Running for Office

We would like to encourage all members of the Academy of Legal Studies in Business to consider running for international office. The only formal qualifications are Academy membership for at least three years prior to election and maintenance of membership through the term of office. Most important is a desire to serve the institution that serves as our professional “home.” Past officers have come from all types of member schools--big, small, public, private–and that diversity has helped the Executive Committee serve its members most effectively.

Election to office requires a five-year commitment by the new officer, as the officer will move through the ranks from Secretary-Treasurer, to Vice-President, to Program Chair & President-Elect, to President, to Past President. These five officer positions comprise the voting members of the Executive Committee of the Academy. The duties of each position are spelled out in the ALSB’s Constitution, which can be found on the Academy’s webpage at alsb.org.

Election to office carries with it a substantial commitment of time and, to a lesser extent, commitment of resources as well. We encourage potential candidates to think these commitments through carefully and to discuss them with their deans prior to running for office. It is critical to make sure that your dean will value and support the substantial efforts associated with serving as an ALSB officer before you run.

Serving as an ALSB officer is a significant undertaking, not a mere titular honor. The time commitment to serve as an officer is substantial. The time commitment peaks, of course, in the year in which the officer serves as Program Chair, but it can be a sizeable commitment in other years as well, varying in intensity depending upon the issues and tasks before the current Executive Committee.  Although our by-laws and Constitution do not prohibit it, we would discourage tenure-track members from running for office prior to achieving tenure, as the time commitments required by the officer positions could well distract the member from completing the tasks necessary to achieve tenure. In addition, if you are tenured but not yet promoted to full professor, you should carefully consider whether serving as an officer would deter you from creating the record needed to support promotion within the time period you would prefer, or conversely, whether serving as an ALSB officer would enhance your record for purposes of promotion to full professor. Running for office and serving on the Executive Committee are not decisions to be made lightly.

In addition to attending the annual Academy meeting each year, officers are expected to attend a mid-year meeting of the Executive Committee (which may be online or may occur at one of the various regional meetings), and two or three additional regional meetings each year. The goal is for each officer to have attended each regional by the end of that officer’s rotation through the Executive Committee. In most instances, the home institution of the officer provides the full necessary funding for this additional travel throughout the officer rotation.

The largest time and financial commitments come during the officer’s year as Program Chair. Most officers’ schools provide financial support for the conference. In recent years, this support has ranged from $10,000 to $15,000, and has taken the form of either a monetary grant, and/or of in-kind services, such as providing photocopying for the programs, book bags for the participants, paper pads, pens, etc. It is important to realize, however, that there is no financial price-tag on running for office, and potential candidates should not be deterred from running simply because their school is unable to provide conference funding. The conference budgets are somewhat flexible and activities, events, and services at the conference can be adjusted to accommodate the financial resources available to the Academy in any given year.

The workload associated with running the annual conference is a constant, however, and the host school should be willing to provide the staff support necessary to make the Program Chair’s job feasible. Planning begins at the time of site selection (three years in advance of the conference) and continues throughout the next two and one-half years at a gentle pace. Most conference-related tasks will be concentrated in the seven months leading up to the conference. During the last three months, it is not unreasonable to expect that the Program Chair will require up to 20 hours a week of additional administrative support. In addition, most schools will provide funding for an administrative assistant to attend the conference to assist at the registration desk for the run of the conference. Again, these are important issues to discuss with your dean prior to running for office.

Once you have decided to run for office, the next steps are simple. Interested candidates generally give their name to our Executive Secretary, Jehan El-Jourbagy, who provides them with the opportunity to announce their candidacy and publish a statement in the Spring Newsletter. This is not a required step, however. We have had, for example, instances in the past of candidates declaring their candidacy at the annual conference itself. The candidates are voted upon at the annual business meeting. Many candidates choose to seek the endorsement of their regional before going forward, but that is not a formal requirement of running for office.

We encourage you to think seriously about serving as an officer of the Academy. Giving back to the Academy in this manner can be one of the most rewarding professional experiences of your career. If you have any questions about running for office or serving as an officer, please feel free to contact any member of the Executive Committee for more information.