External members of board of UiS announced

The names of the external board members appointed to the board of University of Stavanger for the period 2016-2019 have been announced. None of my nominations are among them.

See also: 

Uis received 33 proposals for external board members, including my 2

External UiS board members proposed

External UiS board members proposed

The board of University of Stavanger has external members as well as internal members, and the board will soon propose prospective external members for the Ministry of Education - which makes these appointments. I have suggested to university director John Møst that Dag Hessen and Arne Johan Vetlesen be considered.

NASS General Assembly attended; reelected Secretary

Yesterday I attended the 2015 General Assembly of the Nordic Association for Semiotic Studies (NASS), in Tartu, Estonia, during NASS IX. I chaired the very beginning of the meeting, and was reelected Secretary of NASS and Norway´s Ordinary Representative in the NASS board.

Reelected chair of Minding Animals Norway

At the Annual Meeting of Minding Animals Norway in Oslo on September 5th I was reelected as chair of Minding Animals Norway. Ida Knutsen was elected Webmaster, and Gunnar Kornberg member of the board.

The statutes was simultaneously changed so that board members are from now on just elected for 1-year periods, not 2-year periods.

English UiS website on university board updated

The English language website of University of Stavanger has been updated with recent information on board members. I am listed as 2nd deputy representative for temporarily employed education and research staff.

Election lost

I lost the election of representative for temporarily employed education and research staff with a big margin, winning only 6 votes out of 54. Kristian Thorsen was reelected, Clemens Furnes was reelected as 1st deputy representative and I as 2nd deputy representative for the period 2014-2015 (Autumn to Spring).

See results here.

See also:

Electoral program online at UiS webpage

2013-14: 2nd deputy representative in the board of UiS

This academic year I'm 2nd deputy representative for temporarily employed education and research staff in the board of the University of Stavanger. Here's updated information (published August 21st) about who's in the board this year (including Kristian Thorsen as the regular representative for temporarily employed education and research staff).

The first board meeting this academic year takes place tomorrow, with Kristian attending.

See also:

Election to UiS board lost (April 26th 2013)

Result of the by-election to the UiS board November 2012

The by-election for deputy representatives for temporarily employed education and research staff in the board of University of Stavanger was conducted November 15-20th 2012. The result:

• Clemens Furnes (Post.Doc. at Faculty of Science and Technology, Department of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Post.Doc) was elected first deputy representative, and 
• Kristian Thorsen (PhD student at Faculty of Science and Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science) was elected second deputy representative.

See also:

Now permanent member of the board of UiS; by-elections to be held in November (October 2012)

Election to UiS board lost (April 2013)

Board meeting of UiS attended October 2012

On October 5th 2012 I took part in my first board meeting for the University of Stavanger.

The agenda included: 

• establishment, restructuring and discontinuation of studies (where the discussion resulted in establishment of a new master degree in documentary production, against the recommendation of the university director)
• limits (number of study places) for admissions in the academic year 2013/2014 [where I did not object to the university director's recommendation to prolong the web-based bachelor in nursing for another year, against the Department of health studies' and the faculty's expressed desire]
• employment structure for teaching and research staff (where my statements and questions resulted in the (oral) assurance that only externally financed positions may be pure research positions)
• and reorganization of the 200+ strong Division for shared resources ("Felles ressurssenter") (which I supported).

[This is part of my catch-up blogging]

See also:

Now permanent member of the board of UiS; by-election to be held in November (October 2012)

Election to UiS board lost (April 2013)

Board meeting and seminar of UiS

Thursday this week I took part in the seminar and board meeting of University of Stavanger. The day included three events:

1. A joint board meeting with the International Research Institute of Stavanger (IRIS)
2. A brief regular board meeting
3. A strategy seminar for UiS, with the board members giving input to the revision process with regard to the university's strategy up to 2020

I made use of my voice at all three occasions, which all took place at the Stavanger Concert Hall. The regular board meeting approved the university's preliminary financial report for 2012, and appointed Elaine Munthe as Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Education, appointed Eric Brun as Head of Department at Department of Industrial Economics, Risk Management and Planning, and re-appointed Truls Engstrøm as Head of Department at the Norwegian School of Hotel Management.

University of Stavanger to take concrete measures in relation to ethical trade

On the board meeting of University of Stavanger November 28th, where I took part as the representative for temporarily employed staff, the university's "action plan for ethical trade" was treated by the board. A news story from that meeting reads (excerpts, my translation):

Action plan and strategy for ethical trade UiS were also presented. The proposal [of the university director John Møst] was adopted with amendments from the Board members Morten Tønnessen and Erling Øverland.

My amendment, which was unanimously supported by the 11-person university board (after rector Marit Boyesen suggested to remove the phrase "e.g. related to energy", which I accepted), was that the board asks the university director to assess some (plural) concrete measures the university can take in the period 2013-2016 to follow up on the action plan for ethical trade.

Now permanent member of the board of UiS; by-election to be held in November

Zafer Øzgen, who was elected as member of the board of University of Stavanger (UiS) this spring, representing temporarily employed scientific staff, has gotten a new job and quit at UiS. He has therefore withdrawn from the board of UiS, which means that I (a deputy board member since August) have moved up and become a permanent member of the board of University of Stavanger (2012-2013).

Nominations for deputy board members (1. and 2.) are due November 8th; the by-election will take place November 15th-20th.

Deputy member of the board of University of Stavanger

Since August 1st I've been a deputy member of the board of the University of Stavanger, representing temporary staff (here is a list in Norwegian of all board members - English page has not been updated). I will be in this position until July 31st 2013.

New ISBS constitution and board: About the election drama

Yesterday I posted "New ISBS constitution and board: About a backroom deal", and here, as promised yesterday, comes "New ISBS constitution and board: About the election drama". See also the documents on the pages of the International Society for Biosemiotic Studies (ISBS), namely a brief report from the General Assemby of the ISBS held on July 20 in Tartu, Estonia (under the 12th gathering in biosemiotics) and the new ISBS constitution.

This piece of paper was prepared, but not submitted anywhere, since our alternative proposal for members of the board was presented orally and all names proposed written on the black board in the auditorium where the General Assembly took place. All three of us - Gerald Ostdiek, Joachim de Beule and me, were up there. It was Gerald who got the idea a couple of hours earlier - that we should propose a new board consisting only of 'younger' scholars, given that arguably the true strength of a group of learned people depends on their ability to transfer power to a new generation. Generational transitions, in other words, and how smooth they are, are a measure of organisational success. The background in ISBS' case was also that all of the few who had been involved in recent conflicts were of the elder generation (including founders of the field of biosemiotics). During dinner that day (July 20th) I decided to support Gerald's idea, and the two of us made the list shown above. Straight before the General Assembly Joachim joined forces with us.

We were first of all motivated by the fact that the old board would only allow full lists of candidates, not individual nominations. Individual nominations would by far be preferable. But without that option, we thought the General Assembly should at the very least be given a choice, so that we could have a proper election, rather than just rubber-stamping the pre-made proposal of the board (which, notably, was only made public at the General Assemby). All this secrecy did not benefit anyone - and certainly not the members' trust in the board.

As can be read in Sara Cannizzaro's report from the General Assembly, the board's proposal ("List A") won with 37 votes, versus 12 votes for our "List B" and 10 blank votes. This implies that the board's proposal got 63% of the votes, our proposal 20% and that 17% voted blank.

Were we disappointed? Perhaps a bit silent at first. Given that Anton Markoš came out against our proposal (we had hoped for his support, since he had talked about the need for new people), as did Timo Maran (anything else would have been disloyal, given that he was nominated as Vice-President by the old board), and that only Marcello Barbieri of the biggest names explicitly supported us, we could not have expected many more votes than we got. But then, towards the end of the General Assembly and after the meeting, we all realised how the mood in the room had changed, after half an hour of presentation and discussion of our alternative nominations (where, notably, seven out of eleven people were in both proposals). To the better, for sure. So we thought our primary objectives had been achieved: To give people a proper election, to make the ISBS a little more democratic, and not least to give discontent a chance to be uttered and made visible.

Electoral program of Morten Tønnessen, running for the board of UiS

As mentioned in a post a couple of weeks ago I am running for a position in the board of University of Stavanger (UiS). The presentation of Zafer Øzgen, the other candidate, and myself was posted on the university's election webpage March 28th, and can be found here (in Norwegian). I submitted my presentation (which includes an 'electoral program') in English as well, and since this version was not posted by UiS I now post it here in my academic blog.

***

Morten Tønnessen (born 1976) is Associate professor at Department of Health Studies. He defended his doctoral degree in semiotics/philosophy – with a case study on Norwegian wolf management – December 2011 at the University of Tartu (Estonia). Tønnessen has experience from several organisations (he is currently secretary of the Nordic Association for Semiotic Studies (http://nordicsemiotics.org/) and chair of Minding Animals Norway (http://mindinganimals.no/)), and typically applies interdisciplinary approaches. In capacity of being a philosopher/semiotician who has for some ten years studied biological/ecological phenomena, he has connections to the humanities, social sciences and natural sciences, and thus maintains a wide and diverse academic network.

Morten Tønnessen will seek to pursue the following goals:

• Increased internationalisation (enhanced research mobility included)
• Higher aspirations for research (both in terms of scientific publications and participation at international conferences)
• Good conditions for interdisciplinary research and educational activities
• A green university

Academic blog: http://UtopianRealism.blogspot.com

Running for position as member of the board of UiS

I have nominated myself as a candidate for the position of member of the board of the University of Stavanger, representing scholars (academic staff) temporarily employed. This group is represented by 1 permanent member with two supplementary members in prioritised order. As the deadline for nominations passed on March 20th I was the only candidate, and the deadline was extended. As the extended deadline was reached on March 23rd a second candidate, dr. Zafer Øzgen, had been nominated, and our names were made public in an announcement stating that the electoral board had approved us as candidates. An election program from each of us is due by March 28, the election will take place electronically April 12-18.

If elected I will take part in board meetings around 5 times per semester in the academic year 2012-2013 (August 2012 - July 2013). Given that there are only two candidates it appears that I will at any rate become a supplementary member of the board of UiS, if nothing else.

Web page of Minding Animals Norway under construction

The homepage of Minding Animals Norway is under construction. You'll find a simple English language version here.

For those who understand Norwegian, here's a page where you can register as a member, and here's a presentation of the board members (including me, as the chair of MAN - see my Norwegian language blog Utopisk Realisme for the academic blurb on me).

Minding Animals Norway formally registered as NGO

Minding Animals Norge has now been registered as an NGO in Norway's Brønnøysundregistrene (Enhetsregisteret). Organisasjonsnummer: 997 336 216.

I am a founding member and a member of the board along with Rune Ellefsen and Rhys Evans. The first general meeting of MAN will take place in Oslo October 15h, at the closure of our Shared Worlds seminar (see our Facebook page here).

See also the webpage of Minding Animals International.

"Arne i 100" founded as NGO

Yesterday, August 25th, "Arne i 100" [Arne, 100...] was founded in Oslo, Norway, as an association/society aiming to celebrate the 100 year anniversary of deep ecologist Arne Næss' (1912-2009) birth January 27th 2012 (in the University Aula, Oslo), and to help arrange "the Arne Næss year" 2012-2013. I took part via Skype. I was thus one of the seven co-founders of the NGO, along with Kit-Fai Næss and others. I was also included as a member of the board, along with 8 others (Kit-Fai Næss (head), Martin Lee Mueller, Reidar Goffeng, Inger Marie Mørner, Arne Johan Furseth, Carl Fredrik Normann, Ola Tellesbø and Anders Krosshavn Vik).

I had proposals/questions concerning up to 6 of the paragraphs of the regulations (vedtekter). At least half of these were followed up by making amendments to the original draft.

Joining the Board of Directors of Minding Animals International (as alternative representative)

As of today it has been confirmed that I have become Minding Animals Norway Alternative Representative in Minding Animals International's Board of Directors. Rhys Evans is our regular National Representative. Norway is thus the fourth country to become represented in Minding Animals International's Board of Directors, after Australia, Germany and India.

I will further be one out of three board members for the soon-to-be-established Minding Animals Norway (Minding Animals Norge), along with Rhys and Rune Ellefsen - cf. our Oslo event in October.