Council of Chairs Governance

BYLAWS
OF THE COUNCIL OF CHAIRS OF BIOENGINEERING
AND BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING
 

	ARTICLE I Name and Mission
Section 1.	The name of this organization is the Council of Chairs of Bioengineering and Biomedical Engineering and shall be referred to herein as the Council.
Section 2.	The Mission of the Council is to promote excellence in bioengineering and biomedical engineering degree-granting programs.
Section 2.1	The Council of Chairs will foster discussions and make recommendations on matters pertaining to the role of Chairs of Bioengineering and Biomedical Engineering.
	ARTICLE II Membership
Section 1.	Membership is restricted to chairs or equivalent of bachelors, masters, or doctoral degree-granting programs in bioengineering or biomedical engineering, or programs that are planning to offer a degree related to above. Each institution is allowed one member per program.
Section 2.	Voting members are those who have paid their annual dues. These dues will be established by the Council. Failure to pay dues for one year shall be prima facie cause for suspension of membership and loss of benefits associated with membership.
	ARTICLE III Officers
Section 1.	Council members with existing degree granting programs in bioengineering or biomedical engineering can serve as officers. The officers shall be a Chairperson, Vice-Chair, Past-Chair, Secretary, and Treasurer. The terms of the Chairperson, Vice-Chair, Past-Chair and Secretary are for one calendar year each. The term for the Treasurer is two calendar years. Together these five officers constitute the Executive Committee of the Council. The Vice-Chair, Secretary and Treasurer begin their terms on January 1. The current Vice-Chair will become Chairperson and the current Chairperson will become Past- Chair on January 1.
Section 1.1.	If any officer but the Past-Chair should need to resign before her or his term is complete, the Executive Committee shall put forward a slate of names to replace that position. The replacement will be elected by a vote of the membership conducted via email or other suitable medium approved by the Executive Committee. Should the Past-Chair need to resign, the immediately preceding Past- Chair will be asked to fill the post. Failing that, the position will remain vacant and the Chair of the Nominating Committee (Article V, section 3 below) will be filled by the Chairperson.
Section 2.	The duties of the Chairperson shall be to preside at the meetings of the Council, to schedule, make arrangements for, and prepare agenda for meetings of the Council, appoint committees, and represent the Council in working with boards, councils and associations.
Section 3.	The duties of the Vice-Chair shall be to act for the Chairperson in her or his absence at meetings of the Council, and to carry out such other duties as the Chairperson may deem appropriate. The Vice-Chair shall be the Chairperson elect.
Section 4	The duties of the Secretary shall be to keep minutes of the meetings of the Council and preserve and transmit the records of the Council to his or her successor.
Section 5.	The duties of the Treasurer shall be to maintain the list of members, collect dues and administer all funds of the Council.
Section 6.	The Executive Committee shall be responsible for conducting such administrative matters as may be necessary between annual meetings of the Council. The Executive Committee will meet at such times as deemed appropriate by the Chairperson of the Council.
	ARTICLE IV Meetings
Section 1.	A meeting to be designated the Annual Meeting of the Council shall be at a time and place that coincides with the Biomedical Engineering Society Annual Meeting. An additional meeting shall be held at a time and place that coincides with the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering Annual Meeting.
Section 2.	Special meetings may be called by the Chairperson, with approval of the other officers of the Council.
Section 3.	A quorum shall consist of thirty members. A member may designate a voting representative.
Section 4.	“Roberts Rules of Order” (Bantam latest revision) shall govern the deliberations of the Council in all cases where they do not conflict with these Bylaws.
	ARTICLE V Committees
Section 1.	Standing committees of the Council may be established or abolished at a meeting of the Council. The standing committees will include the Nominating Committee and the Long Range Planning Committee.
Section 2.	The Chairperson may establish ad hoc committees as deemed necessary.
Section 3.	The Nominating Committee shall consist of the most immediate past Chair, as the Chair of the committee, the current Chairperson and the Vice-Chair.
Section 4.	The Chairperson of the Long Range Planning Committee shall be the Vice-Chair of the Council of Chairs. The Long Range Planning Committee membership will include the Executive Committee and four members elected by the Council for staggered two year terms (2 elected in the even years and 2 elected in the odd years).
	ARTICLE VI Elections
Section 1.	Elections of members of the Executive and Long-Rang Planning Committees shall be held prior to, and their results announced at, the Annual Meeting of the Council, except in the case when a member is replaced in mid-term, as discussed in Article III Section 1.1 above.
Section 2.	Each year, the Nominating Committee will create a slate of nominees for the following positions: Vice-Chair, Secretary, two members of the Long Range Planning Committee and, on alternate years, Treasurer.
Section 3.	Nominations for any of the officers may be made by all members of the Council. The Past-Chair heads the Nominating Committee and nominations should be sent to her or him before July 1.
	ARTICLE VII Amendments
Section 1.	Amendments to these bylaws may be presented at the Annual Meeting. If adopted by the majority of those present, they shall be presented to the full membership for approval in an email ballot or by other suitable medium approved by the Executive Committee.
Section 2.	Amendments to the bylaws require approval by two-thirds of the Council’s voting membership.