SELECTION PROCEDURES FOR

The following procedures were revised and approved by the PAA membership at the 1994 annual meeting and by the PAA Executive Committee January 10, 2008.

Nominees for Honorary Life Membership (HLM) need not be members of the PAA.

The minimum number of letters for both the technical and non-technical category is five – the nominator and four others.

The nominator and supporters of the nominee in the technical category must be PAA members in good standing. The nominator of a non-technical nominee must also be a PAA member. Preferably, those writing letters of support for a non-technical nominee should be members of PAA, but letters from up to three non-PAA members in the potato community would satisfy the requirement.

To simplify the logistics of making nominations, supporters need not actually sign the nomination form; the signature of the letter of support is sufficient evidence of approval.

The nominee should not be informed of the HLM nomination until the selection and voting procedures are completed.

Materials may be submitted to supplement the official nominating form and the letters of support, but any such supplementary materials should not exceed four pages.

The practice of resubmitting names of unsuccessful candidates from a previous year is to be encouraged and the procedures for doing so should be kept as simple as possible. For example, the names and nomination documentation of unsuccessful nominees in the previous year will be automatically resubmitted the following year for HLM consideration. The Chair of each new Honorary Life Membership Committee should consult each nominator of an unsuccessful candidate from the previous year and a telephone poll of the supporting members should be adequate to see if they are willing to support the candidate a second time and to have their previous letters of support used again for this purpose. A letter to this effect from the nominator would then be the only new documentation required. However, after one unsuccessful resubmission, new material should be prepared.

The Chair of the Honorary Life Membership Committee decides whether all criteria have been satisfied for a nomination. All such decisions, whether affirmative or negative, should be reported to the entire Committee, along with explanations as may be helpful. Any member of the Committee may question such a decision and has the option of calling for a vote by the entire Committee, which shall be decided by a majority of those voting. (The Chair is a voting member of the Committee for this as well as for other purposes.)

The Chair of the Honorary Life Membership Committee (and not the Nominator) decides whether a nominee belongs in the technical or non-technical category. As in Item 7, this decision of the Chair is subject to review by the whole Committee.

If a member of the Committee is nominated, upon notification to this effect by the Chair, the member should resign from the Committee for the year during which he or she is being considered, or decline the HLM nomination. Ordinarily the Chair should decline if nominated; the nomination can also be resubmitted the following year.

The members of the HLM Committee should not nominate candidates.

All HLM nominations and supporting documentation must be submitted to the HLM Committee Chair by the due date as shown on the HLM Nomination Form. The Chair will duplicate the materials and send to each of the committee members for review prior to voting.

All members of the HLM Committee are required to participate in the review and voting process for all HLM nominees. A nominee must receive seventy five percent (75%) positive votes (8 out of 11 committee members) for approval as a HLM.

The HLM Committee Chair will notify all the nominators of the final decision, without disclosing the vote counts, and request that the nominator inform the nominee. The Committee Chair will secure from each new HLM candidate a good black & white photo and a one-page (as published in the AJPR) bio for the Annual Meeting Awards Banquet program and The Journal. The Committee Chair will send these materials to The PAA Secretary.

New HLM candidates and their spouse will receive complimentary Awards Banquet tickets the year they are inducted. Existing Honorary Life Members would not receive free banquet tickets.