Governance Committee

The Governance Committee oversees the nomination and election of the LSST-DA Board and committee members, followed by an orientation to new members and a report to the Executive Committee. This committee also periodically reviews the LSST-DA by-laws, mission statement, and vision statement.

Responsibilities

  1. Oversee nomination and election of members of the Executive Board of Directors. The governance committee will identify and recommend qualified candidates for the Executive Board during June-July of each year and carry out an election in August- September. Newly elected members of the Executive Board will be invited to the October Board meeting and will take their positions on November 1 of the year of their election.
  2. Oversee nomination and selection of members of the LSST-DA Standing Committees. The governance committee will identify qualified candidates for the Standing committees during March of each year and report these candidates to be approved by the Executive Board at the April Board meeting.
  3. For both the new Executive Board members and the new Standing Committee members, the governance committee will ensure that they have sufficient orientation. This includes providing current charters for each committee and making sure that members read them and agree to abide by them. The chair of the committee will provide further training and mentoring.
  4. Periodically, the governance committee will review the LSST-DA by-laws, mission statement, and vision statement and present to the Executive Board any suggested updates as required by changing circumstances.
  5. Periodically, the governance committee will review the Standing Committees and their charters and present to the Executive Board suggested updates as required by changing circumstances.
  6. In order to ensure the viability and leadership of LSST-DA, the governance committee will discuss and plan for the evolution of the chairs of the Executive Board and the Standing Committees.

Reporting

  1. The Governance Committee shall prepare and submit an annual written election report to the Executive Board of Directors at the October meeting each year. This report will summarize, for both the Standing Committees and the Executive Board members: (a) the nominating process; (b) the demographics (nominees, finalists, and elected); (c) lessons learned and recommendations for the next year’s process, and (d) any changes instituted or recommended for LSST-DA by-laws or the charters of any of the standing committees.

Current Members

  • Michael Strauss, Chair, Princeton University  
  • Adriano Fontana, Istituto Nazionale di AstroFisica – INAF  
  • Suzanne Hawley, University of Washington  
  • George Helou, California Institute of Technology
  • Dara Norman, NOIRLab
  • Daniel Calabrese, ex officio, Rubin Observatory
  • Beth Willman, ex officio, LSST Discovery Alliance  
  • Michael Wood-Vasey, ex officio, University of Pittsburgh

Membership

  1. Not fewer than five (5) members are drawn from either the Executive Board of Directors or the Institutional Member representatives and elected by the Executive Board.
  2. The Executive Board Chair and the Executive Officer are ex officio members.

Meetings

  1. The Governance Committee shall meet as needed, but at least biannually, to prepare a slate for the annual election of the Executive Board of Directors and the annual selection of Committee Members.
  2. The Governance Committee shall maintain meeting minutes.