Election Results

Dear VRA colleagues,I am pleased to report the outcomes of the recent VRA membership vote, held November 1-30, 2014.Please join me in congratulating and welcoming our incoming Executive Board members, who will take office at the Annual Business Meeting in Denver, March 13, 2015.President-Elect: Jen Green, Plymouth State University Secretary: Jasmine Burns, University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee Vice President for Conference Program: Chris Strasbaugh, Vanderbilt UniversityOn behalf of the Executive Board I would like to warmly thank all of the candidates for being willing to serve the Association in leadership roles. We would also like to extend our gratitude to the Nominating Committee: Jolene de Verges (Co-Chair), Robb Detlefs, Marcia Focht, Jeannine Keefer (Co-Chair), and Heidi Raatz, with special thanks to Robb Detlefs and Heidi Raatz for serving as election tellers.The following are the results for the votes on the amendments to the VRA Constitution and Bylaws:Amendment to VRA Constitution, Article VII (New): RELATIONS WITH THE VRAF: Passed with a 90% margin Amendment to VRA Bylaws, Article III: NOMINATION AND ELECTION OF OFFICERS: Passed with a 90% margin Amendment to VRA Bylaws, Article V: DUTIES OF OFFICERS: Passed with a 90% margin Affiliation with the Southeastern College Art Conference (SECAC): Passed with an 89% marginMany thanks to the membership for voting on these important Association matters.Best wishes,Elaine

VRA Elections and Vote: November 1-30, 2014

Dear VRA colleagues,

The VRA annual election of officers will take place online, November 1-30, 2014. Members will receive an e-mail from ElectionsOnline on Nov. 1 with instructions for accessing the ballot. Instructions will also be posted on VRA-L.

You can find the announcement of the candidates for the three offices at httpS://vraweb.org/election2014/, along with their bios and statements of goals. Please join us in thanking these colleagues for volunteering to be candidates for the positions.

We would also like to extend our thanks to the Nominating Committee: Jolene de Verges (Co-Chair), Robb Detlefs, Marcia Focht, Jeannine Keefer (Co-Chair), and Heidi Raatz.

In accordance with the Bylaws, the Nominating Committee has the discretion to put forward either two opposing candidates for a given office, or to put forward a single candidate for a given office. In either case, a vote by the membership is required. Please vote to show your support for the candidates and participate in the governance of the Association.

Also on the ballot will be a vote to affiliate with the Southeastern College Art Conference (SECAC) and three votes to amend the Constitution and Bylaws. Article IX of the Bylaws states that formal affiliation with another organization and amendment to the Constitution and Bylaws must be approved by a 2/3 majority of the ballots cast by those VRA members eligible to vote. The text of the proposed affiliation, proposed amendment, or proposed revision with a brief summation of the issues involved shall be provided to all members of the Association through an official publication or venue of the Association no less than 15 days prior to the start of the period of time designated for voting. This message serves as the official notification.

The SECAC Board has already voted to affiliate with VRA, and affiliation with SECAC would formalize the organizational relationship that has been active for many years. As many of you know, VRA has appointed a representative to SECAC for some time. This appointee represents the interests of VRA to the SECAC Board as an ex-officio, non-voting delegate during its annual meeting at the SECAC conference, and on the SECAC electronic list and in other SECAC publications. The SECAC Representative also informs the VRA membership of SECAC conference information, and as an approved SECAC affiliate VRA is entitled to plan and organize one session or panel at each SECAC conference. See the SECAC Affiliated Societies page for more information: http://www.secollegeart.org/affiliates. In recent years the SECAC Visual Resources Curators Group in association with VRA has sponsored a number of sessions at SECAC conferences, thus advancing the research and interests of the visual resources profession to an important audience of educators. Closer ties to a variety of organizations provide reciprocal benefits to members, and increased exposure through SECAC conference and website presence to diverse external communities helps illustrate and promote the expertise we offer in our field. Please see the attached document for the ballot text that will be provided on November 1 (VRA_SECAC_Affiliation_Vote_2014).

Regarding the proposal to amend the Constitution and Bylaws, there will be three votes placed on the ballot. Please see the attached document for the proposed amendments in their entirety (VRAConstBylaws2014changes).

1. Amendment to VRA Constitution, Article VII (New): RELATIONS WITH THE VISUAL RESOURCES ASSOCIATION FOUNDATION

Although the Visual Resources Association Foundation has been in existence since 2007, it has not hitherto been mentioned in the VRA’s founding documents.  This new section clarifies the relationship between the VRA and the VRAF.

2. Amendment to VRA Bylaws, Article III (added Section 4): NOMINATION AND ELECTION OF OFFICERS

In recent elections, the Nominating Committee has only put forward a single candidate for some elected offices.  This new section gives the Committee the authority to replace a candidate who withdraws his or her candidacy after the Executive Board’s mid-year meeting (usually late July or early August), but before the mandatory announcement of the election to the voting membership (which must be on or before October 15 prior to the election), if the withdrawing candidate is the only person on the ballot for a given office.

3. Amendment to VRA Bylaws, Article V (Proposed replacement Section 6): DUTIES OF OFFICERS

The current language regarding regular audits remains in place from a time when the Treasurer worked with a paper ledger and checkbook.  The requirement that an audit be performed every two years was related to each Treasurer’s term of office, to ensure that proper procedures had been followed.  Now that our financial transactions are handled through online banking and bookkeeping tools, our accounts are reconciled monthly by a professional bookkeeper (employed by the Association as an independent contractor), and oversight performed by a certified public accountant (also an independent contractor), there is less need for frequent audits, which are increasingly time-consuming and expensive to perform.  The proposed language change still gives the Executive Board authority to order a full or partial audit, and requires the Treasurer’s cooperation on this, but gives the Board flexibility to order an audit when it deems that this is in the best interests of the Association.

Thank you in advance for your participation in the very important election and voting process.

Best regards,

Elaine