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AMS Nominating Committee

General Description

Principal Activities

The Nominating Committee (NC) recommends to the Council a slate of officers for election in the fall election. (If changes are made to the Bylaws that affect the election process, these charges are changed accordingly.)

  1. Every even year the committee recommends two nominees for election to the position of President Elect as well as a Nominator for each candidate.1
  2. Every year the committee recommends two nominees for election to the position of Vice President.
  3. Every year the committee recommends up to ten nominees for election to the position of Member at Large of the Council.
  4. Every year the committee recommends up to two nominees for election to the position of Trustee.
  5. The committee makes other recommendations and nominations as requested by the Council.

The Council is charged with the task of actually nominating the candidates for election; by contrast the Nominating Committee is charged with recommending nominations to the Council. (The Council has been known to change a recommendation, but infrequently.)

The Nominating Committee should determine if potential nominees are willing to stand for election and serve if elected.

The AMS strives for diversity in gender, race, geography, area of mathematics, and type of institution, for both its membership and its leadership. The Nominating Committee is expected to keep diversity of all kinds in mind when selecting candidates.

Statement on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
(as adopted by the April 2019 Council)

The American Mathematical Society is committed to promoting and facilitating equity, diversity and inclusion throughout the mathematical sciences. For its own long-term prosperity as well as that of the public at large, our discipline must connect with and appropriately incorporate all sectors of society. We reaffirm the pledge in the AMS Mission Statement to "advance the status of the profession of mathematics, encouraging and facilitating full participation of all individuals," and urge all members to conduct their professional activities with this goal in mind.

Description

1. In each odd year a new President Elect is elected. The President Elect serves in this position for one year, then serves as President for two years, and then serves as Immediate Past President for one year.

1bis. The Nominating Committee is charged with choosing one or two authors per candidate for a nomination article supporting the candidacy to appear in the Notices. This choice should typically be made in consultation with the candidate. Normally the nomination article will be one to three pages and contain pertinent biographical information and an overview of the mathematical and other relevant contributions of the nominee. The articles not only serve to influence voters, but also to honor the candidates and to disseminate their work, and may help to encourage potential candidates to accept nomination. The choice of the authors should be made with great care.

2. The positions of Vice President and Member at Large of the Council are contested. The Nominating Committee normally recommends two candidates for each position. Candidates for these positions can also be recommended to the Council by petition. The petition procedure begins in November of the year before an election when the forms and rules are published in the Notices. The Council has instructed the Nominating Committee to prepare two nominations per post to be filled (in effect, ten nominations for Member at Large and two for Vice President). This is without regard to any nominations by petition that the Council will consider.

History

The Council of 12 April 2003 adopted the following:

The Nominating Committee shall produce two nominations per post to be filled (independent of any nominations by petition that might be filled on behalf of suggestions for Vice President or for Council).

The Council of 12 January 1993 adopted the following:

  1. Procedures and scheduling for the nomination process shall remain as at present. The NC should make some start on its deliberations in December, but will not meet face to face until the Winter meeting.
  2. In order to ensure communication between NC and Council, there shall be an agenda item for discussion of NC plans during executive session of the Winter meeting provided this is requested either by the Chair of the NC or by the President, or a representative of the President. The NC chair shall be invited to attend for this item, expenses being borne by the AMS.
  3. The NC chair or designated substitute shall attend Council in executive session at the Spring meeting for the discussion of the NC report, with expenses borne by the AMS.
  4. The Secretary shall keep the NC informed of any nominations by petition which appear likely to receive the prescribed number of signatures.
  5. The Secretary shall inform candidates for any office (including NC) of the duties and conditions of the office.
  6. The briefing of the NC shall include description of Council policies on nomination.
  7. The chair of the NC shall be elected by the NC from among its second year members.

Other Activities

The Chair of the Nominating Committee is also a member, ex officio, of the ECBT Nominating Committee, which makes recommendations about the reappointment of certain AMS officers.

Miscellaneous Information

The Committee usually meets at the Annual Meeting and makes an annual report to the Council. Travel expenses for attending this meeting are reimbursed. The chair of the committee is requested to attend the spring meeting of the Council at which reports of the committee are submitted. Other work by the committee is done by email or videoconference. Expenses incurred for these are also reimbursed. This committee is designated at LEVEL B (explained on the travel voucher).

Election to membership on the Nominating Committee: Three members are elected to the committee each year in the Annual Election by the Membership. The President nominates candidates. Candidates may also be nominated by petition, a process that runs parallel to the nomination by petition for other contested positions of the Council.

Chair of the Committee: The Chair is now elected by the NC from among its second year members.

Note to the Chair

For the purpose of archiving the committee activities, the Secretary maintains a central file system for archiving committee records. Committee Chairs are asked to submit committee records on yearly basis. Chairs can submit material at their discretion, and some materials that they may wish to provide are meeting minutes, agenda, and emails. Confidential material should be noted, so that it can be handled in a confidential manner.

Authorization

Past Members

A list of current and past members is available here:
http://www.ams.org/about-us/governance/committees/nomcom-past.html

1. For the election of 2003, and all odd-numbered years since, the Nominating Committee has made recommendations for candidates for President Elect a full year in advance of the election.