BYLAWS of the
Postdoctoral Society
ARTICLE 1 – Name, Purpose, and Guiding Principles
1. This Society shall be named the “UAMS Postdoctoral Society,” referred to in abbreviated form as the “UAMS-PS.”
2. The purpose of the UAMS-PS shall be:
- to provide representation and liaison between the membership (defined below) and UAMS;
- to promote academic and career goals of the membership, including but not limited to training and counseling efforts to assist career and professional development;
- to disseminate information of particular interest or relevance to the UAMS postdoctoral scholars community;
- to foster interactions among postdoctoral scholars at UAMS in order to promote a mutually beneficial academic environment.
3. The UAMS-PS shall be an agency of advocacy and aid to the community of UAMS postdoctoral scholars. It shall have no coercive powers over its membership, nor shall membership be in any way mandatory of anyone associated with UAMS.
4. All actions of the UAMS Postdoctoral Society shall be undertaken without discrimination on the basis of race, national or ethnic origin, religion, gender, sexual orientation, age, or disability. This does not preclude the Society from carrying out activities or programs that have as the goal the amelioration of conditions, which may restrict members from full participation in the Society or its activities. This includes but shall not be limited to membership decisions, and organization of all events and programs. This policy against discrimination shall also apply to groups not explicitly mentioned here, but which may be recognized at a later date.
ARTICLE 2 – Membership
1. The Society shall consist of and serve two groups of individuals: members and affiliates.
2. Membership in the UAMS-PS shall be open to persons who are employed by UAMS in the capacity of Postdoctoral Scholars, or in positions of employment at UAMS which the membership deems equivalent though not necessarily identical in title or form. Membership shall include all scholars with a doctorate degree who do not currently hold a permanent full-time faculty position at UAMS. Specifically, persons holding such titles as postdoctoral trainee, postdoctoral fellow, research fellow, research associate, or medical center fellow are eligible for membership. The rights to vote and to hold office in the Society shall be reserved for full members of the Society only.
3. Affiliateship shall be open to those members of the UAMS community (including graduate students and research assistants) not eligible for full membership but that the membership nonetheless feels should be allowed to take advantage of the benefits provided by the Society.
5. All activities, discussions, and programs not explicitly restricted to members by these Bylaws shall be open to both members and affiliates.
6. Neither membership nor affiliateship shall require dues to the Society. However, fees may be collected for participation in events to defray the cost of materials and sponsoring of the events.
ARTICLE 3 – Governing board, Officers, Duties,
and Terms of Office
1a. The Society shall be governed by an elected board consisting of five officers, Chair, Vice-Chair, Secretary, Treasurer, and External Affairs Officer, and up to three members at large. The governing board as a whole shall be elected by the membership of the UAMS-PS. The officers shall then be elected by the newly elected board from within its members. Each of the officers shall perform the usual duties associated with that office, and such other duties as specified in these Bylaws or their Addenda. All board members shall serve a term of one year with elections to the governing board to be held annually. Terms of office shall begin one month after the election, and newly elected board members shall attend all board functions during the month between elections and the beginning of their terms of office.
1b. Until the first election of a governing board for the Association such volunteers as have been acting in the capacity of a governing board shall be considered the provisional governing board with duties as enumerated in these Bylaws for the elected governing board.
2. The governing board shall have general supervision of the affairs of the Society, performing the duties and abiding by the limitations specified in these Bylaws. Actions of the governing board may be challenged by the membership either at the Society meetings, or by e-mail request. In either forum, a challenge shall require support of 10% of the membership to force a review of and vote on the governing board’s decision. A request to review shall be sent to the Board within thirty days following the decision in question and shall be opened to discussion and vote at the next scheduled board meeting.
3a. Candidates for election to the governing board shall be nominated from among the full members of the Society. Self nominations shall be permitted. Voting shall be performed via online polling unless otherwise decided by the Society. Each member of the Society shall cast one vote each. The board shall be composed of the eight candidates receiving the most votes. Should fewer than eight candidates be nominated, the election may be omitted and the entire slate selected to be the new Governing Board. It is desirable that nominees to the governing board should be able to serve a second term should they still be eligible and affiliated with UAMS at the time of the next election. This is intended to foster continuity in the governing board. (See article 5g, below.)
3b. Should the election lead to a tie for places bridging eighth, all candidates up to and including those tied shall convene to stage a runoff election in which they shall select only eight to the board from within their number. This rule is in recognition that the governing board must be able to work together and thus, in such undecided cases only, should have input on its composition.
4. In the case of an officer’s prolonged absence, incapacity, resignation, removal, or death, the board shall appoint a replacement from among them to perform the duties of the office.
5a. The general duties of all board members shall include:
- attendance at and organization of general membership meetings;
- attendance at and organization of monthly board meetings and participation in conducting the business of the Society;
- representation of the membership and concerns voiced by the membership.
5b. The duties specific to the Chair shall be in addition to the general duties of board members and include:
- presiding over meetings of the board;
- reporting Society business conducted by the board to the membership at Society meetings;
- attending meetings between the Society and representatives of UAMS regarding formal Society business, with the exception of meetings and business delegated to a specific group of members by the board.
- maintaining the membership list, to be updated every 6 months.
5c. The duties specific to the Vice-Chair shall be in addition to the general duties of board members and include:
- acting in the president’s stead in individual instances when the president is unable to perform his or her duty;
5d. The duties specific to the Secretary shall be in addition to the general duties of board members and include:
- maintaining records of board meetings and Society activities;
- attending all meetings between the Society and representatives of UAMS regarding formal Society business;
- organizing publicity for activities of the UAMS-PS through mailings, posters, newsletter, newspaper etc.
5e. The duties specific to the Treasurer shall be in addition to the general duties of board members and include:
- maintaining budget records for the Society;
- organizing fund-raising efforts of the organization;
- authorizing, subject to board approval, financial transactions on behalf of the Society, and maintaining records of all financial activities of the Society;
- compiling the UAMS-PS Annual Financial Report, with the input of the UAMS-PS committees, and disseminating it to the community.
5f. The duties specific to the External Affairs officer shall be in addition to the general duties of board members and include:
- overseeing maintenance of the Society web site;
- coordinating interactions with postdoctoral Associations and Societies at other institutions as well as national organizations.
5g. To promote continuity of the board and its activities, it is desirable that members should be willing and able to serve on the board for two consecutive terms. Candidates for board membership must be able to fulfill this requirement at least in principle at the time of their candidacy to be eligible for election. It is recognized, however, that a board member may leave the institute or be subject to a change in employment. Board members who leave the organization in this manner shall simply be replaced at the next scheduled election. The duties or office of the departed board member shall be reassigned within the board by decision of the board, and the vacancy filled at the time of the next election.
6. A member of the governing board may be removed by either a two-thirds majority vote within the board, or a two-thirds majority vote by the membership at large at a Society meeting. This rule shall apply equally to officers and board members at large.
ARTICLE 4 – Voting, Representation, and Discussion
1a. Voting by the membership of the UAMS-PS shall be by electronic ballot unless otherwise requested or specified in these bylaws. Alternately an item can be brought up for a vote at a Society meeting, if 30% or more of the Society membership is present. A vote at a Society meeting shall be counted relative to the attending membership.
1b. All votes shall be passed by a simple majority unless specified otherwise in these Bylaws or their Addenda. The required number of votes for a majority as specified here or elsewhere in these bylaws shall always be rounded up to the nearest full vote.
1c. Votes shall be counted relative to the submitted ballots. Votes may be cast for or against an action, and any member may abstain from voting. Any necessary majority shall be counted only relative to the votes cast for or against the action. Abstentions shall be considered as silently assenting to the winning decision.
2. A requirement of 10% support for requests for special action by the membership shall be interpreted to mean a petition by 10% of the full membership as determined by the current membership list. Petitions may be signed by both full members and affiliates.
3. In order to provide adequate representation, members shall have access to the members of the governing board though personal communication of any form, such as e-mail, and free expression at the monthly board meetings. Subject brought up for discussion outside a board meeting shall be added to the agenda for the next meeting.
4a. Board meetings shall be held monthly to facilitate prompt and ongoing discussion of and action on concerns of the membership. These board meetings shall be open to attendance by any interested members of the Society. A monthly meeting may be cancelled or postponed in the event of overriding constraints, such as a significant number of board members not being available. Two or more consecutive board meetings may not be cancelled.
4b. Any member of the Society may attend the monthly governing board meetings.
5. Any member at a board meeting may bring a subject to the attention of the board for discussion. To allow the membership to review such discussion, no vote may be taken on a subject before the minutes from the meeting at which it was raised have been distributed to the membership.
ARTICLE 5 – Elections
1. Elections shall be held annually within one month of the first full meeting of the UAMS-PS membership that year.
2. Elections shall be organized by a special election committee appointed by the governing board. This committee shall be formed and its membership made public to the Society no less than one week prior to the associated full meeting to provide the Society time and opportunity to comment on and change its composition. This election committee shall consist of no fewer than three full members of the Society. It shall be dissolved one week after elections.
3. The election committee shall be responsible for:
- soliciting nominations for board membership from the Society at large;
- confirming that the nominees are able and willing to perform the duties of the elected position as specified in these Bylaws;
- reporting the slate of candidates to the governing board and the Society at large;
- collecting and publishing candidate statements;
- organizing the election process, including polling the membership, tallying votes, and reporting the results to the governing board and the Society at large.
4. Members of the Society shall be free to observe any and all activities of the election committee. Committee meetings shall be held in public places and announced in advance to facilitate this goal.
5. Voting shall be by electronic ballot with each member casting one vote each. Candidates shall be ranked from highest to lowest vote counts with the highest eight being elected to the board. Should a tie involving eighth rank occur it shall be broken by vote within the board: all candidates with a number of votes greater or equal to the tie count shall vote to break the tie of the disputed places. This process shall be organized by the election committee.
ARTICLE 6 – Committees
1. The committees of the Society shall consist of such standing committees as may be provided by these Bylaws and such special committees as may be established by the board and/or membership of the Society
2. Membership in the committees shall be open to all members of the Society. Selection of committee members shall be made by the governing board unless otherwise decided for the committee in question. Removal of committee members shall be by majority vote of the board should such action be deemed necessary.
3. The standing committees of the Society shall be as enumerated here:
- Social
- Career
- Advocacy
- Outreach
- Organization
A primary but not exclusive list of duties and aims of these committees is enumerated in Item 1 of the addenda to these Bylaws (see below).
4. Special committees or standing committees shall be established as needed by the governing board.
5. A special election
committee shall be convened by the governing board to organize elections, and
report election results to the membership. Details are specified in article 5
of these Bylaws.
ARTICLE 7 – Activities
Meetings of the full membership of the Society shall be held no less than once, preferably twice, per year for the transaction of business of the Society, including but not limited to reports to the membership, and discussion of the membership’s concerns and suggestions and requests for actions to be taken by the Society.
ARTICLE 8 – Rules of Procedure
The rules contained in the current edition of Robert’s Rules of Order (Newly Revised) shall govern the Society in all cases to which they are applicable and where they are not inconsistent with these Bylaws and any special rules of order the Society might adopt (RONR [10th ed.], p. 15, l. 17-25; p. 561-62, 569).
ARTICLE 9 – Amendments
These Bylaws may be amended by a two-thirds majority vote of full members at full meetings or who reply to an electronic ballot sent to the full membership. Amendments may be initiated by members of the governing board of the Society or by petition of 10% of the full membership at meetings.
ARTICLE 10 – Dissolution
In the event of the dissolution or termination of the Society, all of the assets and title to and possessions of the property of the Society shall pass to the UAMS Graduate Student Association.
ARTICLE 11 – Applicability and Ratification of these Bylaws
1. These Bylaws shall be considered provisional until ratified by the UAMS-PS membership at the first available full meeting. Ratification shall require a two-thirds majority vote. They shall become binding on the Society immediately upon such ratification. Should these Bylaws not be ratified at that time, modifications requested by the membership shall be discussed and voted upon via online methods. Once ratified by a two-thirds majority vote, these Bylaws and any modifications made to them in this process shall become binding.
2. At the above mentioned first meeting, the election process for officers and board members shall be initiated by the provisional board in existence at that time. The provisional board shall serve until the conclusion of the first election plus one month overlap, at which time the elected board shall assume leadership of the organization.
ADDENDA to the Bylaws of the UAMS Postdoctoral
Society
Duties and Aims of standing committees
The duties and aims of the standing committees of the Society shall be as enumerated in the following list. The listed Duties and Aims shall not be exclusive and further items may be added as deemed necessary by the committees.
1. Social: Organize events to provide opportunities for social, professional and academic networking:
- ease the arrival of new Postdocs to UAMS by providing campus and community orientations and introducing Postdocs to useful services sponsored by both the UAMS-PS and UAMS;
- provide opportunities for social and academic networking, the most frequent of which is the monthly Social Hour;
- encourage social, educational, and cultural activities for the spouses, companions and families of Postdocs at UAMS.
2. Career: aid Postdocs in developing careers:
- liaise
with the
- provide peer review and mentoring for postdoctoral fellows searching for positions in academics and alternative careers;
- provide listings and information on private and public funding sources;
- provide workshops/forums to address career related issues such as balancing career and home, goal-setting, etc.
3. Advocacy: improve conditions, relating to benefits and representation, for all postdocs;
- poll the postdoc community on a regular basis to ascertain top concerns to address with the administration to improve the postdoc experience and plan appropriate programming for postdocs by other committees.
- seek adequate benefits for postdocs commensurate with the level of education and skill demonstrated by the Ph.D.;
- seek recognition for postdocs as members of the campus community with a distinct set of contributions and needs, work to get a voice in campus decisions that affect postdocs, and establish a Postdoc Advisory Committee to formalize and coordinate our relationships with faculty and campus administrators;
4. Women’s and Minorities’ Issues: improve the situation on campus for our female, minority and international scholars through work with the Women’s Faculty Development Caucus.
5. Outreach:
increase the postdoctoral involvement in the
- support opportunities, for tutoring, teaching, and mentoring, both on and off campus;
- support service opportunities in the community both within UAMS and in the surrounding communities
6. Organization:
- prepare and maintain email distribution lists for contacting the UAMS-PS membership;
- review and recommend membership or affiliateship status for classes of individuals not explicitly enumerated in these Bylaws;
-
review and recommend changes of procedures and
organization of the UAMS-PS