REPORT OF THE NOMINATIONS COMMITTEE TO THE ASC COVERING THE 5-YEAR PERIOD FROM 2000-2004

Prepared by Mac Marshall

AAA Secretary and Chair of the Nominations Committee, 2004-2007

            During the 5-year period covered by this report, three different people have chaired the Nominations Committee as AAA Secretary: Carole Crumley in 2000, Margery Wolf in 2001, 2002, and 2003, and Mac Marshall in 2004.  The membership composition of the Committee also has changed over this period, as old members finished their terms and new ones were elected and came on board.

            In the first four years under review the Nominations Committee met face-to-face on the Monday and Tuesday preceding the Wednesday Executive Board meeting on the first official day of the Annual Meeting.  Slates of candidates were prepared and forwarded to the Executive Board for approval or modification as the Board chose.  In the most recent year, due to the decision to relocate the Annual Meeting from San Francisco to Atlanta, the members of the Nominations Committee met instead in two lengthy teleconferences during November 2004 to prepare a slate of nominees.  That slate was then presented to the Executive Board at its December meeting in Atlanta.  While the teleconference worked reasonably well under the circumstances, all committee members agreed that face-to-face discussions and negotiations over these important matters are far preferable, and our assumption is that subsequent Nominations Committee meetings will revert to such a format.

            The Committee works hard to develop pairings of candidates who will be competitive with one another in terms of seniority, rank, gender, and experience in Section and AAA governance, and by and large it has been possible to achieve this goal.  There is an on-going problem of obtaining a large pool of nominees, especially nominees sponsored by the Sections, and all three Secretaries have encouraged Section leaders to play a more active role in this process.  To date, some Sections have done so, and have seen their proposed candidates nominated, while other Sections have yet to do much in this regard.  The current Secretary will continue to prod Section leaders to participate in this process, and the Commission on Governance doubtless will take up this matter as well.

                                  Respectfully submitted,

                                  Mac Marshall

                                  Chair, Nominations Committee