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Announcing the New Joint CTIO/KPNO Users Committee (1Jun95) (from Director's Office, NOAO Newsletter No. 42, June 1995) To respond both to the recommendations of our individual Users Committees and to the recommendations of the AURA/OAC Workshop, the existing KPNO and CTIO Users Committees will be combined into a new Joint CTIO/KPNO Users Committee. The Committee will be comprised of twelve members, six appointed by the CTIO director and six by the KPNO director, following consultation among the two Directors and the NOAO Director. Each six will serve as a Subcommittee to advise the corresponding Director about his or her Observatory and programs. The Chair of the Joint Committee will alternate between the Chairs of the CTIO and the KPNO Subcommittees. The Chair of the 1995 Joint Committee will be John Salzer, and the Chair of the 1996 Joint Committee will be the incoming Chair of the 1995 CTIO Subcommittee, Suzanne Hawley. The Chair of the Joint Committee will report to the CTIO and KPNO Directors jointly, and the Chairs of the Subcommittees report separately to the respective Directors. The Joint Committee will also have an opportunity to report directly to the NOAO Director as part of its annual activities, and will provide formal input to the NOAO Director concerning the NOAO Instrumentation Program. In the longer term, the Joint Committee may also serve as the Users Committee for the U.S. Gemini Program. The term of membership on the Joint Users Committee will be three years. The current membership of the Joint CTIO/KPNO Users Committee is: CTIO KPNO Suzanne Hawley (Chair) John Salzer (Chair) Marc Postman Elizabeth Lada Kristen Sellgren Verne Smith George Wallerstein Gus Oemler Patricio Ortiz David Koo Steve Shectman Martha Haynes To define the role of the new Joint Users Committee, we set the following charge: "The Joint CTIO/KPNO Users Committee is appointed in consultation by the CTIO, KPNO, and NOAO Directors to advise them jointly and separately on issues of concern to our users and to the broader astronomical community. The tasks of the Committee include, but are not limited to: o to advise CTIO and KPNO on the needs of the community, both short and long term; o to help to evaluate how well CTIO and KPNO are meeting those needs; o to advise on ways to improve existing services and programs at CTIO and KPNO; o to suggest new services and programs needed by the community; o to review plans for service and program changes to meet changing community needs and budgetary constraints; o to advise on new instrumentation and the deployment of instruments and scientific capabilities north and south and on the plans and priorities of the NOAO Instrumentation Program; o to advise on policies and process for the allocation of telescope time at CTIO and KPNO; o to advise on CTIO and KPNO operations and policies; and o to advise on the evolution of telescopes and facilities to provide a good balance north and south." Malcolm Smith, Caty Pilachowski
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