ROTATION OF MEMBERS
Background: At present, the Awards Committee is composed of seven members. The responsibility of the Awards Committee is to choose the recipients of several awards in the areas of research contributions and mentoring. At the present time, these include the Distinguished Researcher Award, the Lifetime Achievement Award, the Henri Begleiter Excellence in Research Award, the G. Alan Marlatt Mentorship Award, and the Dora Goldstein Diversity in the Sciences Award. In addition, the Chair of the Awards Committee selects the winners of the Memorial Awards, in years funds are available, $500 awards to be given to at least one predoctoral and one postdoctoral trainee in memory of RSA members who have died in the past year.
- The Awards Committee size will be seven members. This size allows for both a diversity of expertise and relevant knowledge, yet is small enough to convene conference calls when all members can attend, and is an odd number appropriate for avoiding ties.
- Members will be appointed for a 5-year term, with no opportunity for reappointment until after not less than a 3-year break in service. Because the Committee distributes a valuable resource to its members, rotation of membership will promote fresh evaluations of candidates who might be nominated in multiple years. To preserve the continuity of the committee, rotations will be staggered so that no more than 2 members rotate off each year.
- The qualified members of the Awards Committee include prior winners of the Distinguished Researcher Award, the Lifetime Achievement Award, the Begleiter Excellence in Research Award, the Marlatt Mentorship Award, and the Dora Goldstein Diversity in the Sciences Award. However, in any given year, a minimum of three of the members should be former winners of the Distinguished Researcher Award (minimum of 1-2 biomedical and 1-2 psychosocial).
- Members of the Awards Committee will not be eligible for any of the awards voted on by the Committee, during their term and for a minimum of three years following their term, to avoid any appearance of bias.
- Each year the Chair and co-chair of the Committee will jointly identify potential members and then approach them to solicit their agreement to serve a five-year term on the Committee. Key characteristics that will be sought in new members include: (a) maintaining a balance of expertise on the committee, (b) broad perspectives on the field, (c) fairness and conscientiousness in evaluation of candidates, and (d) diversity with respect to gender, age, and other characteristics that will serve to increase the breadth of perspectives on the Committee.
- The Committee will elect a Chair to serve a two-year term and a co-chair to serve a two-year term. In order to promote continuity of review and process, the co-chair will assume the chair after serving as co-chair. Ideally, the co-chair will be elected in their second-year on the committee, serving in that role in their 2nd and 3rd year and as chair in their 4th and 5th year.