Welcome to the 2024 AGU Elections! Polls open on 30 September and close on 29 October. 

In accordance with our bylaws, AGU elects new leaders every two years. This year's slate showcases a diverse and exceptional group of leaders ready to guide AGU's future and further our commitment to discovery and solutions in the Earth and space sciences.

The proposed slate includes candidates for AGU President-elect, the AGU Board of Directors, student and early career members of the AGU Council, Chair-Elect of the College of Fellows, and section Presidents-elect and Secretaries. Elected leaders serve two-year terms, during which they will help steer AGU's initiatives and ensure our community remains vibrant, inclusive and forward-thinking. View the candidates!

We are applying our “Experiment. Learn. Adapt.” culture to the 2024 AGU Elections. In response to voter input over many elections, the Leadership Development / Governance Committee chose to test ranked choice voting in 4 elections – International Secretary, Board Director, Council Students, and Council Early Career Scientists.

In case you’re not familiar, this is an increasingly popular electoral system that allows voters to rank candidates by preference, meaning a voter can submit ballots that list not only their first-choice candidate for a position, but also their second, third, and so on. Ranked choice voting aligns with the ethos of our Strategic Plan making more solidly strong and real the concepts of diversity, equity, and inclusivity for AGU and the larger culture of science.

The other experiment we are conducting this year is to have both president-elect candidates elected to the Board, one as the President-elect and one as a Director. In 2016, the committee started interviewing all Board candidates which gives them great insight into who is the best fit for not only the work, but also the ability of the Board as a whole to function well as a team. It is an area of concern for committee members that, after a rigorous process, one of the candidates selected for the highest office of AGU is not elected to the Board at all, thereby leaving top talent on the table. The experiment this year addresses that concern as the Leadership Development / Governance Committee is confident that both candidates will be excellent Board members, and the voters will determine who will serve as President-elect. The candidates themselves support this approach. When we look back at the President-elect candidates for the past 4 elections, we feel this to be true of all President-elect candidates, half of whom had been Board Directors.

Once the decision was made to test new things this year, Rick Murray, Chair of the Leadership Development / Governance Committee, met with AGU President Lisa Graumlich, AGU President-elect Brandon Jones, and Interim CEO Janice Lachance to explain the thinking and get their input. They were very supportive of the experiments outlined, and to be clear, the candidate names were not shared at that time. You can read more about this decision in a From the Prow post by Rick Murray.

More details are included in the Election FAQs.