December 17, 2013

Dear Ciliate Research Community,
We are asking for your participation in the election of members of Tetrahymena Research Advisory Board (TetRA Board) for the new two-year termstarting January 1, 2014. Dr. Jeff Kapler will remain on the board as acting chairperson.  The other five seats will be determined by a vote of the research community.  You are allowed to vote for up to five candidates.  The nominees that have agreed to serve if elected are listed below in alphabetical order with a link to their laboratory website.

NOMINEES:
-Lydia Bright
http://www.indiana.edu/~lynchlab/lydia_bright.htm

-Doug Chalker
http://www.biology.wustl.edu/faculty/chalker/main.php

-Bob Coyne
http://www.jcvi.org/cms/about/bios/rcoyne

-Cristina Miceli
http://cost.cgm.cnrs-gif.fr/?q=content/cell-biology-and-biotechnology

-Nick Stover http://www.bradley.edu/academic/departments/biology/faculty/profile.dot?id=137260

-Sean Taverna
http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/pharmacology_molecular_sciences/faculty/bios/taverna.html

-Aaron Turkewitz
http://mgcb.bsd.uchicago.edu/faculty/turkewitz/

-Mark Winey
http://mcdb.colorado.edu/directory/winey_m.html


You must go to the following URL to place you vote. https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/T8XBRT8

The election will close at 5pm December 31, 2013.

My best to you in the coming year.

Jeff Kapler (Chair, Tetrahymena Research Advisory Committee

Geoffrey Kapler, Ph.D.
Jean and Tom McMullin Professor of Genetics
Chair, Department of Molecular and Cellular Medicine
Texas A&M Health Science Center
[log in to unmask]

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I have copied a draft of the TetRA board charter for your information:

Tetrahymena Research Advisory Board or TetRA Board

The Tetrahymena research community is a vibrant collection of scientists that employ this ciliate as a model system to investigate fundamental mechanisms of molecular and cellular biology, genetics, ecology and evolution. Recognizing the need for greater integration and communication to further members’ objectives, the community decided to establish an advisory committee charged with identifying and promoting specific initiatives that could benefit the community as a whole.

Election of officers
Six members of the board will be elected by a vote of the greater ciliate research community. Terms will be 2 years in length.  The vote for the first selection of board members was held in September 2011 via an on-line survey sent through the ciliate list-serve.  The six nominees that topped the vote tally formed the inaugural committee. At the first meeting the board members selected a chair and vice-chair to serve two-year terms, who are charged with setting meeting agendas and communicating committee actions to the greater research community.  The board also extended an invitation to a scientist from outside the Tetrahymena community, who joined the board to offer a different, yet informed perspective.  Prior to selection of a new Board, the current members will elect a chairperson for the next term.  The chair-elect will committee to serve in that role for the subsequent two-year term.  All other seats will be up of election.  Current Board members are eligible to stand for election for the next term.

Inaugural elected board members:
Douglas Chalker, Washington University, Chair 2011-2013
Geoffrey Kapler, Texas A&M, Vice-Chair 2011-2013
Theodore Clark, Cornell University
Robert Coyne, JCVI
Kazufumi Mochizuki, The Institute of Molecular Biotechnology, Vienna
Carolyn Price, University of Cincinnati (resigned and replaced by Nicholas Stover in 2012)

Invited member:
Pamela Geyer, University of Iowa

The six elected members and the one invited member represent theofficial voting body when issues are considered that require decisive action.  Nevertheless, the committee's discussion of issues benefit from input from the entire community. Periodically, we will seek input from the community through surveys or other communications.  Any member of the research community can contact board members to recommend issues to consider. Representatives from the Tetrahymena Stock Center, Tetrahymena Genome Database, and electedorganizers of the Ciliate Molecular Biology conference will be considered ex officio members whose advice will be sought when their activities are relevant to committee actions.


The ex officio members:
Tetrahymena Stock Center
 Theodore Clark

Tetrahymena Genome Database
Nicholas Stover

Paramecium Genome Database
      Linda Sperling

Ciliate Molecular Biology 2013 organizing committee
      Aaron Turkewitz
Kazufumi Mochizuki
Eric Cole

Representative of Ciliate Undergraduate Education
      Emily Wiley


Committee activities
The primary functions of the committee are:

1.    To act as advocates for the Tetrahymena research community, promoting community interests and advising funding agencies of resource needs.

2.    To seek out opportunities to increase the visibility of Tetrahymena research by connecting the community with other scientific communities.

3.    To promote enhanced interaction between the research community and central resources, including the Tetrahymena Stock Center and the Tetrahymena Genome Database.

4.    To work with organizers of the Ciliate Molecular Biology Conferences to ensure a successful bi-annual meeting and explore options for future meeting organization.

Meetings
Meetings are held monthly as conference calls using SKYPE. Currently, meetings are the second Friday of each month.