Officers of the Austin Chapter of the ASA

We will elect officers for Jan - Dec. 2004 in an election to be held in October or early November, 2003. Regular and Associate members of the Austin Chapter of the ASA are eligible to vote in this election.

All officers must be full members of the national ASA organization and members of the Austin Chapter.

If you are a member of the national ASA organization, you may check your term of membership and your chapter membership in the Members Only section of the ASA website. http://www.amstat.org/.

As of Sept. 1, 2003, we had no associate members. If you are not a member of the national ASA organization you may join the Austin Chapter as an Associate member by paying dues to Treasurer Betsy Greenberg at a meeting.

The call for volunteers and nominations will be sent via email to all on our mailing list. Ballots will be distributed by email to members only.

Officer Duties (from our Constitution):

President: Chairs the Executive Committee. Appoints the chairs of Standing Committees (who are not already officers.) Appoints the members of committees, in consultation with the chairs of the committees. Appoints special committees as needed. Ensures that the activities of the organization are carried out.

Past President: chairs the Nominating Committee.

Vice President: Serves for three years -- the first at VP, the second as President, and the third as Past President. As VP, chairs the Program Committee.

Secretary: Serves for two years. May be re-elected. Chairs the Arrangements Committee.

Treasurer: Serves for two years. May be re-elected.

Council of Chapters Representative: Serves for three consecutive years, on a rotation determined by the CoC. Communicates with the national ASA organization on behalf of the chapter. Appointed by the Executive Committee before August of the appropriate year.

During this election, we will elect four officers: President, Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer. Since the Secretary and Treasurer are supposed to have two-year terms that expire in alternating years, in the fall 2004, the Nominating Committee will work with the Executive Committee to decide how to handle starting that rotation of Secretary and Treasurer. Options include having one of them run for reelection in fall 2004 for a new two-year term.

Executive Committee: Composed of the officers and the Chairs of the Standing Committees who are not also officers. Selects the CoC representative. In addition to general oversight, the EC is responsible for filling offices that become vacant between elections.

Additional suggestions/requirements:

Based on our experience of the last few years the following additional suggestions have been made. These are not requirements. However, we suggest that the new Executive Committee, in organizing themselves, consider all of these.

Past President:

  1. Ensures that the incoming Secretary or Treasurer has the appropriate materials they need from their predecessor to begin their duties.

President:

  1. Submits the Annual Report of the Chapter to the national ASA office (in January or February.)
  2. Maintains a record of expenditures authorized by the Executive Committee. (While the checks will still only require one signature, this provides some additional accountability. We have never had any problem in this area, and, in fact, this authorization of a majority of the EC has always been obtained. We have not kept independent records of that approval in the past.)

Vice President:

  1. It has been suggested that the Vice President and Program Committee take charge of arrangements for meetings, since that must be closely coordinated with the program of the meeting to make sure that the facilities and equipments are appropriate.

Secretary:

  1. Provides a method for the officers to easily communicate with those on our email distribution list. (Various options are possible, such as listserves or lists through Yahoo.) Our email distribution list includes as many interested people in the area as we have been able to identify and is not limited to our membership.
  2. Updates the email distribution list as needed. (A major update was done in Summer 2003. Thanks to Ray Marr for many hours of work on this.)
  3. Maintains a spreadsheet of those on our email list, so that that can be passed on to the next Secretary who may choose to use a different form of email list.
  4. Ensures that those on our email list are informed about the activities of the chapter.
  5. While decisions about the privacy issues regarding our email lists should be made by the Exec. Committee, the Secretary will take the leadership role in bringing that up for discussion and making sure that everyone with access to the lists understands the agreed-upon limitations for their use. (Some members don't want our email list of 150+ people to be used as a discussion list, where anyone on the list can send to the entire list.)
  6. Ensures that at least a minimal web page is maintained for the chapter, with contact information for the current officers and a copy of the Constitution. (Web space is available through ASA. See the chapter list and notice that the Alaska chapter and Albuquerque chapter both have space through ASA. Other options are possible.)
  7. Keeps a record of meetings, available to the officers, at least. (Probably also available to those on our list via email or the web page.)
  8. Makes sure that the officers know how to find lists of members (ASA website for regular members and our Treasurer for Associate members) and that these are in a form that the officers can use for email communication.

Treasurer:

  1. Handles the financial affairs of the organization and makes quarterly reports to the Executive Committee, which are also made available to the members.
  2. Requests authorization of the Executive Committee for all expenditures.
  3. Maintains a list of Associate members.
  4. When entering the position, makes sure that the new signature card for the bank has been submitted, the name, address, and phone number on the bank account is changed, and the national ASA office is informed of where to send those checks.
  5. When leaving the position, sends the appropriate letter to the bank authorizing the new officers for the new signature card, and notifies the national ASA office to send the checks to the new Treasurer.

Council of Chapters Representative:

  1. Attends the appropriate CoC meetings at the JSM in August or finds an alternate and works with that person to make sure that the information from that meeting is brought back to the Exec Committee and others in the chapter.
  2. Receives communication from the national organization and informs the Executive Committee and the membership as appropriate.
  3. If the President is unable to submit the Annual Report to the national ASA organization, the the COC Rep submits it after consultation with the Past President or Vice President.

Last updated September 16, 2003. Mary Parker