Guidelines for Elected Officers of SWPA
President: The President shall
preside at all Presidents’ Council meetings, Executive Council meetings
and the Annual Business Meeting, and exercise general supervision over
the affairs of the Association. The President will present a
Presidential Address at the SWPA annual convention and additionally,
work with the other officers to arrange for the major invited speakers
for the annual convention. The President shall receive a
complementary room at the convention hotel during the year s/he is
current President of the association.
Past President: The Past President shall serve as an advisor to
the President, and participate in the President’s Council meetings,
Executive Council meetings and the Annual Business Meeting.
Past-Presidents receive a complimentary lifetime membership.
President Elect: The President Elect shall participate in the
President’s Council meeting, Executive Council meetings and the Annual
Business Meeting, and offer support and advise to promote the healthy
development of the organization.
State Representatives: State Representatives shall participate
in the Executive Council meetings and the Annual Business Meeting, and
serve as liaisons for members in their state. They should promote
the image of the organization and encourage participation in the annual
convention. They should be available to bring state members’
ideas, concerns, or questions to the attention of the Executive
Council. In the second year of their term, they should organize
an invited research symposium for the annual convention following the
guidelines for this event.
Student Representatives: Student Representatives shall
participate in the Executive Council meetings and the Annual Business
Meeting, and serve as liaisons for student members at large. They
should promote the image of the organization and encourage
participation in the annual convention. They should be available
to bring student members’ ideas, concerns, or questions to the
attention of the Executive Council. They shall chair the student
caucus at the annual convention and submit a report from that caucus to
the Executive Council.
Brief Guidelines for Appointed
Officers of SWPA
Secretary / Treasurer: The
duties of the Secretary-Treasurer shall be to keep the records of the
Association and the Presidents’ Council; to conduct official
correspondence; to receive payments for membership. The
Secretary-Treasurer shall have responsibility for all funds of the
Association and shall have authority to disburse these funds for
purposes authorized by the Council, as well as by the membership voting
at the Annual Business Meeting. This person shall keep a record of all
money received and all disbursements made. This officer shall submit an
annual report of the financial status of the Association for the
previous year to the membership at the Annual Members Meeting. The
Secretary / Treasurer shall receive a complementary room at the
convention hotel during the year s/he is current Secretary / Treasurer
of the association.
Membership Registrar: The
Membership Registrar is responsible for managing the membership
database and for communicating with members/potential members about
members’ profile and/or payment questions. The Membership Registrar
also will report to the Presidents’ Council and the Executive Council
upon request regarding membership numbers by search criteria available
through the database.
Program Chair: The Program
Chair shall coordinate the review of abstracts, send notices of
acceptance and rejection of presentations, plan the program for the
annual convention, and create a printer-ready document in a timely
manner to have it ready for the annual convention and for posting as a
.PDF on the SWPA web site. As needed, the Program Chair will also
create any necessary errata program updates to have available at the
registration desk at the annual convention. The Program Chair shall
receive a complementary room at the convention hotel during the year
s/he is current Program Chair of the association.
Web Master: The Web Master’s
role is to coordinate the planning, maintenance, and accessibility of
Web site content in a way that ensures good usability of the web site.
This individual is also responsible for creating some original Web site
content. Understanding of a variety of Web development languages is
required. The Web Master shall make timely changes based on input from
the Presidents’ Council, and with approval of the Presidents’ Council,
make ongoing improvements based on current best practices. The Web
Master shall receive a complementary room at the convention hotel
during the year s/he is current Web Master of the association.
All officers shall provide a recent picture and short personal
statement to be placed on the SWPA web site contacts page. This
web page shall be updated in a timely manner following the annual
convention when new officers are installed and updated as necessary if
mid-year officer changes occur.
Additional details of job expectations are listed in the approved
position descriptions.
Committee Descriptions
Finance Committee
Purpose: The
Finance Committee will review SWPA’s finances and advise the
Presidents’ Council and the Executive Committee on financial matters.
Specific issues for the committee:
• To advise on budget allocations. This advice should
arise from considering the following:
o financial risks to
the organization
o reasonableness of the projected income estimates
• To determine each year how SWPA should allocate
earnings in its endowments. Only earnings are subject to these
decisions. The corpus of the funds, including investment value changes,
must remain in the endowments.
o Allocation options
for earnings are:
• Use earnings to pay
for the designated speakers.
• Allocate earnings to increase the endowment corpus.
This action will restrict SWPA’s use of those funds for expenses.
Adding to the endowment corpus can re-establish the endowment’s corpus
value in years when the endowment’s corpus loses value, or build the
corpus when the organization has sufficient funds to pay its speakers
from operations.
• Accumulate earnings
for future expenses. SWPA may accumulate earnings for future years for
the designated functions.
o The Secretary
Treasurer will report to the Presidents’ Council the available earnings
as of the end of each fiscal year (June 30).
o The Committee will make a recommendation about
allocation of the prior June 30 earnings at the annual Executive
Council pre-convention meeting. At this time, the Committee will know
SWPA’s budget positions.
• The Committee will review proposed speakers for
each endowed series and confirm that the speaker meets the requirements
designated by the endowment.
• The Committee will advise the Presidents’ Council
about endowment investment accounts.
Committee composition:
• The Committee will consist of at least two
Executive Council members and other SWPA members with financial
experience appointed by the Presidents’ Council.
• The Committee will officially communicate with the
Presidents’ Council through the current President.
• The Committee will have access through Google
Groups to all financial reports.
• The Committee should consult with the Secretary
–Treasurer to clarify financial report items about which they need
additional information.
Initial composition:
Appointed in 2010
Awards
Committee
Membership
and terms of office:
The Awards Committee will be chaired by an Executive Council (EC)
member appointed by the Presidents’ Council (PC). One additional EC
member will also serve on the committee. The committee chair may
appoint up to 3 SWPA full members to the committee. All members will
serve three year terms with the exception of the first year of the
committee. The Chair will serve a three-year term and the other EC
member will serve a two-year term. This staggering will ensure
continuity of EC membership across personnel changes when terms end.
There are no term limits. If an EC member does not continue on the EC,
the PC will appoint a new EC member to fill the position, though the
former EC member may continue on the committee if appointed by the
committee chair.
Responsibilities:
The Awards Committee is responsible for the following:
• Developing policy recommendations for awards
• Recommending award amounts for the coming convention
• Screening abstracts to select the award finalists
• Arranging for 3 full-member judges to hear and rate
the final presentations in each award category
• Ensuring impartiality and avoiding the perception
of conflict of interest in all judging
• Revising/developing criteria for judging the
presentations
• Communicating to the Secretary-Treasurer the
results of the competition in time for preparation of certificates and
checks for the awards ceremony.
• Officiating in announcing the results of the
competition at the Annual Awards and Members Meeting.
Initial composition:
Appointed in 2010
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Current Officers
