This process outlines the annual cycle of member rotation for InCommon advisory committees. The intention is to align the committees on a common cycle to align community expectations around committee membership processes while providing space for committees to maintain their individual focus.
Groups in Scope
Committees that have annual membership rotation are in scope for this process, e.g.
- InCommon Steering
- CACTI (Community Architecture Committee for Trust and Identity)
- TAC (Technical Advisory Committee)
- CTAB (Community Trust & Assurance Board)
- eAC (eduroam Advisory Committee)
Note: Working groups are designed to last less than a year for a specific purpose. A separate common process for working group startup will be developed.
Timeline
| Date | Action |
|---|---|
| First Tues in Sept | Begin process of editing the common nomination solicitation. Each committee will edit their section. |
| First Wed in Sept | Chair sends note to current committee members with expiring terms & consider reaching out to members who have not been able to participate fully to determine if they would like to continue. |
| Sept meetings | Chair determines membership needs. Committee discuss how many seats are open to fill, considering goals for the next year, needs and expertise. Also consider the number of open slots so that there is balance in members rolling off and existing members. |
| Last business day in September | Deadline for response from current committee members. Deadline for committee edits to the common nomination solicitation. |
| First business day in October | Community notice – nominations open - Consolidated announcement. Advocacy Program Manager provides common nomination form. Existing members do outreach to potential nominees. Chair starts discussion on criteria for reviewing nominations & generate list for voting & asks if returning members are willing to serve as a Chair or Vice Chair. |
| ~ October 15 | Advocacy Program Manager closes nominations. |
| Last meeting in October | Chair leads meeting to discuss nominations. |
| Second meeting in November | Chair notifies Advocacy Program Manager of the final ballot and new member election is held before next meeting. |
| After elections | For committees that need Steering approval, committee chairs will send new roster to Steering for approval. |
| Late November | Chairs contact new members to notify them and invite to the last meeting of the year. After that, those not selected are notified. |
| First meeting in December | Chair works with Advocacy Program Manager to hold officer elections. Once notified of the results, the chair will send the proposed chair/vice chair to steering for approval if necessary. |
| Early December | Advocacy Program Manager onboards new members & adds to lists, grants wiki access, adds to Slack channels, etc. |
| Last meeting of the year | Chair holds first meeting with incoming members. New members attend the last meeting of the year in preparation for their upcoming term. |
Common nomination form for all committees & working groups
- Lists committees & working groups accepting nominations
- Allow folks to nominate via Nomination Form
- Links back to list of all Incommon community groups for reference
Note: Having a common form allows interested community members to come back to the same place when they want to see which committees & working groups are looking for new members.
Nomination solicitation
- Contact Advocacy Program Manager to get your group added to the nomination form. A review spreadsheet for results will be created for you.
- Draft your solicitation. Include link to Nomination Form. Examples listed below.
- Send out your solicitation. Common places include:
- General email lists: participants@incommon.org, IDM@listserv.educause.edu, refeds@lists.refeds.org
- Topic-specific lists
- Wiki space for your group
- InCommon newsletter, contact InCommon Communications
Example: TAC 2018 Solicitation
Nomination review
After nominations close, start your review process. Historically, groups have looked at making sure there is good coverage of different constituent groups (RO, small HE, large HE, vendor, government agency, etc.).
- Nominations will automatically be added to the review spreadsheet for that year’s selection in the ‘Nomination Form Data’ tab. This is not editable.
- If someone is nominated for more than one committee, the Advocacy Program Manager will reach out and ask the nominee to prioritize their interest. This is also an opportunity to talk more about the committees and what’s involved.
- Use the ‘Nomination Review’ tab to set up the evaluation information as is desired by each committee. This is editable and is for your use.
- Additional criteria are recommended. Committees can determine the criteria they are using to help with the selection process and add to the ‘Nomination Review’ tab to aid in evaluation.
Approval
Each committee must obtain approval for both the member list and the chair/vice chair. See below for the approval bodies for each committee. Ann & committee flywheel are copied on approval requests.
- Steering must approve members & chairs of the following committees because they are advisory to Steering : TAC, CTAB. The Committee chair sends an email to the Steering chairs with the request for approval.
- For CACTI & Steering, Kevin provides approval. The Committee chair sends an email to Kevin with the request for approval.
- For eAC, CACTI provides approval. The Committee chair emails the CACTI chair with the request for approval.
Member Elections
- Determine the method and process for voting. Also consider if results are weighted.
- The committee votes on who the new members will be.
- Obtain the needed approval for the new list of members.
- Chairs then contact the new members to notify them.
- Then those not selected are notified.
- Once notified, highlight the new members in the spreadsheet and notify Advocacy Program Manager who will conduct onboarding and get them added to the appropriate lists, meeting invites, wiki space, and Slack channels. Details in the Common Onboarding/Offboarding Process for Committees.
Officer Elections
The sitting members of the committee annually elect a Chair and Vice Chair. Steering also elects a Secretary.
Optional Officer nominations and election procedure:
- All continuing members are on the ballot, members to notify the Advocacy Program Manager or Flywheel if they don't want to serve and be on the ballot.
- Ballot is sent out.
- Ballot is tallied, the person with the most votes is chair, with the second most votes is vice chair.
- First January meeting - new officers in place; committee proceeds with business.
Contacts
Advocacy Program Manager: Jessica Fink <jfink@internet2.edu>