2020-2021 ACSA Board of Directors
Deadline: October 16, 2019

The ACSA invites nominations and self-nominations for three positions on the Board of Directors. Please review the following eligibility requirements, timeline, and background information that describes the organization’s intended directions in the coming years.

Open Board Positions: Second Vice President, Secretary/Treasurer, At-Large Director

Eligible nominees for all Board positions must meet the following requirements:

  • Second Vice President. Candidates shall be full-time, tenured, tenure-track, or fixed-term faculty members of a Full Member school at the time of nomination and throughout the four-year term of office.
  • Secretary/Treasurer. Candidates shall be full-time, tenured, tenure-track, or fixed-term faculty members of a Full Member school at the time of nomination and throughout the three-year term of office.
  • At-Large Director. The ACSA Bylaws permit no more than one At-Large Director to come from a school that is not a Full Member. For the 2020-21 Board, the Nominations Committee may consider a candidate from a Candidate or Affiliate Member school that has been a member of ACSA for at least two full years. Nominations of candidates from Full Member schools continue to be encouraged for At-Large Director positions.

Position Descriptions

Terms for directors begin on July 1, 2020, with terms of service noted below. All directors are expected to attend three board meetings a year: a fall meeting, which typically occurs in conjunction with the Administrators Conference; a spring meeting, which typically occurs in conjunction with the ACSA Annual Meeting; and a summer meeting, typically held in Washington, DC, in late July or early August. Additionally, board members serve on committees, which may entail travel to a meeting one time per year and conference calls one to two times per month.

The Second Vice President serves a four-year term. The elected person serves for one year, respectively, as Second Vice President, First Vice President/President-Elect, President, and Past President. The President is responsible for calling meetings of the Board of Directors, preparing an agenda, and presiding at such meetings. The President coordinates activities of the board, ACSA committees, and liaison representatives. The President serves as ACSA liaison with the officers of the American Institute of Architects, the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards, the National Architectural Accrediting Board, and the American Institute of Architecture Students; and serves as ACSA representative to the Five Presidents Council. During the term of office, the President also prepares a brief report of activities of the organization and the Board of Directors for dissemination to the constituent associations. As First Vice President, the person will chair the Planning Committee, and, as Past President, the person will serve as chair of the Nominations Committee.

The Secretary/Treasurer serves for a three-year term and is responsible for the corporate and financial records of the Association. In fulfilling these responsibilities, the Secretary/Treasurer oversees preparation of minutes of meetings and maintenance of the Bylaws of the Association, the Rules of the Board of Directors, and other policy documents. The Secretary/Treasurer oversees the financial affairs of the organization by serving as Chair of the Finance Committee and working with the staff and independent accounting personal on organizational budgets, reports, and annual audits.

The At-Large Directors serve a three-year term as voting members of the Board. In addition, they serve as liaison to member schools, including participating in organized business meetings; maintaining contact with Faculty Councilors and others associated with member schools; assisting member schools upon request; advising Candidate or Affiliate member schools; and advising the Board of issues and concerns raised by members. At-Large Directors contribute to the work of the Board through actively serving on Board committees, contributing to collective deliberations, and performing other duties as provided by the Rules of the Board of Directors or as requested by the Board.

2019-20 Nominations Committee

Branko Kolarevic, Past President, New Jersey Institute of Technology (chair)
José L.S. Gámez, At-Large Director, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Courtney Crosson, At-Large Director, University of Arizona
Corey Griffin, External Member, Penn State University, Altoona
Kelly Bair, External Member, University of Illinois at Chicago
Barbara Klinkhammer, External Member, Thomas Jefferson University

Timeline
As part of a 2017 governance change, ACSA now publishes a preliminary slate of Board-approved candidates in November 2018, followed by a period during which members may petition for the inclusion of additional candidates to the slate. A final slate of candidates, including candidates by petition, will be published in early January when the online balloting process will open. Candidates will be notified of the results in mid-February. The results of this election will be announced online and at the ACSA Annual Meeting in San Diego in March 2020.

October 16, 2019          Deadline for nominations

November 15, 2019     Preliminary slate of candidate names announced

December 27, 2019     Deadline for submission of petitions to add candidates to the slate

January 8, 2020            Final slate of candidates and ballot materials published and sent to ACSA Full Member schools

February 7, 2020          Deadline for ballot submissions

Nomination Requirements
Nominations for all ACSA Board positions should include a CV, a letter of interest from the nominee indicating a willingness to serve, and a candidate statement. The deadline for receipt of nominations is October 16, 2019.

Nominations should be sent to:

Email (preferred): msturges@acsa-arch.org
Michelle Sturges, Membership Manager
ACSA Nominations, 1735 New York Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20006

DESIRED COMPETENCIES AND BACKGROUNDS FOR NOMINEES
ACSA actively seeks equitable and representative involvement by a broad range of people on its Board and other volunteer bodies. The Board of Directors should represent a diversity of background, experience, expertise, and geography. This shall also include racial, ethnic, and gender diversity.

Prospective candidates and nominators are encouraged to review the strategic initiatives and priority objectives, included below, to understand future directions for ACSA board activities. The areas described below include (but are not limited to) experience producing scholarship and/or funded research, understanding processes for recruiting students from a variety of backgrounds, and experience communicating the value of architecture, whether in a disciplinary or professional context. However, the desired competencies of board members should not be narrowly understood. Regional and racial, ethnic, and gender diversity are also important to the ACSA. The vacancies on the board come from directors whose primary affiliations are in the Gulf, East Central, and West regions. Ensuring regional diversity, therefore, is among the Board’s priorities. Finally, previous experience with ACSA committees, conference leadership, or other Board appointments is desired.

Strategic Initiatives: 2019-2022
In 2018-19 ACSA revised its three-year strategic plan, and for the first time identified a set of strategic initiatives that give greater shape to the goals and objectives of the strategic plan. Development and execution of many of these strategies are left to ACSA’s three Program Committees, which are appointed annually by the Board and charged with specific deliverables. Following are the strategic initiatives.

Download Plan

Enhancing Research
ACSA supports the spectrum of research paradigms within the discipline and profession internationally, evidenced in changes to the Annual Meeting, its international conference partnerships for 2019 to 2021, and in its support for the Journal of Architectural Educationand TAD Journal. ACSA also seeks to position architectural research relative to the wider research environment. Our recent White Papers by the Research and Scholarship Committee are intended to support faculty as they progress in their careers.

Increasing Access and Promoting Equity
ACSA commits to increasing equity and inclusion within the institution and the profession. With education as the first barrier, ACSA will advocate for the value of architecture and architectural education to prospective students from a range of demographic and socioeconomic backgrounds, and we will engage community colleges, non-accredited programs, and international institutions through a range of in-person and online faculty development opportunities.

Enriching Pedagogy
ACSA contributes to an innovative future for architectural pedagogy. Uniquely positioned to advance architectural education since 1912, ACSA continues to seek scholarly exchanges within the United States and Canada as well as internationally. Through partnerships with collateral organizations, ACSA continues to create relevant content for faculty across the curriculum, and we aim to increase support for documenting best practices in teaching and learning.