TO: All JEA members 

A Letter from Candace Perkins Bowen, JEA Past President

Never has there been a better time to give back to the organization that has made such a difference in the lives of so many journalism teachers/media advisers. Board elections for the Journalism Education Association will be held in February 2017, and we’re looking for seven members who want to help shape the future of our organization.

As past president on the current board, I’m the nominations chair and in charge of the up-coming election. Here are a few important things to know:

• Offices on the voting board include president, vice president, scholastic press rights director, educational initiatives director and three directors-at-large. (Bylaws Article IV)
• The president, vice president and directors shall be elected to three-year terms and shall serve no more than two consecutive terms in the same capacity. After two consecutive terms, the individual may run again for a different office or for the same office again after one term. (Bylaws Article V, Section 1)
• Note two important changes: The board no longer has a past president. With the change to three-year terms, the concern about a lengthy commitment to board membership became a real concern. (If someone was president for two terms and then past president for the next two terms, he or she would be signing on for 12 years as a board member. As much as the idea of institutional memory is a plus to any group, this seemed a possibility that would scare away potentially excellent presidents.)
• In lieu of that position, the current board changed the bylaws to add an additional director-at-large, bringing the total to three. Each will come from a different geographic area to ensure more diversity, but all JEA members will vote for ALL directors-at-large, and these three will represent and communication with ALL members. (Bylaws Article V, Section 1, a & b)
• All updated board job descriptions are available on the JEA website.

The timeline for the election will be as follows:

• Summer 2016: Notify nominations chair Candace Perkins Bowen of intent to run. Having that completed by Aug. 31 is helpful to ensure viable candidates for each office. (Bylaws Article V, Section 1)
• General Membership Meeting (Indianapolis, Nov. 11, 2016): Bowen must present the slate as of that date, and members in good standing can make additional nominations from the floor.
• Dec. 15, 2016: Declared candidates for JEA office will email Candace Perkins Bowen a color headshot and responses to organizational questions two weeks prior to the election period, and the candidates’ statements will be posted on jea.org for one week prior to the election period. Those questions, and the word limits per answer, are
  • Please provide a biography, written in third person (300 words)
  • Why do you want to serve in this position? (300 words)
  • Please provide a statement of goals, including how you would address JEA’s core values of pedagogy, advocacy, innovation, community and excellence. (750 words)

  To help facilitate discussion between candidates and interested members, a special email distribution list (Listserv) will be set up specifically for election- and campaign-related discussion, and candidates will refrain from using the JEAHELP listserv for this purpose. The email distribution list will go live in conjunction with the posting of candidates’ statements and cease when ballots go live. The nominations chair will be responsible for enforcing this policy.

• Jan. 15, 2017: Voter rolls will be gathered to identify those eligible to vote. Declared candidates must be current members on this date to stay to stay on the ballot. (Bylaws Article V, Section 1)
• Feb. 6: Ballots are sent electronically to all voting members.
• Feb. 15: Ballots are due back.
• Feb. 16: Results of the election will be posted on jea.org the day following the election and will include vote totals and percentages for all candidates. For offices with three or more candidates, if no one gets a majority of the votes, we will have a runoff election for that position.
• March 2: Runoff election if necessary
• March 6: Runoff ballots due
• March 7: Runoff election winners announced. These and all other vote totals will be made public.
• May 1, 2017: New board takes office.

If you have further questions, check the bylaws, read the job descriptions, and please let me know what questions you have. We are a strong organization and will continue to be, thanks to all our members who truly care about scholastic journalism.

Candace Perkins Bowen,
JEA past president