AGU Bylaws Research Articles

Notification of Upcoming AGU Council Meeting

The AGU Council will meet on Sunday, 8 December 2013, beginning at 8:30 A.M., at the InterContinental Hotel in San Francisco, Calif. The meeting, which is open to all AGU members, will include discussions about strategies for AGU publishing and meetings, science‐related policies, and changes to the AGU bylaws.

Proposed Bylaws Changes Open for Comment

AGU members are invited to comment on proposed changes to AGU's bylaws. The updates reflect changes required by Washington, D. C., law and changes enacted by the AGU Board of Directors and Council during the transition in 2010–2012 to a new governance structure. Members can view and comment on the proposed changes at http://sites.agu.org/leadership/agu‐bylaws‐comment‐period/. The comment period is open until 18 November.

AGU Fellows Elected for 2012

The AGU Fellows program recognizes members who have made exceptional contributions to the Earth and space sciences. The first class of AGU Fellows was elected in 1962, and AGU bylaws require that the size of a Fellows class be limited to no more than 0.1% of the total AGU membership. During the 2011 Fall Meeting, the AGU Council voted to align the nomination cycles for all Union honors. AGU will accept Fellows nominations for the class of 2013 from 15 January to 15 March 2013 and will announce elected Fellows in July 2013. The individuals listed below have been elected as the 2012 class of Fellows and will be recognized during the honors ceremony at the 2012 AGU Fall Meeting, 6–10 December.

Governance Vote Results

Voting by the membership for proposed changes to AGU bylaws and articles of incorporation was completed on 13 November 2009. The proposed changes would expand AGU's Council to focus it on science; shift the business and fiduciary responsibility for AGU to a newly created, smaller Board of Directors, freeing the Council to focus on science policy and other science‐related matters; and modernize AGU's governing documents to reflect current practice in not‐for‐profit governance.All background information was provided in the 15 September 2009 issue of Eos and in subsequent issues.

Report of the fellows committee

The AGU Fellows Committee is pleased to announce it has just elected 41 AGU members as new Fellows for their “eminence in geophysics.” The total number elected each year is established by AGU's bylaws and is limited to 0.1% of the total membership.The process of electing Fellows begins with the nominations submitted by the general membership to AGU, that are then sent to the section Fellows committees. The section committees review these nominations, prepare their rankings, and forward an allotted number of nominations with their rankings to the Union Fellows Committee. Additional “cosponsored” nominations supported by two or more sections are encouraged, and they have had a very high success rate in the final elections by the Fellows Committees.

Proposed changes to AGU Bylaws

A number of changes to AGU's Bylaws were approved by Council at its June 1, 1995, meeting. Before changes to the Bylaws can become effective, they must be published for the membership and then be voted upon affirmatively a second time by Council. Comments on the Bylaw changes under consideration may be addressed to the Statutes and Bylaws Committee at AGU headquarters. Committee members are John R. Ritter, Chair; John S. Dickey, Jr.; Timothy E. Eastman; Kenneth Fox; Stephen C. Komor; and Leonard J. Pietrafesa.The full statement of the Statutes and Bylaws as amended through May 1994 is published in the AGU Handbook, supplement to Eos, January 31, 1995.

Proposed change in the AGU Bylaws

At its meeting on May 19, 1987, the AGU Council gave initial approval to an amendment to Bylaw 14, relating to election procedures, to clarify these procedures and bring them into conformity with Robert's Rules of Order. The changes are as follows: Add a new Article 14d to read: “Elections shall be accomplished by mail.” Add Article 14e to read: “If more than two candidates are nominated, voters shall be required to rank candidates in order of their preference. In tallying such votes, if no candidate has a majority of the first‐place votes, then the candidate with the fewest first‐place votes will be eliminated and the second‐place votes on those ballots distributed among the other candidates and this process repeated until one candidate has a clear majority.” Change to Article 14f the old 14d, which reads: “Results of the general election shall be announced at the Annual Business Meeting.” Notice of this proposed change is given in accordance with Article 126 of the Statutes, which requires that proposed amendments to the Bylaws be published in an AGU publication of general circulation no less than 30 days prior to a second consideration by the Council. The Council will consider this proposal for final passage at its December 1987 meeting in San Francisco, Calif.

Proposed change in the AGU Bylaws

On May 15, 1984, the AGU Council gave initial approval to an amendment to Bylaw 11 that would remove the Membership Committee as a Standing Committee. The change was recommended by the Executive Committee for three reasons: 1. The functions of the committee as originally designed (i.e., to promote and process membership) are now handled entirely by staff. 2. The Membership Committee has functioned for the past several years as an oversight committee for the Union; as such, it is not correctly named, and all of the proposed activities can be covered by other committees. 3. If there is a need for some form of committee to address membership issues in the future, it can be promptly established as a special committee.

Proposed change in the AGU bylaws

On December 6, 1981, the AGU Council passed the initial approval of an amendment to Bylaw 8 (which establishes the sections of AGU) that would change the name of the Meteorology Section to the Atmospheric Sciences Section. This change was recommended by the Meteorology Section Executive Committee for three reasons: (1) there are more departments of atmospheric sciences today than there are departments of meteorology; (2) to draw some further distinction between what AGU does and what the American Meteorological Society does; and (3) to include more explicitly atmospheric chemistry and atmospheric electricity within the ambit of the Section. A survey of the Meteorology Section members indicated they were 50 to 1 in favor of the change.

Proposed change in the AGU bylaws

On May 22, 1980, the AGU Council approved for the first time a change in Bylaw 22. In accordance with Article 12b of the Statutes, proposed amendments to the Bylaws must be published in an AGU publication of general circulation no less than 30 days prior to the second consideration by the Council. The current Bylaw 22 is shown below in its entirety, followed by the Council's recommended change.The General Secretary, in accordance with the instructions of the Council of the Union, shall sign checks on the accounts of the American Geophysical Union and shall provide a surety bond in a sum set by the Council of the Union and at the expense of the Union, for funds of the Union under his control. If the General Secretary is absent or incapacitated, the President or, if he is absent or incapacitated, the President‐elect, shall sign checks against the Union accounts. The General Secretary may delegate the authority to sign checks against the accounts of the Union. The President, the President‐elect, and others with the authority to sign checks shall furnish surety bonds in the same manner and amount as the General Secretary.

Proposed change in the AGU Bylaws

On April 16, 1978, the AGU Council approved a change in bylaw 21 which will stabilize the number of Fellows that can be elected each year.In accordance with article 12b of the statutes, which requires proposed amendments to the bylaws to be published in an AGU publication of general circulation no less than 30 days prior to action at a succeeding council meeting, bylaw 21 is shown below as it currently reads and as it will read if the proposed amendment is adopted.