2019-2020 Early Career Ecologists Officer Election Announcement

It’s the last week to vote in the ECE 2019-2020 elections for Vice-Chair and Secretary Treasurer. Cast your vote here.

To be valid, votes must be cast by 11:59pm on July 21, 2019. Only current members of the ECE Section are eligible to vote. Limit one vote per eligible member. Candidates will be elected by a simple majority of valid ballots cast.

Election results will be announced in our August newsletter and at our Business Meeting, to be held during the Annual Meeting in Louisville on Tuesday, August 13th from 6:30-8:00pm at Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant.

Thank you for your time and your votes. We count on you to keep our section strong!


The ECE section is currently seeking nominations for two leadership positions for the upcoming year (August 2019-2020). A brief description of each position is provided at the end of this message. Nominations will be accepted until June 28th, and a virtual vote will be conducted among current ECE members between July 1st – July 21st

Election results will be announced in the August newsletter and at our Business Meeting in Louisville, to be held on Tuesday, August 13th from 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm at Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant.

If you are interested in serving as Vice-Chair or Secretary/Treasurer, please complete this self-nomination form. Responses to the two questions will be shared with ECE Section members to inform their voting. If you have any questions, please contact Tim Fullman.

We are also looking for a new Blog Editor. This is not an elected position, so if you are interested please submit a self-nomination form (same link as above) and we will contact you. 

Position descriptions:

Vice-Chair: 

The Vice-Chair supports the Chair in his or her duties throughout the year. The Vice-Chair position is essentially a training/helping position, with the understanding that the Vice-Chair will move into the Chair position in the following year. The Vice-Chair may be asked to help with writing, submitting, or approving various proposals for funding, special events, or official correspondence with ESA Leadership. They may initiate their own ideas and will receive guidance from the Chair throughout the year. In the following year, as Chair, they will attend ESA Governing Board meetings and represent the ECE section.

Secretary/Treasurer: 

The role of the Secretary-Treasurer (ST) is to keep minutes during meetings. Minutes should be shared and approved by the other officers, then passed to the Blog Editor to post a summary to the ECE website. Being open about ECE business helps members understand what the Section is doing year-round and encourages participation. The ST also manages the Section’s finances and communicates with ESA’s Chief Financial Officer. Upon request, the ST will share updated finance reports with the ECE officers and work with ESA staff to allocate section funds.

Blog Editor: 

The Blog Editor maintains the ECE section blog, which is intended to provide semi-regular updates and share experiences across early career paths. Typically, this involves organizing one or two posts a month. Posts may cover section business (e.g., summaries of officer meeting, calls for mentorship program mentors and mentees), as well as topics of interest to early career ecologists (e.g., interviews with established ecologists, professional development resources). For examples of previous posts, visit https://esa.org/earlycareer/news/. The Blog Editor does not have to write all new posts and should network with other contributors to generate content, but is ultimately responsible for editing the information presented on the section blog.