INFORMATION AND INSTRUCTIONS FOR NOMINATING MTT SOCIETY MEMBERS FOR ELECTION TO THE MTT-S ADMINISTRATIVE COMMITTEE (ADCOM)
Each Spring MTT-S members are invited to submit nominations for election to the Society’s governing body, the Administrative Committee or “AdCom”. Typically, members nominate their peers or themselves. It is an opportunity to work and participate in directing the Society. Only MTT-S members in good standing may nominate or be nominated.
BACKGROUND
The AdCom is very much a working committee. The Society is recognized as one of the most successful and innovative societies of the IEEE array of societies. It is the hard work and thought of the MTT-S AdCom members that is believed to be responsible for the MTT’s high ranking among the IEEE’s societies.
The AdCom meets three times each year for rather lengthy meetings (often 10 hours over two days) with numerous committee reports, and votes on proposed initiatives. There is a minimum of seven members elected each year to the AdCom. Of the seven AdCom positions, the current sitting AdCom members elect five, and the other two are elected by the entire MTT-S membership in an at-large election.
NOMINATION PROCEDURE
There are two procedures by which nominees can be placed on the ballot. The first way is to send the names of candidates to the AdCom Nominations and Appointments Committee at mtt-nom-appointments@ieee.org. The second way is to nominate a candidate by petition. The rules for petition nomination can be found on the MTT-S website by clicking on “MTT-S ByLaws” and scrolling to paragraph 4.1.2.1. Nomination by petition is regulated by IEEE ByLaws and requires the signatures of at least 2% of eligible voters – about 200 for the MTT Society. It is much easier to submit a candidate for nomination directly to the Nominations and Appointments Committee and nomination by petition should be regarded as a “safety net”.
Members interested in submitting a possible candidate to the N&A Committee or by petition, should first obtain the consent of the candidate. Self-nomination is permitted. Serving on the AdCom is a major commitment of time and energy and typically involves travel to the three AdCom meetings per year. Those submitting nominations to the N&A Committee should include:
- The candidate’s full name, full contact info, and a brief draft of qualifications, society service, and motivation in unified IEEE MTT-S format (MTT_bio_template.docx).
- The candidate’s preference to be placed on the at-large (full membership) ballot, or the AdCom member voted ballot (a candidate cannot be on both ballots).
- Nominator’s name and contact information (including email address)
- Submit the nomination to the N&A Committee (mtt-nom-appointments@ieee.org) before each year’s deadline of May 15.
RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE N&A COMMITTEE
The MTT-S N&A Committee presents the full list of candidates to the AdCom at their Spring meeting. After receiving any comments and/or additional nominations at the Spring AdCom meeting, the N&A committee will select at least three candidates for the at-large vote by the full membership (two will be elected), and at least 1.5 times the number of openings (5 will be elected so typically 8 to 9 candidates)for the ballot to be presented to the AdCom for their vote.
The two primary responsibilities of the N&A committee are: first, to assure that there are sufficient candidates for the election; and second, to limit the total number of candidates to a reasonable number. Having too many candidates is a recipe for disappointment and potentially counterproductive over the long term. This is a challenging assignment for the N&A committee, and it is the committee’s objective to proceed with as much fairness and transparency as possible. It is, of course, the nature of elections to have competition and this is a part of the democratic process. We all respect those MTT-S members who are willing to be candidates for the MTT-S AdCom, and for their participation in the election process. To view the bylaws governing AdCom elections, please see the MTT-S website.