Announcing 2022 Executive Council Elections

The Executive Council (EC), the leading governance body for The Carpentries, is pleased to announce the election process for 2022. For information on the roles and structure of the EC, please see the bylaws in The Carpentries Handbook. These elections are for two community-elected seats, which are selected by all voting members of The Carpentries community. In addition, the EC is looking for recommendations to fill two Council-elected seats, which will be elected by the EC. The members whose seats are open for election include Cedric Chambers, Konrad Förstner, Paula Andrea Martinez, and Lex Nederbragt and remaining EC includes: John Chodacki, Aleksandra Nenadic, Michael Smith, Sarah Stevens, and Masami Yamaguchi.

We invite The Carpentries Community to recommend individuals for Community-elected and/or Council-elected positions.

What expertise do we need on the Executive Council?

The Carpentries Executive Council should represent a diversity of experience and viewpoints from across our global community. The current EC has identified some of the skills/assets which would be most useful during this stage of our organisation’s growth include:

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion expertise - particularly in the global south
Regional representation, strongly encouraging representatives of the African, Latin American and Asian communities
Strategic planning, specifically in nonprofits
Familiarity with nonprofit and open source governance

How to self-nominate for a community-elected position

In order to stand for election, first make sure you are a voting member of the Carpentries (see below). The members of the Executive Council serve two-year terms. Please nominate yourself via this form. The information you provide on this form will be used “as-is” to introduce your candidacy to the community via a blog post published before the election.

Self-nomination:

Is to be submitted by 18 October, 2021
Your nomination includes filling in the form to include the following information:
- Explain your previous involvement with The Carpentries
- Explain what you would do as a member of the Executive Council to contribute to the growth and success of the community and the strategic plan 2020-2025
- Provide a (2-5) minute video via the form (The video will be also posted to the Carpentries YouTube Channel and linked from a blog post)

You can view examples of nomination posts of 2020’s candidates, and 2021’s candidates with videos.

How to nominate someone for an Executive Council-elected position

Use the nomination form to nominate someone for an Council-elected position. The members of the Executive Council serve two year terms. Nominees for Council-elected members do not need to be voting members of The Carpentries. The EC will contact candidates nominated for Council-elected positions to ensure they are prepared to serve if elected. The Executive Council will vote on Council-elected members after the results of the community election are available, and may consider non-community-elected nominees for these positions.

Are you a voting member?

Only voting members of The Carpentries can vote in the election and self-nominate for community-elected positions. The Carpentries Core team will send out an email to each instructor with their status on the 5th of October. To be a voting member, you must meet one of the following conditions (from the bylaws):

Every individual who has completed instructor or trainer certification in the past year
Every individual who has completed their instructor certification in the last two years and has taught at least one workshop of The Carpentries
Every individual who is a certified instructor and has taught at least two workshops of The Carpentries in the past two years;
Any individual who has participated on a committee, served as a mentor or maintainer, or otherwise made a significant contribution to any Lesson Program or The Carpentries organization in the past year is also considered active in the community is welcome to apply for Voting Membership.

Please note: we understand that several workshops have been postponed or cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. To compensate, it has been decided to extend the requirements for voting memberships. For the upcoming election (November 2021), certified instructors who have taught 2 times between 2019 and 2021 are eligible for Voting Membership. This extension is in the best interest of The Carpentries and our membership and will be reconsidered for the next election.

Apply for Voting Membership

Community members that are eligible based on the points mentioned above as documented in their AMY Instructor profile and they feel they have contributed sufficiently, can contact The Carpentries Core Team (team@carpentries.org) before 31 October, 2021 prior to release of ballots to request their voting privileges be updated.

Timeline for 2022 Executive Council elections

Mid September: Executive Council announces election, soliciting self-nominations for Community-elected Members and recommendations for Council-elected Members, and identifying areas of expertise desired by the Council
18 October: Self-nominations and recommendations close and the Executive Council hosts Community Calls to discuss the election and introduce candidates for Community-elected Members
Early November: Voting Members vote for Community-elected Members
Mid-November: Executive Council elects Council-elected Members and announces the Executive Council Members for the following year
Mid December: announce Elected EC members and Council elected members.
January: host a meeting with all the EC members upcoming and outgoing, organise new Executive Council Standing Committee memberships
February 1: Responsibility for governance is transferred to the new Executive Council, public announcement of new members and committees