[Ieee_vis] Improvement to the VGTC Award Process

[Rosen, Paul]

[Apologies for cross-posting]

To our VIS and VR Community Members:

Under the leadership of Jim Ahrens, the VGTC Executive Committee has been working to improve the efficacy and efficiency of the committee, in part through more fully specifying and documenting the roles and responsibilities of the VGTC. Towards meeting this goal, as well as to respond to an ​open letter critiquing the VIS Academy Awards in 2019<https://sites.google.com/view/vgtcletter/home>​, the VGTC decided to review and update our award policies and processes. In December 2019, the VGTC Chair, Jim Ahrens, formed a subcommittee consisting of Miriah Meyer (Chair), Arvind Satyanarayan, and Paul Rosen to address this issue. Our charge was to document current practices and propose changes to improve and modernize the Awards portfolio and processes.

Over the 5 months that followed, our subcommittee met regularly and sought out feedback from members of the community currently and formerly involved in the award process, as well as other junior and senior community members. We sought to develop policies that we believed would increase oversight and transparency of the award process and diversify the applicant pool to reflect the increasing diversity of our community.​ ​Eventually, we formulated a set of 3 proposals, which the VGTC voted on and approved.

While the complete language can be found on the VGTC website<https://tc.computer.org/vgtc/about-us/newsletters/improvement-vgtc-award-process/>, a brief summary of highlights is:

  - Establish specific duties for the VIS and VR Award Chairs that includes developing a nomination plan that seeks out and welcomes input from a broad spectrum of community members, and documenting the selection criteria for each award.

  - Expand the portfolio of VGTC awards to include a new Early Career Award (up to 2 per year) and reviving of the Service Award, and supports the expansion of the Technical Achievement Award to up to 2 per year.

We believe these changes will improve the VGTC Awards mandate and increase the inclusiveness, transparency, and fairness of the nomination and selection processes. We acknowledge that there is still much room for improvement, and we encourage the community to reach out to us with additional suggestions for productive and positive changes.

Miriah Meyer, Arvind Satyanarayan, and Paul Rosen
On Behalf of the VGTC

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A copy of this letter and the approved changes can be found at https://tc.computer.org/vgtc/about-us/newsletters/improvement-vgtc-award-process/.

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