Constitution and By-Laws

CONSTITUTION AND BYLAWS

OF THE

NORTH CAROLINA GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY

[1992 VERSION/Revised 2005/Revised 2018]

Preamble

Believing in the need for the advancement of geographic knowledge in the schools, colleges and public life of North Carolina; the continuing importance of geographical information to the national and international well-being of the U.S.A.; and the desirability of a single organization to represent the diverse geographical personnel resources within North Carolina, we hereby establish and adopt this constitution for its operations.

Article I – Name

The name of the organization shall be the North Carolina Geographical Society.

Article II – Objective

To promote the field of geography in North Carolina.

Article III – Membership

Section 1. Individual Members. Persons who are interested in advancing the field of geography in North Carolina are eligible for membership. Nothing in this Constitution and Bylaws shall be construed so as to discriminate against any person on the basis of race, creed, sex or national origin.

Section 2. Institutional Members. The Steering Committee at its discretion shall determine the types, classes, or categories of such membership.

Section 3. Membership Rights. Individual members in good standing shall have full rights to nominate candidates for society offices, vote thereon and hold such offices if duly elected; all members in good standing shall be entitled to participate in programs and other activities and services of the society.

Article IV – Officers

Section 1. The officers of the Society shall be President, a Vice-President, a Secretary, and a Treasurer, and such other officers as the Society may from time to time find necessary.

Section 2. Each officer shall be a member in good standing.

Section 3. The President, Vice-President, Secretary, and Treasurer shall enter upon their official duties immediately following the regular Annual Meeting of the Society and shall serve for a term of two (2) year or until their successors shall be duly elected. Officers will be limited to a maximum of two consecutive terms in a position. The three (at large) Steering Committee Members shall enter upon their official duties immediately following the regular Annual Meeting of the Society and shall serve for a term of three (3) years or until their successors shall be duly elected with results to be decided no later than at the next Annual Business Meeting.

Section 4. The duties of the officers shall be as follows:

  1. The President shall be the executive officer of the Society and shall preside over all meetings of the organization and of the Steering Committee. This person shall appoint committees with the approval of the Steering Committee and be an ex-officio member of all standing and special committees. In the case of an interim vacancy in the office Vice-President or Secretary/Treasurer, the vacancy shall be filled by appointment by the President. S/he shall perform such other duties as normally pertain to the office of President.
  2. The Vice-President, in the absence of the President, shall preside at all meetings of the Society and of the Steering Committee. In case of a vacancy in the office of the President, the Vice-President shall succeed to the office. The Vice-President shall be responsible for the program of the annual meeting. S/he shall also perform such other duties as normally pertain to that office or as may be assigned by the President or the Steering Committee.
  3. The Treasurer shall receive all funds paid to the Society and shall deposit same in the official depositories and shall expend same on approval of the Steering Committee. S/he shall sign all checks. Accounts and books shall be at all times open to the inspection of the President and Steering Committee. The financial records shall be audited annually by a committee appointed by the President. The Secretary/Treasurer shall submit a report at the Annual Meeting of the Society and at such other times as the President or the Steering Committee may require.
  4. The Secretary shall keep the records of membership, attendance at meetings, and minutes of the meetings of the Society. S/he shall submit a report at the Annual Meeting of the Society and at such other times as the President or the Steering Committee request.

Article V – The Steering Committee

Section 1. The Steering Committee shall consist of the President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, and three Members-at-Large. The Editor of the North Carolina Geographer, the Social Media Coordinator, and the immediate Past-President shall be ex-officio members of the Steering Committee.

Section 2. All members of the Steering Committee shall enter upon their official duties immediately following the regular Annual Meeting of the Society.

Section 3. The Steering Committee shall determine the policies and activities of the Society, approve the budget, take counsel with committees, elect the editors of the Newsletter and the Geographer, and have general management of the Society. Each member of the Steering Committee shall have voting power.

Section 4. The Steering Committee shall confer at least twice a year (in-person or virtually) at the call of the President. At the discretion of the President, Chairpersons of the Standing Committees shall meet with the Steering Committee in joint session.

Section 5. All elected, appointed, and serving committee members must be a member in good standing and participate in 50% annual NCGS events/meetings.

Article VI – Nomination and Election of Officers

Section 1. The election of Officers and At-Large Members of the Steering Committee shall take place via election prior to Annual Meetings.

Section 2. Voting shall be by e-mail ballot. Only members in good standing may vote.

Section 3. At least three months prior to the date of the Annual Meeting, the President shall appoint a committee of three (3) to be known as the Nominating Committee. The duties of this committee shall be to provide a slate of officers, to have general charge of the election, to prepare, distribute, collect and count the ballots.

Section 4. Nothing contained in this article shall be construed as limiting the right to make further nominations via e-mail once the initial list of nominees has been provided by the nominating committee.

Section 5. A quorum for the election of the President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, and Steering Committee Members-At-Large shall be a majority of those members in good standing listed on the society e-mail list.

Section 6. The nominee for each office receiving the highest number of votes shall be declared elected.

Article VII – Meeting

Section 1. At least one meeting will be held each year with the times and place for future meetings to be recommended by the Steering Committee.

Section 2. Programs will be arranged by the Vice-President in cooperation with the host institution, subject to the approval of the Steering Committee.

Section 3. Business Meetings. A Business Meeting shall be held during the Annual Meeting. It shall be the duty of the Secretary to render a report summarizing the action of the Steering Committee and of the Treasurer to render a report summarizing the financial statue of the Society. Written or oral reports shall also be presented by the President, the Editor of the North Carolina Geographer, and the chairpersons of all standing committees. Elections of the Officers will take place at this meeting.

Article VIII – Committees

The following will be considered standing committees:

Section 1. Committee on Geographic Education: Committee to coordinate Society efforts to improve geographic education at all levels in the State of North Carolina.

Section 2. Publications and Public Relations Committee: Committee to develop and coordinate information exchange within the Society and to publicize geography outside the Society, including publication of the North Carolina Geographer. The Editor of the North Carolina Geographer and the Social Media Coordinator will be ex-officio members of this committee.

Section 3. All Standing Committee Members will be appointed by the Steering Committee and shall serve a term of one year. Standing Committee Members may be reappointed.

Section 4. Ad hoc committees will be appointed by the Steering Committee when deemed necessary.

Article IX – Rules of Procedure

When not otherwise specified in the Constitution, Roberts Rules of Order will be followed.

Article X – Changes in Constitution

Changes in the Constitution and By-laws may be proposed either by the Steering Committee or by petition of 25% of Members submitted to the Secretary. Proposed change will be made by affirmative vote of a majority of Members, and voting members must represent a quorum. Notice of the proposed change must be made available to all members with the call of the business meeting or by posting to appropriate platforms including the Society’s web page at least 60 days’ prior to the proposed change.

By-Laws

Section 1. Invitations will be solicited from institutions to serve as local hosts for Annual Meetings. An effort will be made to have the meetings rotated from one part of the state to another.

Section 2. Yearly (calendar) dues for individuals will be set annually by the Steering Committee and approved by those members present and voting at the Annual Meeting.

Section 3. Official Publications:

  1. The Social Media Coordinator will organize and distribute timely, relevant information pertaining to the Society and Geography in general.
  2. A scholarly publication, to be known as The North Carolina Geographer, will be published by the Society on a schedule to be determined by the Steering Committee.

Section 4. Officers shall consist of persons from as wide a variety of institutions as is available.