Report of the Committee on Nominations
for the Year ending June 30, 2002

This year the Committee on Nominations was required to select at least two nominees for the office of President-elect to be placed before the November 2002 Assembly of Delegates. The individual elected by the November 2002 Assembly for the office of President-elect would serve one year from 1 July 2003 and would then serve as President of the Society for the year beginning 1 July 2004.

The Committee on Nominations met twice by telephone conference call to select nominees for the office of President-elect. At the first meeting on 22 January 2002, the Committee reviewed the procedures for the Committee on Nominations established by the Executive Committee in January 1998. The Committee discussed and reconfirmed the agreement reached by the Committee each year since 1997 that only full, active members of Sigma Xi could stand as nominees for officers of the Society. The Committee also discussed means of soliciting nominations for the office of President-elect. Nominees were solicited from the membership through the Board of Directors, American Scientist, The Intercom, and the Sigma Xi web site. A list of nominees held over from the previous year was also provided to the committee members, for consideration for renomination in the current year.

Prior to the second meeting of the Committee by telephone conference call on 17 April 2002, the Committee received biographical materials on thirteen individuals whose names had been placed in nomination for the office of President-elect. Included were the name(s) of the nominator(s), and a record of each nominee's career achievements and prior participation in the activities of Sigma Xi at the local, regional, national and international level. At the second meeting of the Committee, these nominees were discussed. No voting took place on the nominees for President-elect during this meeting, but, as agreed upon by the Committee and in accord with the procedures established by the Executive Committee, an iterative, weighted ballot, executed by email, was used to select the two nominees for President-elect to be presented to the 2002 Assembly of Delegates. The Committee decided that after each vote the top ranked candidate should be approached by the President of the Society and by a member of the Committee, or other individual within the Society, who might be personally acquainted with the candidate. This process was repeated until two nominees had agreed to stand as candidates for election at the November 2002 Annual Meeting.

From the list of outstanding nominees, Eamon Kelly (Tulane University) and Francisco Ayala (University of California, Irvine) were selected and agreed to serve as candidates for election to the office of President-elect by the 2002 Assembly of Delegates.

In addition to fulfilling its charge to identify two nominees for President-elect, the Committee was asked by the Society's Executive Committee to reduce the number of nominees for the position of Director of the Membership-at-Large. Eleven members had been nominated, and the committee was asked to select three of these nominees to comprise the final slate of candidates to be voted on by the members-at-large. Dr. Raymond Lutz, a member of the Committee on Nominations, recused himself from any involvement with this issue, since he was one of the individuals nominated for the position. A meeting of the Committee by conference call was scheduled for 10 May 2002. Prior to this time, the members had received biographical information on the eleven nominees for their review. During the conference call, the qualifications of the candidates were discussed, and the Committee agreed that two of the nominees selected would be Ray Lutz [University of Texas at Dallas] and Patricia Ramsey [Shaw University]. The third nominee, Jerome Jackson [Florida Gulf Coast University] was chosen by email polling of the Committee. These names were later presented to the members-at-large for voting by electronic ballot.

The Committee members are most grateful for the outstanding support provided by Dr. Evan Ferguson during their deliberations.

Meredith Mason Garcia, Chair, Southeast Region
Peter O. Cervenka, Mid-Atlantic Region
Robert A. Frosch, Past President
James D. Haynes, Northeast Region
J. Zachary Jacobson, Canadian/International John J. Kelley, Northwest Region
John A. Knesel, Comprehensive Colleges & Universities
Raymond P. Lutz, Membership-at-Large
Lee A. Meserve, Research & Doctoral Universities
John H. Moore, Past President
David L. Morrison, Area Groups, Industries, State & Federal Laboratories
Antonio Pita, Southwest Region
Kathryn A. Schubel, Baccalaureate Colleges
Diana-Marie Spillman, North Central Region

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