Call for Nominations:
Regional Directors-at-Large and Board of Governors Members-at-Large

In accordance with the Bylaws of the IEEE Signal Processing Society, the membership will elect, by direct ballot, THREE Members-at-Large to the Board of Governors (BoG) for three-year terms commencing 1 January 2013 and ending 31 December 2015, as well as TWO Regional Directors-at-Large for the corresponding regions: Regions 1-6 (US) and Region 8 (Europe/Middle East/Africa) for two-year terms commencing 1 January 2013 and ending 31 December 2014.

Regional Directors-at-Large are elected locally by members of the corresponding region. They serve as non-voting members of the Board of Governors and voting members of the Membership Board. They promote and foster local activities (such as conferences, meetings, social networking) and encourage new chapter development; represent their regions to the core of SPS; offer advices to improve membership relations, recruiting and service to their regions; guide and work with their corresponding chapters to serve their members; and assist the Vice President-Awards and Membership in conducting chapter reviews.

Board of Governors Members-at-Large are directly elected by the Society's membership to represent the member viewpoint in Board decision-making. They typically review, discuss, and act upon a wide range of items affecting the actions, activities and health of the Society. Candidates must demonstrate that they are active in one or more signal processing disciplines and must have been a member of the Society for five years or more.

Mos Kaveh, SPS Past President and Chair of the Nominations and Appointments Committee, has provided the following formal procedures for the SPS's 2012 Regional Directors-at-Large and BoG Members-at-Large elections:

  1. Publication of a call for nominations for positions of BoG Members-at-Large and Regional Directors-at-Large. Nominees must hold SPS Member grade and be a SPS member for five years or more to hold elective office. (JANUARY-MARCH)
  2. From the responses received, a list of candidates will be assembled for each election by the Past President for presentation to the Nominations and Appointments Committee. (MARCH)
  3. The Nominations and Appointments (N&A) Committee ballots to create a short list of at least SIX Member-at-Large candidates and TWO Regional Director-at-Large per position (by bylaw, at least two candidates must be submitted for each BoG Member-at-Large and Regional Director-at-Large position becoming vacant). (MARCH-MAY)
  4. After the N&A ranking ballot, the top candidates who are willing and able to serve for Regional Director-at-Large and Member-at-Large are advanced for ballot to the SPS's voting members (JULY).
  5. Collection and tabulation of returned ballots will again be handled by the IEEE Technical Activities Society Services Department on behalf of the SPS (JULY-SEPTEMBER).
  6. The three candidates receiving the highest number of votes who confirm their ability to serve will be declared elected Members-at-Large to the Board of Governors with three-year terms commencing 1 January 2013 and one candidate from each specified region receiving the highest number of votes who confirm their ability to serve will be declared elected a Regional Director-at-Large with a two-year terms commencing 1 January 2013 (SEPTEMBER).

Please provide nominations for Regional Director-at-Large and Member-at-Large to Theresa Argiropoulos t.argiropoulos@ieee.org. However, if you first wish to communicate with me privately before making a nomination, you can reach me at mos@umn.edu. Please provide the name, address, phone, fax, e-mail or other contact information of the nominee, along with a brief background on the individual (no more than 100 words, please) and any information about the individual's current activities in the Signal Processing Society, the IEEE, or other professional societies.

In the event that a nominee's name is not selected for a position on the general election ballot, and the nominee is a member in good standing and of the proper credentials to seek election, the nominee may seek to have his/her name added to the ballot by filing, prior to 1 May 2012, a 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.” Note: Signatures from student 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 a web-based petitioning system that will automatically authenticate petition “signatures.” The web address will be provided at a later date. According to IEEE rules, a candidate with a valid nomination by petition is guaranteed to be on the ballot.