Dear Division H,

The nomination period for Division elections in the IAU is nearing an end. All nominations are due March 15th. Division H on "Interstellar Matter and Local Universe" has four open positions that need to be filled: the Division Vice President and three Steering Committee members. Most nominations are really applications, i.e., self-nominations.

The current Vice President, Leonardo Testi, will become President automatically at the General Assembly.

Three steering committee members will rotate off, and three others will remain, namely, Eva Schinnerer, Ciska Kemper, and Cristina Chiappini.

The term of office for VP is 3 years, and for Steering Committee member, it is 3 years with a renewal for another 3 years if desired.

The duties of the Division leadership, including the President, Vice President, 6 Steering Committee members, 4 Commission Presidents, and 2 Joint-Commission Presidents are these:

1. Guide Division members on their writing and submission of proposals for IAU Symposia. These are due December 15th each year, with Letters of Intent due September 15th that are useful for coordination and avoidance of duplication. In 2017, there were 3 symposium proposals submitted in Division H and 5 others linked to our Division. Our job is to provide useful comments to the submitters and endorse by e-letter those that should be evaluated by the Executive Committee. The final decision about Symposia is based on votes by the Division Presidents and the Executive Committee of the IAU.

2. Evaluate the nominations for PhD Prize, which are also due December 15th. In 2017, there were 16 PhD Prize nominations in Division H.

3. Organize the "Division Days" two-day symposium at the General Assembly every three years and coordinate the writing of proceedings from it.

4. Submit a report every 3 years summarizing the state of the Division, and coordinate with the Commission Presidents to submit their reports. Our report for this triennium, submitted about a month ago, is posted here,

https://www.iau.org/science/scientific_bodies/divisions/H/

under "Division Web Page", under "Documents"

This Division Web page is run by the IAU but the content is entirely up to our Division.

5. The Division Presidents are invited to attend the yearly meeting of the Executive Committee, where they confer on Division matters and offer commentary and advice to the EC.

The job of the Division Presidents is helped enormously by the General Secretary and his staff in the Paris office. They are highly responsive to questions and have a well-run system for Divisional communications and on-line information.

IAU Division H currently has 2606 members.  

This is the time to reflect on whether IAU Division Leadership is something you would enjoy. The application is very simple, and may be found here:

https://www.iau.org/submissions/division_candidacy/

Best wishes,

Bruce Elmegreen, President
Division H on ISM and Local Universe