TOS Honors Selection Committee

PURPOSE. The Selection Committee is responsible for reviewing nominations and selecting recipients for the honors listed below:
• Fellows
• Walter Munk Medal
• Wallace Broecker Medal
• Mary Sears Medal
• Nils Gunnar Jerlov Medal
• Early Career Award
• Mentoring Award
• Ocean Observing Team Award

SCOPE. The Selection Committee will review and jointly select, in accordance with established guidelines, the recipients for each honor.

AUTHORITY. The Selection Committee selects the recipients of each honor and provides a report listing all recipients to the TOS president for further action. The TOS Honors Selection Committee Procedure regulates the detailed selection process.

REPORTING AND DELIVERABLES. The Selection Committee will prepare a memo to the TOS President listing the individual(s) selected to receive each honor. The Selection Committee will inform the non successful nominators.

The TOS Honors Selection Committee is composed of the chair (TOS past-president) plus 6 TOS members (one of whom is an early career member) with staggered 3-year terms (3 groups of 2 members). New committee members will be selected by the TOS Council. A member of the TOS Ethics Committee and the TOS JEDI committee can serve as ex-officio members of this committee as observers without voting rights. Members of the Selection Committee are not eligible to be nominated for TOS Honors, and may not nominate or submit letters of support for nominations while serving on the committee. 

Interested in joining the committee? Scroll down to the “JOINING THE COMMITTEE” section and learn more.

The Selection Committee will meet in the last quarter of each year by online conference to review and discuss nominations. A quorum consists of four committee members, but all members of the Selection Committee are expected to vote on final selections for each honor. A conflict of interest form will be completed by each member before the first meeting. The TOS Executive Director will work with the Committee chair to produce an agenda for each call to be distributed one week before the call. The TOS Executive Director will take minutes of each call, will send them to the chair for verification, and will then share them with all committee members. Discussions among committee members are to remain confidential. Members will communicate by email as needed.

The Oceanography Society provides opportunities for members to gain valuable leadership experience while supporting the society’s mission and values by appointment to the TOS Honors Selection Committee. Committee members are appointed, and terms of service vary according to each group.

SCHEDULE
The self-nomination process for Committee appointments begins in the summer. Review and election/selection occurs in the fall. The terms of committee members begin on January 1 of each year; rotation is staggered to provide continuity.

ELIGIBILITY
All TOS members are eligible to nominate themselves for consideration for committee positions. Persons who are not TOS members are eligible with the understanding that if appointed, they must become a TOS member.

APPLICATION
The application system will be available in summer 2025.

QUESTIONS?
Please contact Jenny Ramarui, TOS Executive Director.