completing their CoMSEF service. However, in no case will the total years of eligibility be extended beyond 17 years (e.g., (1) someone elected as vice-chair with 12 years since completion of their highest degree will finish their 4 year term as vice-chair and chair and come up for the next Impact Award with 17 years since completion of highest degree and would be eligible, (2) someone elected as vice-chair with 13 years since completion of their highest degree will finish their 4 year term as vice-chair and chair and come up for the next Impact Award with 18 years since completion of highest degree and would not be eligible).
Do you approve of this change? Yes / No
Item 3: At the 2018 CoMSEF/1a business meeting, the membership also asked the executive committee to consider an extension of the years of eligibility for a CoMSEF member who has had a significant life event (e.g., a qualifying event that leads to extension of tenure clock or long-term career pause such as birth or adoption of a child or extended care of a sick family member). The executive committee discussed that there is a need to ensure such an extension applies equally to nominees coming from academia, national labs, and industry. Therefore, the committee recommends applying to all CoMSEF members the typical standard used at most Universities in the US for extension of tenure clock. Namely that a one year extension of eligibility for all CoMSEF awards will be granted for each qualifying life event.
The executive committee proposes the following additions to the Requirement and Nomination sections of both the Impact and Young Investigator Awards (http://comsef.org/awards)
Proposed Changes:
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Adding to the end of the Requirement section this text: An additional year of eligibility will be granted for up to two cases of a qualifying life event such as the birth or adoption of a child or extended care of a sick family member, up to a maximum of 17 years since completion of their highest degree for the impact award, and up to a maximum of 9 years since completion of their highest degree for the young investigator award.
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Adding to the Nomination section this text: If additional years of eligibility are requested, it is the responsibility of the nominator to provide a brief description of the life event, and the number of years of eligibility extension requested. The CoMSEF Chair and Vice-Chair will review the extension request prior to the award selection process and, as needed, request additional information to ensure that the eligibility is in line with typical standards used at Universities in the US. (i.e., all eligible members, whether from industry, national lab or academia, will receive the same ‘clock extension’ provision for life events that are typically provided to tenure track faculty).
Do you approve of this change? Yes / No
