Connecting

How AAVC Board Positions Are Filled

By Nominating Committee Chair Erin Howarth Bardsley ’92

AAVC Board members are nominated by the AAVC Nominating Committee and elected by the alumnae/i body at the Annual Meeting of Alumnae/i during the Presidents’ Hour at Reunion (Saturday, June 9, 2007). The committee begins with a list of candidates who have been recommended for service. Any alumna/us can submit a form to recommend her/himself or someone else for consideration. These forms are available from AAVC or online at www.aavc.vassar.edu/aavc/board_nominate.html. Independent nominations may also be made by petition, such petition to be signed by not fewer than 50 members, representing at least 10 classes and five states, and filed with the executive director not more than 30 days after publication of the slate by the nominating committee. Such petition must be accompanied by the written permission of the candidate.

Nominating committee members review all recommendations and identify alumnae/i with the experiences and skills that best match those needed in the board positions to be filled in the next year. Professional expertise, volunteer experience, service to Vassar, and current knowledge of Vassar are important criteria for nominees. We then research candidates for the positions by contacting the candidates’ classmates, club members, colleagues, and other volunteers. After the research is complete, we meet in the fall and discuss the positions that need to be filled, the candidates, and the makeup of the board that could result. We aim for a board that is balanced in its talents and reflects the diversity of Vassar alumnae/i.

We have already begun researching candidates for the 2008 slate: AAVC Trustee, Vice President for Strategic Planning, Nominating Committee Chair, House Committee Chair, Director-at-Large, and Nominating Committee Members (2).