Samvera Elections
Elections in the Samvera Community
The Samvera Board is elected and governs in accordance with the Samvera Bylaws. Board members are individuals nominated and supported in their participation by a Samvera Partner institution.
Board elections are held annually for three of nine seats in rotating groups. The term for each seat is three years with the possibility for one re-election, allowing for a total term of six consecutive years.
The Samvera Board
What is the Commitment for Board Members?
On any given week, Board members dedicate a significant portion of their time the Samvera Community. Depending upon need, a Board Member may dedicate a minimum of a couple of hours in a week, but may see spikes of up to 10 or 20 hours required for taking on certain issues, attending meetings, and so forth.
Membership requires a commitment to travel to Board meetings when feasible. The Bylaws indicate that the Board will meet in person at least once per year when practical. Note that Board Members are responsible for associated costs of travel as well as their time.
The Samvera Board has one regular video call per month, with others as needed. There is usually a virtual Board retreat in the winter, with two 3 hour virtual meetings over two days.
The Board generally meets face-to-face 2 times per year, at meetings associated with other meetings such as Connect and Partners.
What Does the Samvera Board Do?
The Board of Directors provides stewardship and central administration of the Community; they are responsible for helping create the structures to see that critical tasks are addressed, and backstopping the Partners' group in the event that they do not fulfill these critical tasks. Duties might include:
creating Community structures
making day-to-day decisions, and determining when decisions must be brought to the Partners for a vote
backstopping partners when issues go unaddressed
handling sensitive issues
stewardship and caretaking of the Community as a whole
providing continuity of the Community
Delegating work to the Community Manager
The Community should be aware that this list is not exhaustive and that the Board may be asked to take on additional tasks depending upon needs of the Community and Partners, and delegate work to others. Samvera's Community Manager takes on much of the delegated work, and the Board guides their work.
Like any other Partners, members of the Board also participate in Community activities including contributing to Working and Interest Groups, attending meetings, giving presentations etc.