IAU Members: Sign Up for Post-GA Commissions

This announcement is posted on behalf of IAU General Secretary Thierry Montmerle:

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After the recent approval of Commissions by the IAU Executive Committee, to take effect at the end of the August 2015 General Assembly in Honolulu, now is the time to sign up for these Commissions if you wish. Deadline: 15 May 2015.

All active IAU members should have received an email message with your personal Mi-Voice electronic voting instructions to sign up for Commissions. If you did not receive such an email, please contact the IAU Secretariat.

A few reminders, explanations, and definitions:

1) Signing up for Commissions is not compulsory. We expect IAU members to join Commissions only if they have a particular interest and/or commitment to them. Signing up now will allow you to vote for the Commission Organizing Committees in the coming weeks.

2) However, after Honolulu, it will be possible to join or leave Commissions at any time, under two conditions:

- notify the Commission Secretary and the IAU Secretariat (at [email protected]);
- keep the total number of Commissions to three maximum.

(This procedure will be added to the IAU Working Rules.)

3) If you select a Commission in a given Division, but you're not already a member of that Division, your name will be automatically added to the membership of that Division.

4) The relations between Commissions and Divisions fall into three categories:

- Regular Commissions: the Commission President is ex-officio a member of the Steering Committee of the Parent Division;

- Inter-Division Commissions: the Commission President is ex-officio a member of the Steering Committee of the Primary Division, but not of the Parent Division(s) (in the ballot these Divisions are indicated as "B;A,C", with "B" being the Primary Division, and "A,C" the Parent Divisions);

- Cross-Division Commissions: the Commission has ex-officio representatives in each of the Parent Division Steering Committees (these Commissions are noted "X").

More details about the votes for the members of the Commission Organizing Committees, and of the Division Steering Committees, will be communicated later.

We hope for strong, active, and focused IAU Commissions. We also plan to issue a new Call for Proposals for Commissions in 2017, for EC approval at the 2018 General Assembly in Vienna, Austria.