[Board] Emeritus

[Lisa Sweeney]

I agree establishing "emeritus" status sounds like a good idea. Making
it a role of respect that the board can grant at will (by board
motion), sounds logical. It has a positive connotation and I like that
the term is broad enough that it can be used for a variety of roles
people play within the organization, not just former presidents. I
hear the term "emeritus" used fairly commonly in the USA and
appreciate that Arnulf has looked up some translations and is finding
the term seems to translate pretty smoothly across languages. I agree
titles with "Ex" or "Past" tend to carry a negative connotation.

A definition of emeritus [1] is: retired or honorably discharged from
active professional duty, but retaining the title of one's office or
position:
So a couple of examples could be:
President Emeritus of OSGEO
Board Member Emeritus of OSGEO

To answer Jachym's question, "Former" president seems most commonly
used in the USA for someone like Bill Clinton.
Other descriptions tend to include the term number and or the years of
the term served, for example:
Bill Clinton served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001
"Honorable" is typically used to address a former president/ for introductions.

Cheers,
Lisa

[1] - http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/emeritus?s=t

On Wed, Jan 23, 2013 at 1:51 PM, Jachym Cepicky
<jachym.cepicky at gmail.com> wrote:
> Just asking for you from USA: What is now e.g. Bill Clinton to you? Can
> we used the same naming model for OSGeo?
>
> J
>
> Dne 23.1.2013 00:12, Cameron Shorter napsal(a):
>> On 23/01/2013 10:08 AM, Seven (aka Arnulf) wrote:
>>> On 01/22/2013 10:55 PM, Eli Adam wrote:
>>>> >On Tue, Jan 22, 2013 at 12:05 PM, Cameron Shorter
>>>> ><cameron.shorter at gmail.com>  wrote:
>>>>> >>Arnulf, I love the concept you are suggesting, but question the
>>>>> >>name "Emeritus", primarily because it is a term I suspect many
>>>>> >>are not familiar with. (I needed to look it up). However looking
>>>>> >>around I can't seem to find the right replacement word.
>>>> >
>>>> >In the US, I think 'Emeritus' is a common word.  Especially so in
>>>> >academia.
>>>> >
>>>> >Best Regards, Eli
>>> Thanks Eli,
>>> same in Germany, but it is also used for charitable orgs and the like.
>>> I also just got a confirmation from Carl Reed that this is the right
>>> term to use, they also use it in the OGC for their past board members.
>>>
>>> It is also known well enough in German to not confuse people and
>>> checking Wikipedia it seems to translate nicely into Emeritaat,
>>> Emeritný, Emèrit, Emérito, Эмерит, and so on.
>>
>> Based on feedback so far, I've changed my mind and it seems that the
>> word "Emeritus" does indeed seem like the appropriate name, and I
>> continue to be in favour of creating such a role.
>>
>
> --
> Jachym Cepicky
> Help Service - Remote Sensing s.r.o.
> jachym.cepicky at gmail.com
> HS-RS: jachym at hsrs.cz http://bnhelp.cz
> http://les-ejk.cz
>
>
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