Election Results from November 20, 2015 General Members Meeting

AISES Members,

For those of you who attended the AISES National Conference, I hope that your travels home were safe and uneventful.   The conference this year was a remarkable conference in many ways.   Attendance was over 1,800, the most ever, the engagements and interactions were rich, the sponsors and partners were delighted and many looking for more ways to engage with AISES, and our Elders played a key role in providing keen insight and guidance.  

One of the key actions items of the General Membership meeting was consideration of three resolutions about our AISES bylaws.   As a reminder, there are 625 general members and while attendance at the General Membership meeting this year was more than normal, it was still sparse.  It was in anticipation of low turnout that Sarah, Katherine and the AISES staff put in place an electronic ballot process so that all general members would have the opportunity to vote.  Less than 10% of the eligible voters cast ballots, but again on the positive side, that is more than in most elections.   As you recall, a quorum requires a minimum of 20 general members and in past years there have been occasions where a quorum could not be reached.  

With that as background, all three resolutions passed.   As you will recall, the first was aimed at adding Pacific Islanders to the mission statement, the second resolution was about providing associate members the ability to vote, and the third resolution authorization to take care of any clerical issues in the bylaws.

The Governance Committee will now incorporate the changes into the bylaws and bring the revision to the next AISES Board meeting for review and approval prior to formal publication.   This will occur early in 2016. 

AISES is in its 38th year focused on substantially increasing representation of American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, First Nations, and other indigenous people of North America in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) studies and careers.  I look forward to your continued engagement and endeavor to ensure that the AISES Board and Staff work hard to ensure AISES fulfills its mission and re-engages those who have been part of the AISES family, but for some reason may not currently participate. 

Please feel free to contact me personally with your thought and perspectives on my phone
at 714-262-5089 or e-mail at rickstephens@me.com.

Rick Stephens
Pala Band of Mission Indians
Board Chair