VOLUME 2, ISSUE 4, AUGUST 2008
SOCIETY NEWS
2009 CAS Officers Nomination
Each year, the members of the IEEE Circuits and Systems Society (CASS) elect several members of the Executive Committee to serve the Society starting at the beginning of the following year. This year, we are electing members for the following 5 officer positions:
  1. • President-Elect (2009)
  2. • Administrative Vice President (2009-10)
  3. • Vice President-Publications (2009-10)
  4. • Vice President-Regions 1-7 (2009-10)
  5. • Vice President-Region 10 (2009-10)
Descriptions of the duties of these officers and eligibility criteria can be found in the CASS Constitution on the CASS web page: http://www.ieee-cas.org. CASS is a volunteer-based organization. It is essential that we elect energetic and engaged leaders who will organize activities that will meet your needs and who will guide our Society into the future.   As a CASS member, you are in an excellent position to know the strengths of your fellow members and how they can best serve our Society.
Complete candidate nominations must be received at IEEE Headquarters by close of business (5:00 pm) on September 2, 2008 in order to be considered.
Nomination Process
Candidates are added to the slate in two ways:  
(1) One process is to be nominated by petition. The IEEE rule regarding the nomination petition process states: "For all positions where the electorate is less than 30,000 voting members, signatures shall be required from 2% of the eligible voters." "The number of signatures required on a petition shall depend on the number of eligible voters, as listed in the official IEEE membership records, at the end of the year preceding the election."
For CASS in 2008, this implies that we need 213 signatures on a petition for a candidate to be automatically placed on the election ballot. Note: Signatures from student members and affiliate members are not allowed.  Graduate student members are eligible to sign a petition as well as vote in the election.
In order to accommodate the petitioning process, IEEE has established web-based petitioning system that will automatically authenticate petition "signatures." The CASS Society will utilize this system.  The url for this system will be announced shortly.  According to IEEE rules, a candidate with a valid nomination by petition is guaranteed to be on the ballot.   Complete candidate nominations must be received at IEEE Headquarters by close of business (5:00 pm Eastern Daylight Time) on September 2, 2008 in order to be considered.    All petition signatures must be obtained prior to midnight, EDT, September 2, 2008.
(2) The second process involves the Nominations Committee, which may also place candidates on the ballot at its discretion.  
Nominators must indicate if the name of the nominated candidate is to be placed on the petition site for collecting petitions and/or if the nomination is meant for consideration by the Nominations Committee.
Nomination Documents
A complete nomination must include (1) a Nomination Form, (2) a Candidate Position Statement, and (3) a Candidate Biography.  
(1) Nomination Form. Candidate eligibility information and electronic copies of the 2008 Officer Nomination Form is available on the CAS Society web site: http://www.ieee-cas.org.
(2) Candidate Position Statement. The candidate’s Position Statement must be limited to 700 words.  The Position Statement should address challenges expected from the office and how the candidate expects to respond to those challenges.  Also, the Position Statement must include answers (each answer limited to an additional 100 words) to the following five questions.  
  1. • What are in your opinion the three most important services that CASS should provide to its membership?
  2. • Mention one large long-term initiative that CASS should undertake in the next two years and that you would help to establish if elected.
  3. • Mention three ways for CASS to reach to young CASS members (students and recent graduates) so that they retain their membership after graduation.
  4. • Mention three ways for CASS to reach/serve members from industry.
  5. • What is in your opinion the single biggest challenge for our human society today and how can the field of Circuits and Systems help to address it?
(3) Candidate Biography. The candidate’s biography must be limited to 350 words. An electronic photograph must be included.
Nomination Submission
The Nomination Form, Candidate Position Statement and Candidate Biography must be e-mailed to Heidi Zazza, CAS Executive Director, at h.zazza@ieee.org.
The Nominations Committee strongly encourages you to recommend suitable candidates for these elections.   Our strength as a society is not only in our engineering expertise, but also in our societal spirit including the sharing of information with each other.  This we can do best when we have a strong organization with engaged members.
 
Ellen J. Yoffa, Chair, 2008 Nominations Committee, IEEE Circuits and Systems Society