As some of you may know, I will soon be joining the Board of Trustees (August 15), and am therefore required to resign my formal role as Chair of the Wikipedia & Education User Group. This means a new vacancy had to be filled in the board composition and a new Chair had to be appointed.
I'm happy to report that in an online board meeting earlier this month the board chose Filip Maljkovic to serve as the new Chair of the organization.
As for filling up vacancies -- in addition to me leaving the board, another board member, Ananth Subray, has informed the board that due to other pressing obligations he will not be able to continue his role as a board member. Ananth has therefore resigned and will move to a position of "Adviser to the Board". I'd like to take the opportunity to thank him for his service to the UG's growth in the passing year.
With both me and Ananth leaving the board, 2 vacancies had to be filled. The board of the W&E UG has always been a working board, keeping it small but with highly involved members. In order to foster stability in the organization and an easy as possible transition, the board has chosen to co-opt 2 members from our UG that has always been involved and already know the organization well - João Alexandre Peschanski from Brazil, who has served as an adviser to the board since the UG's approval, throughout the board election process and ever since; and LiAnna Davis, Chief Programs Officer and Deputy Director at Wiki Education Foundation, from the US. As some may remember, LiAnna once worked for the Education team at the WMF and was the one to initiate the creation of the Education Collaborative, which later evolved into our current UG. She has been involved in the different stages of our formation and knows well many of the relevant stakeholders.
Both LiAnna & João were natural choices and bring to the board a wealth of experience running innovative EDUWiki initiatives. I have no doubt they will both contribute to the continued growth of the organization, till the next elections at the end of 2020.
Thus, the new Wikipedia & Education User Group board composition is:
Filip Maljkovic - Chair
Susanna Mkrtchyan - Vice Chair
Krishna Chaitanya Velaga - Membership Admin
João Alexandre Peschanski - Secretary
LiAnna Davis - Treasurer
To summarize, I feel very blessed to be leaving an even stronger board and look forward to seeing how this organization evolves. I'll remain involved as an 'adviser to the board' and will continue contributing to EDUWiki initiatives as a volunteer, educator, researcher and Open Education advocate.
Best,
Shani Evenstein.