During my 20 plus years of association with BEA I’ve been lucky enough to work in two districts (D5 and D2) with a history of active involvement in BEA governance. It’s in times like this, BEA election season, that I reflect on how my colleagues in District 5 encouraged every member in the district to stay actively involved in the organization through attendance at district meetings, active engagement with the district representative and by participating in the Board nomination and election process. So, as another election cycle begins, I want to encourage our members in four districts to get involved with the election process this year.
Beginning tomorrow, BEA members in four districts—D2, D4, D6, and D8—may nominate individuals in their respective districts for director seats on the BEA Board of Directors. Suzy Smith, Ball State University (D4); Kim Zarkin, Westminster College (D6); and Kim Fox, American University in Cairo (D8) are all eligible for re-election as district representatives. Vic Costello, Elon University (D2) has reached the end of his eligibility. This is a good time for me to pause and thank Vic for his four years of exceptional service on the Board.
The district representatives are a crucial element of BEA’s governance. The election process allows BEA members the opportunity to influence the direction of the organization. In addition to representing division members the board, district representatives are expected to recruit new individual and institutional members, maintain and develop regional partnerships among electronic media educators and electronic media industry professionals and represent the district constituency by actively soliciting input from district members regarding BEA policy issues.
Tomorrow, members in these four districts will receive an email from Heather Birks which outlines the election process and provides a full list of duties for district representatives. That email indicates the opening of the nomination period. Nominations for these board seats will close on Monday, October 2nd. Following that deadline, the BEA election committee will ask each nominee to submit a short campaign statement. We will distribute these campaign statements and provide access to the online election ballot in each district by Wednesday, October 11th. Voting will conclude on Monday, October 23rd
