Section Governance
Section bylaws
ARTICLE I: Name and Purpose
The name of this Section shall be the Kentucky Section of the Mathematical Association of America (MAA).
The purpose of the Kentucky Section shall be to advance the mission of the MAA on a regional level within the territory defined in Article II, Section 1 below; to offer guidance to the MAA as it forms and fulfills its mission; to provide professional development and networking activities for Section members and mathematics students in geographically accessible locations; and to promote discussion and action on issues affecting mathematics teaching, learning, and research in the region.
ARTICLE II: Membership
The members of the Kentucky Section shall be members of the Mathematical Association of America residing in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, Zip Codes from 40000 to 42799. Exceptions may be made by the Association according to Article III, Section 2 of the Bylaws of the Mathematical Association of America.
ARTICLE III: Officers
The elected officers of the Section shall be Chair, Chair-Elect, Vice-Chair, Secretary, Treasurer, Newsletter Editor, and Student Chapter Coordinator.
The appointed officers of the Section shall be Webmaster, Historian, and State Director of the American Mathematics Competition. Elected officers are eligible for appointed officer positions.
The Executive Committee of the Section shall consist of the elected Officers of the Section and the Section Representative to the MAA Congress.
Each Section officer, elected or appointed, must be a member of the Mathematical Association of America and of the Kentucky Section.
The elected officers, other than the Section Representative and the Chair, shall be elected at the Annual Meeting of the Section. The Section Representative shall be elected in accordance with the Bylaws of the Mathematical Association of America. The Chair and Chair-Elect shall have terms of office for 2 years. All other officers shall have terms of 3 years. Elected officers shall take office at the conclusion of the Annual Meeting at which they are elected. The Chair-Elect shall assume the position of Chair at this time.
The Section Chair, in consultation with the Executive Committee, shall appoint the Webmaster, and Historian. The Section Chair, in consultation with the Executive Committee and the Director of the American Mathematics Competitions, shall appoint the State Director of the American Mathematics Competitions. All appointed officers shall have terms of office for 3 years. The terms of office for appointed positions shall begin at the conclusion of the Annual Meeting.
For the election of officers, with the exception of the Section Representative, the Chair, in consultation with the Executive Committee, shall appoint a Nominating Committee consisting of a chair and at least four other members chosen to reflect the diversity of membership in the Section. This committee will present its report to the Annual Meeting of the Section. Nominations from the floor will be accepted at the time of the election. Only members of the Section may participate in the election, and a simple majority of those present and voting shall be required for the election of an officer. The Chair and Nominating Committee shall decide the winner if a tie vote occurs when there are two candidates for an office. There shall be a runoff election between the two candidates receiving the highest number of votes when no one of three or more candidates receives a simple majority.
The duties of the Section officers shall be as follows:
a. The Chair shall preside at each meeting of the Section and of the Executive Committee of the Section. The Chair shall notify the members of the Executive Committee of all meetings of the Executive Committee. In consultation with the Executive Committee, the Chair shall appoint all committees of the Section, except the Executive Committee, and shall be an ex-officio member of each committee unless otherwise directed by the membership of the Section at an official meeting of the Section.
b. The Chair-Elect shall have primary responsibility for the program of the Annual Meeting of the Section.
c. The Vice-Chair shall be responsible for conducting the MAA book sale at all regular meetings of the Section. The Vice-Chair shall prepare the meeting survey form for the Annual Meeting of the Section and shall present a summary of the results from that survey to the Executive Committee at its next meeting. In addition, the Vice-Chair shall preside at all Section or Executive Committee meetings which the Chair is unable to attend.
d. The Secretary shall keep the minutes of official meetings of the Section and of meetings of the Executive Committee, maintain custody of non-financial records of the Section, such as correspondence and conference programs, execute the official correspondence of the Section, and assist the Treasurer with conference preparations. The Secretary is responsible for all communication between the Section and the MAA headquarters, for facilitating communication between the Section officers, and for communication between Section officers and the membership of the Section. Annually, the Secretary shall receive all nominations for any Section awards, distribute these nominations to the appropriate award committee, send the Section winner’s nomination to the MAA Secretary, and prepare the Section Annual Report for the Committee on Sections.
e. The Treasurer shall maintain custody of the financial records of the Section, including conference registrations and fees, prepare registration-related materials for distribution at the annual meeting, receive the allowance provided by the Mathematical Association of America, provide safekeeping of all monies of the Section, maintain proper and accurate books of account of Section monies, and pay all bills of the Section from Section monies. Checks drawn on Section monies shall bear the signature of the Treasurer. Annually, the Treasurer shall prepare the Section Financial Report for the financial office of the MAA. The Chair of the Section shall also be a signatory on all Section accounts.
f. The Newsletter Editor shall assemble information of interest and importance to the Section membership, and shall publish this information in coordination with the Webmaster. The Newsletter Editor shall notify the members of all regular meetings and special meetings of the Section via the newsletter.
g. The Student Chapter Coordinator shall plan and implement student activities for the annual meeting of the Section and shall encourage the participation of students in their institution’s student chapters. The Student Chapter Coordinator shall encourage participation in the Putnam Examination in Kentucky and report the results of the examination to the Annual Meeting of the Section.
h. The Webmaster shall maintain the Section website and regularly post items of importance to the Section membership, including the Section newsletters.
i. The Historian shall collect and maintain any significant records and artifacts of the Section. The Historian is encouraged to summarize and put into context any significant events in the Section’s history.
j. The State Director of the American Mathematics Competition shall work with the Director of the American Mathematics Competitions to promote participation in the American Mathematical Competitions in the state of Kentucky. In addition, the State AMC Director shall arrange for public recognition of Kentucky’s 10/12 competition winners each year.
k. The Section Representative’s duties and term of office are outlined in the Bylaws of the Mathematical Association of America.
The Executive Committee shall conduct the affairs of the Section during the interval between meetings of the Section.
If a vacancy in an officer position shall occur, excluding the positions of Section Representative and Chair, the Executive Committee shall appoint a member of the Section to serve in the position until the next Annual Meeting of the Section. If a vacancy occurs in the Chair’s position, the Chair-Elect
shall assume that position for the remainder of the term, and the Executive Committee shall appoint a member of the Section to serve in the Chair-Elect’s position until the next Annual Meeting of the Section. If the current term of an elected position held by an appointee has not expired at the Annual Meeting, an election will be held at the Annual Meeting to fill the position for the duration of the current term.
ARTICLE IV: Meetings
The Section shall hold one regular Annual Meeting each year. Advance planning for the Annual Meeting shall be done by the Executive Committee. Each member of the Section shall be notified of the Annual Meeting at least 30 days in advance.
The Executive Committee shall hold at least two annual meetings. One of these shall occur immediately following the Annual Meeting of the Section. A second meeting shall be held in the fall at the site of the next Annual Meeting for the purpose of planning the Annual Meeting.
A Special Meeting of the Section may be called by the Executive Committee or upon petition by 50 members of the Section or by half of the Section membership, whichever is less. Each member of the Section shall be notified at least twenty days in advance of any Special Meeting of the Section.
At any properly called meeting of the Section, a quorum shall consist of those members present.
ARTICLE V: Fees and Use of Assets
The registration fee for the Annual Meeting shall be set at the fall meeting of the Executive Committee.
Any secondary school, undergraduate, or graduate student shall be exempt from the payment of registration fees.
The assets of the Kentucky Section shall be used exclusively to further the purposes of the Section, and in the event of the dissolution of the Section the remaining assets shall be returned to the MAA to be used for a purpose consistent with the purpose of the Association.
ARTICLE VI: Committees
Insofar as possible, the composition of all Section committees shall reflect the diversity of the Association membership and of the profession. The Section will follow the practices outlined in the document Avoiding Implicit Bias: Guidelines for MAA Selection Committees.
The Executive Committee shall function as described in Article III.
The Nominating Committee shall solicit nominations for the officer positions that appear on the ballot of the upcoming spring Section meeting. The Chair of the Section shall appoint five members to the Nominating Committee, one of whom shall be chair. At least three members of the committee shall be members who are not serving on the Executive Committee. The chair of the Nominating Committee shall run the election at the business meeting. The term of appointed members shall be one year.
The Teaching Award Committee shall solicit nominations for the MAA Kentucky
Section Award for Distinguished College or University Teaching of Mathematics and determine the recipient of the award. Nominations shall be valid for three years. The Teaching Award Committee shall be responsible for selecting a Haimo Award nominee from among current and past distinguished teaching awardees and submitting the Section's Haimo Award nomination to the MAA. The Chair of the Section shall appoint five members to the Teaching Award Committee, one of whom shall be chair. At least three members of the committee shall be members who are not serving on the Executive Committee. Typically, the previous year’s recipient serves on the committee. The term of appointed members shall be one year.
The Executive Committee may create and subsequently disband ad hoc committees for specific purposes. The Executive Committee shall provide a charge to such committees and shall determine how committee members and chairs shall be selected.
ARTICLE VII: AMENDMENTS
These Bylaws may be amended by a two-thirds majority of the votes cast by the members present and voting at an annual or special meeting of the Section, subject to the approval of the Board of Directors of the Mathematical Association of America.
A proposed amendment shall be submitted to every member of the Section at least twenty days prior to the meeting at which time the voting on the amendment will take place.
When an amendment has been approved by the members of the Section, it must be submitted to the Committee on Sections for its recommendation to the Board of Directors.
A complete revision of this set of Bylaws will be subject to the same procedure as that for amending this set of Bylaws.