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News from AURA: AURA Elects New Chairman of the Board (1Jun95)
(from Director's Office, NOAO Newsletter No. 42, June 1995)

At its April 1995 meeting, the Board of Directors unanimously elected Bruce
Margon (Washington) as its new Chair effective 1 July 1995. Margon will
succeed Maarten Schmidt (Caltech), who will step down after three years as
Chair, the maximum term permitted by our by-laws.

In selecting Bruce, the Board reached beyond its membership. Margon is a
councilor-at-large on the Space Telescope Institute Council (STIC), a position
he will give up on 30 June 1995. Earlier he had been a director-at-large of the
Board (1982-92), during which he had served in many roles including four
years on the Executive Committee. We look forward to Bruce's leadership of
the Board.

                        Thank You, Maarten Schmidt

Maarten Schmidt led our Board in the most outstanding fashion that is
conceivable to me. His statesmanship and exceptional stewardship for the
national observatories set a new standard. Thank you, Maarten, for your
untiring dedication and unusually fruitful work on behalf of AURA and its
mission. We wish you happy hunting for quasars and such, and hope that you
will maintain an interest in AURA, too.

                          New Council Established

On 3 April 1995, the Board approved the immediate establishment of an
Observatories Council (OC) and adopted a comprehensive charter to govern its
operation. The charter gives the OC responsibility and significant authority to
act on behalf of the Board as trustee and advocate for the mission of the
National Optical Astronomy Observatories (NOAO). The OC replaces the
Observatories Advisory Committee (OAC). Patterned after the successful Space
Telescope Institute Council (STIC), the OC will be more broadly
representative of the community in that it may include councilors-at-large who
are not members of the AURA Board. Major functions of the OC in advocacy
and oversight include the final say on the merits of tenure recommendations,
appointment of the Visiting Committee and its chair, approval of long range
and current year program plans for NOAO, final approval of the hiring of
NOAO's Deputy Director, and a major role in the hiring of the Director. The
OC also elects its own chair who, as in STIC, need not be a member of the
AURA Board. The members of the former OAC are the initial members of the
council, including its chair, Lee Anne Willson, and vice chair, Art Walker. Art
plans to strengthen the OC's solar expertise, now represented by Juri Toomre
and himself.

Goetz Oertel

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