What’s in a Vote? A Conversation of Two Nominations and Elections Committee Members
Shari: Eric, it’s been great serving with you on Nominations and Elections Committee (NEC) this year. What highlights do you most want to share with our IR friends and colleagues?
Eric: It’s been great serving alongside you, Shari! This year, the NEC has continued the important work to review all aspects of the nominations and elections process to ensure a fair, equitable, and transparent process for our nominees and those selected for candidacy. For example, we hosted a live Q&A session on September 12, where we discussed the roles, expectations, and opportunities for the membership to engage in this type of voluntary service. We’ve also received feedback from nominees who are unable to serve, which is crucial to help the NEC understand ways to engage members about opportunities for serving.
Shari: That’s true, and I’m also really proud of the work we did to ensure a slate that represents different perspectives of our membership and the various types of institutions we serve.
Eric: Your campus is an organizational member, right? Will you involve others to decide where to cast the institutional vote?
Shari: Yes! As the voting delegate for my institution, I’ll pull down the list of folks on my campus who signed up for AIR under our organizational membership, and then I’ll send out a quick poll asking for their input. It’s a great opportunity to demonstrate the relevance and importance of AIR and to model the kind of engagement that we IR folks so often cultivate in our campus collaborations. Also, AIR has this handy resource available with more information about organizational voting.
How do you usually approach voting, especially if you don’t know the individuals personally?
Eric: With more than 7,000 members, reviewing candidates that we haven’t met is a likely expectation! Over the past several years, the NEC has worked to update the candidate profiles to help members get to know each candidate better. The profiles include useful background information like an abbreviated vita along with several responses about their experiences, leadership philosophy, and perspectives on current issues.
Shari: Yes, voting for AIR leadership is like other voting that we do in our lives where we do not necessarily know the individuals, but we do care that those elected will have our best interests at heart. The same is true here in that we want to ensure that our association remains strong into the future, and AIR leadership plays a big role in that.
Okay, Eric, so what is your final pitch to getting out the vote in AIR?
Eric: Higher education is a rapidly changing sector, and the elected leadership of AIR is tasked with being forward-thinking to help AIR serve its members globally. Let’s all do our diligence to ensure AIR is positioned to respond to our needs and our perspectives are represented as we continue to serve our institutions and students!
Shari: I hope the members will agree with us and take a few minutes out of their day to review candidates and vote. Plus, after they do, they will receive an electronic badge to post to their social media channels and networks to encourage others to do the same.
Just a reminder, voting runs throughout February. Your voice matters—make an impact by voting for AIR leadership!
Shari Ellertson serves as Senior Executive Director of Institutional Effectiveness at Boise State University. She is in the second year of a three-year term on the Nominations and Elections Committee, and previously served as a Board member from 2017
through 2020.
Eric Atchison is the Vice President for Strategic Research for the Arkansas State University System. He is serving as chair during his final year on the Nominations and Elections Committee.