Postdoctoral Association at Western

PAW Election

Update: May 5, 2016

The following nominations were received during the PAW election:

In addition, the following nominations for the remaining positions were received at the PAW meeting:

There were no contested positions so no election will be held. A motion was voted in favour unanimously at the May 2016 PAW meeting that their acclamation to their positions be made official. Congratulations to the incoming exec.

Update: April 20, 2016

Dear Western Postdocs,

I am excited to announce that the following candidates will be acclaimed to PAW executive positions, pending ratification by the PAW Council:

President: Andrea Di Sebastiano

Vice-President, Internal: Baraa Al-Khazraji

Vice-President, External: Jessica Esseltine

No voting on these positions will be required as no other nominations were received. Their candidate statements are here.

Congratulations Andrea, Jessica and Baraa!

Additionally, due to lack of nominations, the nomination deadline will be extended by a week for the following positions:

Secretary

Vice-President, Finance

Vice-President, Communications

Nominations for these positions will now be due by 11:59 PM Tues. April 26.

Descriptions of these positions can be found at: http://www.postdocs.uwo.ca/paw_organization/bylaws.html#1

Additionally, PAW is looking for a webmaster. This is an appointed position, NOT an elected one. Interested candidates should contact postdocs@uwo.ca

NEW Timeline:

Nominations will be accepted until 11:59 PM on Tues. April 26th.

Nominations will be announced Wed. April 27th.

Voting will be held electronically from Thurs, May 5th to Wed. May 11th.

Results will be announced on Thurs, May 12th.

In the event that only one candidate is nominated for a position, that candidate will be acclaimed, subject to ratification by the PAW council. No vote for this position will be held.

How to nominate candidates:

 Send me (jinoue@robarts.ca) the following text, filled in appropriately by email:

"We the undersigned, as active members of the PAW at The University of Western Ontario, do nominate ...(Name of nominee)... for the position of ...(Office sought)... of the PAW."

Along with the names and UWO usernames of at least five Western postdocs that support the nomination. Please CC all nominators as verification that they agree to sponsor the nomination. I would really appreciate it if nominations came directly from the nominee only, but that's not technically a requirement.

If you like, you can include a candidate statement (up to 250 words) with your nomination. If you choose to do so, this will be distributed along with the nomination announcements.

Who can vote?:

Any current postdoctoral fellow or associate at Western.

How to vote:

There will be an electronic poll set up for voting. Details will be given in the nomination announcement. In lieu of a separate voter registration process, you WILL be asked to provide your UWO username. This information will only be used if there is a dispute about the voting. Nobody (including myself) will see the link between your username and your vote (if, for some reason, ballots have to be excluded, they will be excluded without checking to to see what the vote actually was).

Best wishes,

Jiro Inoue

Chief Returning Officer for election of the 2016/17 PAW Executive Council

Positions (additional information can be found here)

President

- Provide direction to the Executive Council and oversee all operations of PAW
- Preside over all PAW meetings, enforce due observation of the Bylaws and undertake all typical presidential duties
- Represent PAW on various university committees and act as a representative of PAW as needed 
- Work closely with the Postdoctoral Services Coordinator (Dr Mihaela Harmos) to coordinate PAW and SGPS activities and set priorities for SGPS
- This role will allow you to develop leadership skills and to network inside and outside Western
- Requires a few hours each week on a constant basis and involvement in all aspects of PAW operations
- Ex-officio roles of the PAW president: Senate Observer, Campus Council, Graduate Education Council and Postdoctoral  Advisory Committee

Secretary
- Organize and facilitate our meetings and events
- Prepare and circulate meeting agendas; attend meetings to record and circulate meeting minutes
- Maintain our Constitution and Bylaws
- Work closely with the Vice-President of Communications to disseminate information
- Requires approximately 5 hours/month, with the majority of time devoted to the monthly PAW Executive Council meeting

Vice-President Internal
- Organize professional development and events excluding PAW meetings
- Work with Western administration to oversee the setup and maintenance of grievance procedures for postdocs
- Perform the duties of the President in the event of absence or illness of the President

Vice-President External
- Act as our public relations officer
- Maintain representation and active participation at the Canadian Association of Postdoctoral Scholars (CAPS,http://www.caps-acsp.ca/). 
- Attend monthly Skype meetings and the CAPS annual conference (expenses covered)
- Liaise with the US National Postdoctoral Association (NPA), the International Consortium of Research Staff Associations (ICoRSA), off-campus groups, government agencies including granting agencies and the public at large
- This position presents excellent opportunities to network and get involved at the national and international levels

Vice-President Finance
- Be responsible for all financial activities of PAW including receipt of monies due, maintenance and custody of all financial books, making all payments, preparing all financial statements and arranging for audit of the books by a suitable auditor
- Provide detailed accounting of PAW funds and expenses for your council term
- Prepare a recommended budget for the following Council (for the following term)
- This role was subsumed under the President for your current Council (2015/16)

Vice-President Communications
- Maintain our website (experience with Cascade Server would be helpful)
- Manage the PAW mailing list
- Communicate news/information/events via our facebook and twitter accounts
- Oversee incoming/outgoing messages from our e-mail account (postdocs@uwo.ca)
- Organize and announce monthly social events on and off campus for postdocs and their families

Updated: 7 May 2016