Constitution of the IBA

Article I: Name

Section1: The name of this organization shall be the International Bryozoology Association.

Article II: Objectives

Section 1: The objectives of the International Bryozoology Association are to encourage research on Bryozoa and stimulate others to participate and cooperate through informal meetings and correspondence; to provide a forum for exchange of ideas; to establish a means and an opportunity for personal contact and interaction in aiming for better mutual understanding; to serve as a liaison among bryozoologists; and to introduce new students to the workers in this field.

Article III: Membership & Affiliation

Section 1. Members. Any individual who suports the objectives of the Interntional Bryozoology association and is willing to contribute to the achievement of those objectives is qualified for membership. Members shall be eligible to hold elective positions in the association and shall have the right:
(a) To vote for the President, President-Elect, Secretary, Treasurer, Conference Proceedings Facilitator, and regional representative on the Advisory council; to nominate additional candidates for those positions.
(b) To vote on the recall of elective officers.
(c) To vote on amendments to the Constitution and to propose amendments to the Constitution and Bylaws.

Section 2. The membership consists of all members of the Secretary's roll at time of adoption of this Constitution. Qualified persons become members upon application to the Secretary. Continuation of individual membership is contingent upon timely payment of assessed dues.

Section 3. Affiliations. The International Bryozoology Association may affiliate with other scientific associations upon approval of the Advisory Council. Suggestions for such affiliations may be made by any member to the Advisory Council.

Article IV: Officers

Section 1. The officers shall be the President, President-Elect, Secretary, Treasurer, and the Conference Proceedings Facilitator.

Section 2. Duties.
(a) The President shall preside at the business meetings, plan the triennial conference in consultation with the Conference Host, including arranging the paper sessions and technical programme; chair the Advisory Council; and represent the Association on appropriate occasions and such other duties as may be associated with this office.
(b) The Secretary shall maintain an accurate membership roll. A copy of this roll shall be supplied to each member annually. The Secretary shall also supply to each member an annual Newsletter in which following the triennial conference there shall be a copy of the minutes of the business meetings and a report of the conference; and maintain the official files of the Association.
(c) The Treasurer shall collect the prescribed dues and disperse funds for Association business, and other such duties as may be assigned by the President.
(d) The Conference Proceedings Facilitator shall see to the publication of the proceedings of each conference, including maintaining contact with the publisher(s), signing contracts as necessary, dispersal of volumes to conference registrants, advertisement of the Proceedings volumes, and any other such duties as may b required for successful production and distribution of the Proceedings volumes.

Section 3. At the triennial business session at the International Conference, the officers shall be elected by the members present from a list of candidates presented by the Committee on Nominations. Additional nominations may be made by members and/or by letter from members absent. The term of office shall be three years for the President and six years for the Secretary, Treasurer, and Conference Proceedings Facilitator. The Secretary, Treasurer, and Conference Proceedings Facilitator may stand for re-election.

Article V: Advisory Council

Section 1. Duties. The Advisory council shall advise the President on matters he brings before it, for example, conference site selection. It shall also serve in whole or in part as the Committee on Nominations, act in the absence of the President to conduct the Conference, and elect a new President, Secretary, and/or Treasurer if these officers resign or cannot serve.

Section 2. Membership. The Advisory council shall provide balanced representation among regions and consist of at least 10 members, in addition to the President, Secretary, Treasurer, Conference Proceedings Facilitator, Past President, President-Elect, and past Conference Host. The term of office shall be 6 years, with half of the membership elected each triennium.

Article VI: Conference Host

Section 1. The Conference Host shall be the member who will be responsible for the local arrangements for the triennial conference at the host institution. He will co-ordinate the use of physical facilities, including conference meeting rooms, dormitory and dining accommodations, and field trips and social programme, with the programme being arranged by the President in consultation with the Conference Host.

Section 2. Whenever possible the Conference Host will be responsible for editing the Proceedings volume resulting from the Conference.

Article VII: Code of Ethics

Section 1. In order to protect individual rights and to promote discussion it shall be an established requirement of each Conference that no information presented is to be used later in formal publication or formal presentation without acknowledgement for the individual making the contribution.

Article VIII: Amendments

Section 1. Amendments to this Constitution may be proposed by any member. Proposed amendments must be submitted at any time prior to 24 hours before the business meeting in writing to the President and Secretary.

Section 2. Voting on amendments shall take place at a business session of the Conference or by mail, at the discretion of the President. If presented at a meeting, a proposed amendment shall require for its adoption a favourable vote of two-thirds (2/3) of the membership attending the business meetings. If presented by mail, a proposed amendment shall require for its adoption a favourable vote of a simple majority of the responding membership of the IBA.