Club Charter
Mission Statement
The UF Carpentries Club is a group of independent members of the UF community dedicated to providing structured pathways for our colleagues to learn informatics skills outside of the traditional university curriculum. The Club is open to any member of the UF community including staff, faculty, and students, paid, and volunteer. We follow the Carpentries’ Code of Conduct to provide an inclusive and supportive environment for our learners and our members. In addition to our core informatics goal, we seek to bring the Carpentries’ teaching methods to instructors and to develop a research community dedicated to open and reproducible science.
Club Activities
Our primary activity is organizing and teaching hands-on informatics workshops using the materials and practices of the Data and Software Carpentry organizations.
We provide financial, logistical, and instructional support for these workshops, build relationships with other UF organizations to facilitate our activities, and interface with the international Carpentries organizations on behalf of the UF community. Club activities are sustained through fees charged to workshop participants and contributions from UF entities that benefit from the workshops.
In addition, the club will develop and share metrics to track the impact of our activities. The club will also provide educational development and networking opportunities for instructors. To maintain transparency, board meeting notes, workshop schedules, and all other club activities will be posted publicly on the web (when possible) at the UF Carpentry website.
UF has a wide network of affiliated organizations and has strong relationships with many other universities and colleges in Florida. The club will leverage these connections to help other entities become a part of the Carpentry community.
Club Board
The Club board is made up of seven members elected to 1-year terms. The board chair and board secretary positions will rotate every 2 months during the fall and spring semesters (2 individuals per role each semester) and at the transition to the summer break (1 individual per role during the summer). The board will identify additional roles, such as an election manager or treasurer, and appoint them as needed for appropriate durations.
To ensure that the club fulfills the mission of representing all members of the UF community, the existing board will encourage a diverse pool of board candidates based on various criteria including UF affiliation, academic or work discipline, and geographic location.
Elections
Elections will be held at the start of each fall semester. Candidates will self nominate with a short (<300 words) statement that will be publicly posted for voters to review. The criteria for individuals to stand for election to the board are:
- Is a member of the “UF community”, broadly defined.
- Has participated in a Carpentry event in any capacity (learner, helper, instructor, organizer, host, or funder) at UF or elsewhere in the past 2 years.
In addition, one board member is designated the “outreach board member”. The criteria for for individuals to stand for election to outreach board member are:
- Must not be located on the main Gainesville campus of UF.
- Is not required to be a member of the UF community.
- Is not required to have instructed, organized, or financially supported a Carpentry workshop.
- Prior experience with or knowledge of the Carpentries is preferred.
Anyone who has participated in (attended, helped, taught, organized, or sponsored) a UF Carpentry workshop in the prior 2 years will be eligible to vote. An election manager will be identified by the board to maintain the eligible voter list, notify voters, and tally votes.
Amendments to the Charter
Amendments to the charter can be proposed by existing board members in writing in advance of any board meeting. Amendments require a ⅔ majority vote to be accepted.