Users' Advisory Committee Terms of Reference

1.0 MEMBERSHIP AND APPOINTMENT

The committee consists of about 12 people, generally present or future CLS users. One position is filled by a student and one by an industrial representative.

The slate of candidates for any election can be negotiated by the existing UAC or by nomination from the CLS user community.  Effort should be made to achieve a balanced representation. CLS staff are eligible to be members of the UAC.  See details in Terms of Reference Section 3.4 for a description of the Election Procedure.

1.1 TERM OF OFFICE

Once established, UAC members will be elected democratically for a 3-year term via a balloting of all CLS users. The student member term is for two years instead of the regular three. The intent is that this position should be filled by a student. If the student is likely to graduate much earlier than the two year term, s/he can opt to participate for one year only. This decision should be taken after discussion with the committee.

The election process will be carried out so as to achieve staggered terms.  Terms will run according to the schedule noted below and balloting will take place immediately following the Annual User’s Meeting.

Note: Annual Term Schedule:
Jan 2006 – Oct 2006 (10 months, short “year” with June AUM)
Nov 2006 – Aug 2007 (10 months, short “year” with June AUM)
Sept 2007 – Aug 2008 (12 months, back on track With June AUM)
Sept 2008 – Aug 2009
Sept 2009 – Aug 2010
Etc.

1.2 CHAIRPERSON

The chair of the UAC will be elected from its membership. The CLSI Board of Directors invites the chair of the UAC to attend its meetings as an observer.

1.3 REPRESENTATION ON THE CLSI SCIENCE ADVISORY COMMITTEE

The UAC will choose a representative to sit on the CLSI Science Advisory Committee (SAC). The CLSI Board of Directors approves membership on the SAC, so the UAC Chair will present the UAC candidate, who is not necessarily a member of the UAC, to the CLSI Board for its approval.

1.4 SECRETARY

A member of the CLS administrative pool will be designated to serve as the secretary to the UAC and will record and distributed all minutes and meeting agenda.

1.5 AUTHORITY OF THE COMMITTEE

1. The UAC provides advice to the Director on the operation and management of the synchrotron and beamlines.
2. Represents interests of CLS users

2.0 TERMS OF REFERENCE

2.1 FUNCTIONS OF THE COMMITTEE

The committee shall have the following duties:

• To provide feedback to CLS management on various aspects of the development and operation of CLS
• To assist CLS in providing feedback to users about CLS-related issues
• To plan and host the CLS User's Meetings with assistance from CLS.

2.2 FUNCTIONS OF THE CHAIR PERSON

The UAC chair conducts each meeting and ensures that records of meeting deliberations and/or meeting minutes are available in a timely manner after each meeting. The Chair is responsible for the organization of the annual CLS users' meeting. In addition the Chair is invited to attend CLS Board meetings as an observer and is expected to facilitate communications with between the CLS and the UAC. Finally, the chair may be involved in dispute resolution mechanisms when less formal methods are not able to resolve a dispute between a user and the CLS in a mutually satisfactory manner.

2.3 FUNCTIONS OF THE SECRETARY

The secretary will record meeting deliberations and meeting minutes and provide these records to the chair.

3.0 PROCEDURES

3.1 MEETINGS

Meetings will be held on an approximate monthly basis, or as necessary. One face-to-face meeting (usually at the users’ meeting) will be held each year.

3.2 REPORTING

Deliberation reports and meeting minutes will be made available to the CLS Executive Director. Additional informal reports may be made from time to time by the UAC Chair.

3.3 GENERAL

The UAC functions as an extremely important communications tool in facilitating communications between CLS Management and the users.

 

Last modified: 2009-07-07 13:07:10