Steering Committee Handbook

This handbook is designed to help officers and members of the Association of College and University Biology Educators (ACUBE) understand the expectations of the various officers of the organization. Specific duties are, of course, often site and time dependent, but this handbook attempts to bring together the general list of tasks that past officers have found necessary. It is assumed that officers of the organization will attend the winter steering committee meeting as well as the meetings scheduled in conjunction with the annual meeting. For the winter meeting, the cost of lodging and one meal may be borne by the association, if the budget permits. In the process of putting together the handbook many of our past officers have offered comments and ideas and the organization thanks them for their assistance.

Executive Secretary

Primary responsibility: the maintenance of the central office duties of the association.

Term: minimum of three years and a maximum of five years at the discretion of the Steering Committee. Appointed by the Steering Committee.

Duties:
  1. Organizational Responsibilities

a. Maintain official current documents of the organization including, Constitution, Bylaws, Steering Committee Handbook.

b. Maintain the official mailing list of the organization.

c. Maintain the membership list.

d. Coordinate communication between members and other organizations.

e. Provide Steering Committee members with appropriate current information on the organization.

f. Serve as ex officio member of the Steering Committee.

g. Perform duties appropriate to the office as assigned by the Steering Committee.

h. Provide each Steering Committee member with information necessary for guiding the organization. This should include: Current constitution and By-laws, Steering Committee Handbook, and names, addresses, email, phone numbers of current Steering Committee.

            2.   Fiscal Responsibilities

  1. Notify and collect annual dues from members by mail and in person at the registration of the annual meeting.
  2. Provide a budget for approval to the Steering Committee at the winter meeting.
  3. Disperse funds as authorized by the Steering Committee.
  4. Manage the organization’s finances during the year.

Organizational Support

Organization monies for postage, paper, software, etc.

President

Primary Responsibility: Provide leadership for the Association.

Term: Serve one year as president-elect, two years as President, and one year as past president. Elected by majority of members at the annual meeting in even years.

Duties:

Preside over the annual meetings and the Steering Committee meetings.

Work with the Steering Committee to assure the Association meets its responsibilities.

Appoints chairs for all Steering Committee standing committees.

Recommends a first vice president elect (Program chair). Program chairs need to be appointed as soon as possible after the winter meeting that takes place 18 months before the meeting.

Works with the Program Chair and Local Arrangements group on the annual meetings for both years of the Presidency.

Represents the Association as directed by the Steering Committee.

 

President Elect

Primary Responsibility: Work with the appointed Program Chair (first vice president) to plan the next year’s annual meeting.

Term: One year before assuming position of President.

Duties:

Work with the Program Chairperson and the local arrangements group to plan the meeting for the year in which the Presidency is assumed.

Serve on the Steering Committee.

Serve as President in the President’s absence.

Past President

Primary Responsibility: Evaluate the relevancy of the constitution and serve on the Steering Committee.

Duties

Reviews the constitution, by-laws, and Steering Committee Handbook and recommends changes to the Steering Committee.

Serves on the Steering Committee

Participates in planning the upcoming annual meeting.

 

First Vice President (Program Chairperson)

Primary Responsibility: Coordination of the program for the annual meeting the following year.

Term: 18 months prior to the annual meeting for which the program chair is responsible, recommended by the President, appointed by the steering committee.

Duties:

In consultation with the Steering Committee, the Program Chairperson should propose a theme and format for the annual meeting to take place no sooner than 12 months hence, and suggest possible keynote speakers.

Prepare a call for proposals to be distributed at the annual meeting, submitted to the web page editor, and submitted to Bioscene editors.

Provide the Bioscene editors and  editor of the ACUBE website with a preliminary program for the upcoming meeting no later than February of the year in which the meeting will occur, and a call for participation no later than the November preceding the meeting.

Solicit presentations and be diligent in follow up (by phone and email) to inquiries or expressions of interest in presenting at the meeting.

Provide the local arrangements chair (second vice president) with a tentative program so that appropriate arrangements can be made.

Obtain presentation form from each interested presenter and get names of appropriate chief academic officer so that secretary can officially inform the presenter’s school of the contribution to the Association.

Identify audiovisual arrangements necessary for the meeting.

Make arrangements for speakers and send curriculum vita of speakers to the editor of the Bioscene before the spring issue.

Make arrangements for people to do introductions for annual meeting presentations.

Organizational Support:

Organization monies for postage, paper, telephone charges, etc.

 

Second Vice President (Local Arrangements Chairperson)

Primary Responsibility: Management in the arrangements with the host school of the next meeting.

Term: 18-24 months prior to the annual meeting for which the local arrangements chair is responsible, appointed by the Steering Committee after consultation with representatives from the host institution.

Duties:

1. Reserve campus facilities (including technology) required for annual meeting. These normally include

a. Auditorium for General Sessions

b. Meeting rooms for concurrent sessions

c. Exhibit space with room for break food and posters.

d. Dining facilities for the Banquet, Breakfasts and Luncheons.

e. Parking

f. Registration area

g. Audio-visual materials

h. Computer labs

i. Rooms for Steering Committee and Bioscene meetings.

2. Furnish the Steering Committee with available dates for the annual meeting by the winter meeting 18 months before the annual meeting.

3. Obtain estimates of costs in preparation for the winter steering committee the year of the meeting.

4. Arrange local field trips, including van transportation and trip leaders.

5. Arrange for exhibitors (registration materials, spaces, power, etc.).

6. Arrange for host institution Administrative officer (dean, provost or president, and chair of biology) to extend greetings.

7. Arrange for hotel/motel accommodations (reserve blocks of rooms that ACUBE members can reserve).

8. Assist with selection of a local speaker for the opening session.

9.  Provide for the Executive Secretary and the Bioscene editor(s), editor of the web site, and the program chair the following:

  1. Pre-registration information on hotels, meals, parking.

  2. The call for proposals.

  3. Prepare and submit registration form (this must be addressed to local arrangements chair).

  4. Emergency contact phone number for members attending the meeting.

  5. Map of campus and vicinity as well as general instructions for getting to campus.

10. Provide for registration

a. Arrange a way to manage incoming checks for registrations and dues.  Often, the host institution will set up a temporary account to hold these items.

b. Maintain accurate records of who has registered.

c. Have a registration table and personnel to staff it on Thursday night as well as all day Friday and Saturday morning.

    d. Have blank registration forms, blank registration receipts for onsite registration.

    e. Prepare registration packets, including receipts for registration, program, souvenir and nametags.

        NOTE: Local arrangements gets the final program printed and arranges for the souvenir

    f. Assist with sales of ACUBE related items (e.g., books, t-shirts)and have a cash box with change.

    g. Have a computer and printer available for preparation of ballots, meeting announcements, etc.

    h.  Make arrangements to have photocopying services available for ballots, call for papers, etc.

    i.  Have signage posted to direct attendees to registration, rooms, meals, etc.

11. Provide a table for the Executive secretary to use to collect dues, or assist in collecting dues at registration table.

12.  Provide publicity for the annual meeting to the area news media as well as to local colleges and universities.

13.  Provide a ballot box to the nominating committee (but is not responsible for balloting - nominations committee is)

14.  Make room assignments for the program sessions.

15. Provide the Executive Secretary with a list of attendees of the annual meeting, and list of those who paid dues.

16. Provide the Steering Committee with preliminary accounting at the second steering committee meeting, and the final accounting for the annual meeting within two months of the end of the meeting.

Organizational Support:

Organization monies for postage, paper, etc.

 

Secretary

Primary Responsibility: Maintenance of minutes of the Association and its Steering Committee.

Term: elected in odd years to a two year term.

Duties:

Responsible for keeping minutes of the Association and its Steering Committee.

Carry out correspondence as directed by the Steering Committee

Provide copies of germane correspondence to the Historian for permanent records.

Carry out correspondence relating to resolutions generated by the Association.

Organizational Support:

Organization monies for postage, paper, etc.

 

Member at Large

Primary Responsibility:  to represent the membership of the organization by assisting in carrying out the responsibilities of the organization

Term:  elected to a three year term, six total Members at Large with two elected each year.

Duties:

1.     To attend and actively participate in Steering Committee meetings.

2.     To serve as the chair of one of the standing committees.

3.     To assist in recruitment, retention and encouragement of active participation of ACUBE members.

4.     To provide leadership to the organization.

5.     To assist the Steering Committee in carrying out the responsibilities of the organization.

 

Editor – Bioscene

Primary Responsibility: Maintain the Association’s Journal – BIOSCENE

Term: Indefinite term, at the discretion of the Steering Committee. Appointed by the Steering Committee.

Duties:

Coordinate and publish Bioscene so that the journal reflects the interests and needs of the membership

Work with the editorial board to solicit papers from the membership.

Supervise the layout of the journal

Submit to the Executive Secretary a yearly request for funds to cover publication and operating costs of the editor’s office.

Maintain the electronic versions of Bioscene and the archives of ACUBE/AMCBT publications.

Ex officio member of the Steering Committee.

Organizational Support

Editorial Board and membership.

 

Bioscene  Editorial Board Member

Term: Three years, selected by the editor and chair of the editorial board.

Duties:

Solicit manuscripts, art, and News and Views submissions for Bioscene.

Review manuscripts in a timely manner (about two manuscripts per year) or inform the chair of the editorial board and/or Bioscene editor(s) about schedule conflicts within one week of the initial review request.

Provide specific comments on the manuscript that can be sent to the author an make recommendations for acceptance or rejection of the manuscript to the chair of the editorial board or the editor(s).

Attend the editorial board meeting held during the annual ACUBE meeting.

Actively consider submitting an article or reviews of software, laboratory materials, new texts, recently published books on biology or other areas of interest to the ACUBE membership.

Serve as chair of the editorial board at the request of the editors of Bioscene. The chair shall edit, respond to authors, and distribute manuscripts for peer review.

 

Association Historian

Primary Responsibility: Maintain the permanent archive of the Association

Term: at the discretion of the Steering Committee and the Membership Appointed by the Steering Committee.

Duties:

Solicit and maintain the permanent archive of the Association publications, minutes and other materials.

Maintain an archive of annual membership rosters.

Produce one article per year for the Bioscene.

Process archival requests of the Steering Committee.

Ex officio member of the Steering Committee.

Organizational Support:

Organization monies for postage, etc.

 

Editor of the Web Site

Primary Responsibility: To prepare materials and edit submissions to be posted on the ACUBE website.

Term: At the discretion of the Steering Committee, appointed by the Steering Committee.

Duties:

Oversee the information presented on the ACUBE website, with the exception of the ACUBE publications pages.

Update information as appropriate (e.g., governance, dates, meeting information, links), or direct that it be updated by the appropriate persons.

Attend Steering Committee meetings.

Coordinate with the Steering Committee members about information to be included in the web site.

Provide proposed changes in the design of the website to the ACUBE Steering Committee for approval.

Ensure that the website design is ADA compliant.

Organizational Support:

ACUBE shall pay any fees associated with registration of the domain name and hosting of the website, subject to approval by the Steering Committee.

 

Technical Manager of the Web Site

Primary Responsibility: To post information provided by the managing editor, to maintain the proper functioning of the web site.

Term: At the discretion of the Steering Committee, appointed by the Steering Committee.

Duties:

Maintain registration of the site.

Oversee technical aspects of keeping the ACUBE website functioning properly, i.e., check all links regularly and repair broken ones.

In a timely fashion, post information supplied by the managing editor, or the Bioscene editors relevant to ACUBE publications.

Provide proposals for improving the technical functioning of the ACUBE website to the Steering Committee as appropriate or requested by the Steering Committee.

Administer the listserve.

Organizational Support:

Organization monies for registration, software upgrades, etc.

Internet committee.

ACUBE Steering Committee Affiliates and Standing Committees

Revised Feb. 2008

            Affiliates of the Steering Committee are individuals appointed to carry out duties that are temporary in nature but reoccur on an annual basis.  The Affiliates are appointed annually by the President  with the concurrence of the Steering Committee.  Affiliates are not required to be members of the Steering Committee.  The chairs of all standing committees of the Steering Committee are appointed yearly from the members of the Steering Committee by the President.  These appointments occur at the final Steering Committee meeting of the Annual Meeting.  Chairs do not have to be members of the Steering Committee but for the convenience of reporting, usually are.  Other members of the standing committees come from the membership and can either volunteer or are solicited.  To aid in this effort the Executive Secretary provides an updated membership list.

            The President with the concurrence of the Steering Committee may appoint chairs for ad hoc committees as they are created by Presidential decree and/or decree of Steering Committee.  Ad hoc committees can be chaired by any member of the organization with arrangements made for their reporting to the Steering Committee at appropriate times.  Ad hoc committee duties and length of term will be defined by the President and/or Steering Committee at the time the committee is generated. 

Affiliates:

Resolutions Officer
  1. Prepare a solicitation for resolutions from the membership to be published in each issue of Bioscene and should include name, address, and phone of individuals to whom the topics should be sent.
  2. Resolutions should be solicited by the officer from the floor at the business meetings of the annual meeting.
  3. The officer prepares resolutions for presentation at the Annual Meeting of ACUBE.  If outside expertise is necessary for any resolution, the officer may request that the Steering Committee approve an ad hoc resolutions committee.  The ad hoc committee will disband after the resolution is voted on by the membership.
  4. At the annual meeting, the officer prepares courtesy resolutions thanking the appropriate institution, groups, and individuals who contributed to the success of the meeting.
  5. Present resolutions to the membership at the final business meeting of the annual meeting.
  6. The officer shall determine the appropriate recipients of those resolutions dealing with public issues and see that they are transmitted to them. 
  7. The chair is responsible for transmitting the approved resolutions to the editors of Bioscene in appropriate form before the deadline date of the next Bioscene issue.

Awards Officer

            The duty of this officer is to act as the organization’s representative in the recognition of those individuals who have made major contributions to the Association over time through the conferral of the Honorary Life Award.  The Carlock Award recognizes ACUBE’s youngest members, graduate or undergraduate students with a strong interest in college science teaching.  The officer should be consult with some Honorary Life Members .  There is no obligation to annually recognize someone as an honorary life member. 

  1. The officer shall prepare a solicitation for publication in each Bioscene calling for nominations to Honorary Life membership and the Carlock Award.  The call should include the criteria for such nominations and directions for submission of the nominations. 
  2. Upon receipt of nominations and appropriate documentation, the officer will transmit the nominations to the Steering Committee for consideration. 
  3. After due deliberations, the officer will forward recommendations for Honorary Life and Carlock to the President for consideration by the Steering Committee prior to the next Steering Committee meeting.
  4. The Steering Committee shall consider the recommendation for Honorary Life at the winter meeting and if accepted, direct the Executive Secretary to obtain the appropriate memento to accompany the citation presented to the honoree of the Honorary Life Membership at the banquet of the subsequent Annual Meeting.  The Executive Secretary will prepare a check in the designated amount for the recipient of the Carlock Award, to be given at the Annual Meeting as well.
  5. For the Honorary Life Membership, the officer will prepare the written citation to accompany the presentation and either make or arrange for the presentation to be made to the honoree.
  6. The Officer shall prepare an article regarding the honorees for placement in Bioscene.
  7. The President shall inform the Honorary Life Membership awardee’s home institution of the honor.

Standing Committee(s)

Nominations Committee

  1. The committee chair, in consultation with the President, shall form a committee of no less than three people. 

  2. The chair will determine what offices will be vacated by the time of the next Annual Meeting.
  3. The chair will prepare a list of offices to be vacated as of the upcoming Annual Meeting and prepare a notice for Bioscene, requesting nominations or volunteers for the specific offices and include the name, addresses, e-mail, and phone of the individuals to whom nominations should be sent.  The notice also will include a brief description of the duties for each office.
  4. The chair or designated representative shall contact nominees and verify their willingness to serve the organization.
  5. The chair will announce the current slate and call for additional nominations from the floor at the first general business meeting at the Annual Meeting on Thursday evening.
  6. The chair will provide a brief description of the duties of open positions to attendees at the Annual Meeting.  The descriptions may be provided in the meeting program, message board, announced with the call for nominees, and/or through other means of communication. 
  7. The chair will repeat the request for nominations at the Friday breakfast and luncheon.  The chair will announce that nominations are closed after the Friday luncheon.
  8. The chair will prepare ballots for the election and the committee shall run the election on Friday night at the banquet of the Annual Meeting.
  9. The chair and committee will be responsible for the collection and tabulation of the ballots before the end of the banquet at the Annual Meeting.
  10. The chair will announce the election results at the Friday night banquet of the Annual Meeting.

February 2008