EarthScope Consortium Member Representative update

[Rebecca Bendick]

Dear EarthScope Community:

The EarthScope Consortium Board of Directors met on February 27, 2023 and, among many actions, amended the corporate bylaws to remove a requirement that Member institutions specify both primary and alternate member representatives.  This change was made for two main reasons.  First, smaller institutions may be disenfranchised by a requirement to appoint two representatives.  We want to make sure that the EarthScope Consortium hears perspectives from and is responsive to all different kinds of member institutions with as few barriers to participation as possible.  Second, formal affiliations with Consortium governance creates conflicts with the review processes used by our funders, and we want to make sure that there are plenty of unconflicted great scientists who understand our work and can provide expert and independent evaluations.

With these changes, any designated alternate representatives are now relieved of their responsibilities to the EarthScope Consortium.  We remind our community that we still need great volunteers to participate on advisory committees and subcommittees (share your interest here) and to help us through both formal and informal pathways to imagine the future for geophysics facilities.  We also urge member institutions to consider rotating the member representative role as capacity allows, to make sure that a wide range of perspectives are represented in our community governance.

The new bylaws as amended can be found online.

	Becks Bendick (she/her)
	Interim CEO

rebecca...@earthscope.org