Chapter Guidelines
A. Chartering a Chapter
The process for forming a chapter of the American Physiological Society
is quite simple. The interested group needs only to submit a Petition for
Chapter Status to Council, via the Central Office. This petition must be
signed by ten Regular or Emeritus Members of the Society who reside in the
same region. A name, reflecting its geographical location, should be
specified on the petition. Petitions are reviewed by a Chapter Advisory
Committee and the APS Council annually.
A chapter may adopt bylaws for the regulation of its affairs provided
they do not conflict with the "Articles of Incorporation" or the Bylaws of
the APS. Bylaws must be submitted to Council for approval before they may be
formally adopted by a Chapter.
B. Chapter Administration
The Society has no regulations regarding the administration of its
individual chapters. In this section of the manual, we would like to
recommend methods of administration.
In general, chapters have adopted an organizational structure which
includes a President or Chairperson. They may also include a Secretary and
Treasurer (often both these roles are performed by a single individual). The
mechanisms for officer selection differ, though most are elected for a
specified tenure by a plurality or majority of votes. Chapters which choose
to adopt bylaws often include a section which carefully defines further
election procedures.
The degree of formalization of the Chapters' administrative structure
varies considerably and tends to be related to the size of the chapter. A
chapter might be composed of a council, as well as officers. The council may
also include student representation. In this way, responsibility is
delegated to a group who may be better able to represent the membership as a
whole. A chapter may find it advantageous to appoint committees which are
responsible for specific functions such as membership drives, newsletters,
and special programs.
Leadership Transition: The transition in the leadership of a Chapter
often signifies a breakdown in communications within the Chapter. It is
vital that the outgoing and incoming officers work together to exchange
important information and documents.
Listed below are several suggestions to help smooth the
transition.
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All new officers should specifically request the transfer of
any existing files regarding the chapter and its previous activities.
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The Central Office should be notified, preferably in
writing, immediately after a change in leadership to ensure that all
mailings are sent to the appropriate person.
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Establish a position of Past President or President-Elect.
This assures that the incoming president will have a "training period"
before assuming complete responsibility for the chapter. A variation of
this would be to have the President serve as Secretary immediately
following his/her tenure.
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A Chapter Representatives Meeting, to be held in conjunction
with the Annual Meeting, will serve as a valuable source of information
for all Chapter Officers and will provides a useful orientation to newly
elected leaders. New officers are encouraged to contact the Chapters
Committee and/or the APS Central Office if they require any assistance.
The APS Central Office will maintain files on each chapter, including
their annual reports.
C. Chapter Responsibilities to the National Society:
The Society imposes only two specific obligations for the maintenance of
an active chapter.
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The chapter must hold at least one meeting annually.
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The chapter must maintain at least ten Regular Members in
good standing who reside in the area. In addition, all chapters of the
Society will have an obligation to promote, at the local level, the
general objectives of the Society, including its goals of
interdisciplinary contacts among the research workers interested in the
physiological sciences and education of the general public and future
scientists.
a. Annual Report: Each Chapter is asked to submit an
annual report to the Central Office each July. The annual report provide the
Chapters with its most comprehensive principal source of information
regarding the administration, organization, and activities of the chapters.
Data accumulated from each report is used to compile, with the approval of
Council, a report which is circulated to the local chapters.
b. Chapter Representatives Meeting: Each year, the
Society will hold a Chapter Representatives Meeting in conjunction with the
Society's Annual Meeting. The meeting provides a forum in which chapter
delegates may voice their views on a variety of issues and exchange
information among themselves. All chapters will be invited and will be urged
to respond to the yearly request to send a representative to this meeting.
Any chapter member may be chosen as a delegate, although officers should be
given priority.
c. Financial Affairs: Chapters may exist either as
subordinates under the tax exempt status of the American Physiological
Society or as incorporated state societies. Please be aware of the
seriousness of any change in the stated purposes, character, or method of
operation, relative to the Society's original statement to the Internal
Revenue Service. These purposes are described in the Bylaws of the Society
under Article 1. For Internal Revenue Service Reporting, the APS Executive
Office must be informed of your membership, meetings, and election of
officers. This information is normally included as part of the annual
report. The APS Executive Office must be informed of sources from which your
chapter derives funds and the manner in which they are expended. If you have
any questions concerning the way in which your chapter plans to raise or
expend monies, kindly contact the APS Executive Office prior to proceeding.
D. The APS Lectureships
The American Physiological Society allocates funds to support an APS
Lectureship at the annual meeting of an APS Chapter. The program serves as
an important means for chapters to host visits which would have otherwise
been impossible.
The lectures foster the exchange of ideas with distinguished
physiologists and provide updates on recent research developments. The
program is also an ideal vehicle for attracting the interest of the general
public to the physiological sciences.
The APS has allocates up to $1000 to support the scientist invited to
participate as an APS Lecturer. In order to assess the success of the
program, the chapters are asked to provide adequate feedback to the
committee about the program. The continued success of this program relies
upon the cooperation of the chapters.
E. Chapter Finances
Chapter finances are always a concern for those individuals responsible
for conducting the affairs of the chapter. Many chapters are interested in
increasing their level of activity of support but are inhibited by a lack of
financial resources. In order to help formalize the existing chapter program
and to encourage the formation of new chapters, the APS Council is prepared
to make a grant of $500 to a chapter to either initiate or to strengthen
operations. The following descriptions will also be of some assistance to
Chapters in their efforts to maintain financial stability.
1. Chapter Dues
Most chapters have instituted a form of local dues, generally ranging
from $5 to $15, frequently with a reduced rate for students. Based on
estimates of mean chapter size, proportion of student members, and mean
faculty/student size, proportion of student members, and mean
faculty/student dues, it expected that a chapter could generate
approximately $400 per year. While this amount of money can not cover all
the costs of an active chapter, dues revenue is a good place to begin. For
example, this amount would probably cover all the clerical expenses for the
Chapter. This would cover several mailings, a newsletter, a membership
directory, etc. The average annual dues revenue would also be sufficient to
sponsor one visiting scientist from a nearby region.
2. Institutional Contributions
Most chapters receive some degree of local support. Frequently this is
obtained through departmental contributions, generally for the support of
visiting scientists. Funds may also include input from interdisciplinary
grants or institutional monies. There is also the possibility of seeking
institution support through a "matching funds" approach. It may be
worthwhile to approach an administrator with the proposition that the
institution match chapter funds obtained from membership dues or from an APS
Visiting Lectureship Grant or start-up grant.
3. Non-Institutional Contributions
Local groups often request support from various foundations and local
companies in the name of a chapter of the American Physiological Society. A
few requests of this nature have been addressed to an organization which was
already providing support to the Society as a whole. The duplication of
requests for funding can prove to be an embarrassment for the Society. While
the Chapters Committee and the Council hesitate to suggest anything that
would interfere with the autonomy of individual chapters, it is apparent
that a central information clearinghouse is needed in order to avoid
duplicate funding requests that might annoy potential donors. To achieve
this we request that all chapters adhere to the following guidelines.
a. Each Chapter is to notify the APS Executive Office of all foundations,
companies, and non-institutional contributors of support to chapter
activities in the name of the American Physiological Society.
b. Prior to initiating any requests to solicit funds, you must contact
Martin Frank, Ph.D., APS Executive Director, to determine whether the source
has made an earlier commitment to the Society at either the national or
local level. The Society asks that you provide this information before you
contact any organization or company, even if they are strictly local. Also,
note that local firms such as banks or insurance companies may be more
likely to make financial contributions than larger national companies.
4. National Society Support
As indicated earlier, the Society is prepared to make a one-time grant of
$500 to a Chapter to either initiate or strengthen operations.
5. Other Sources
It is important to all the Chapters that the above list be expanded as
groups find new vehicles for increasing support for their activities. We
urge you to provide such information in your forthcoming annual report. It
is clear that there is no easy way to generate financial support; this is a
problem faced by most National Societies and Non-Profit Organizations.
However, with the aggressive pursuit of funding, your chapter can generate
extra resources with which to sponsor activities.
6. Scientific Meetings
It is typical for a Chapter to hold an annual meeting at which lectures
and volunteered papers are presented. In order to support this meeting, it
is necessary to charge a registration fee to cover administrative and meal
cost for the meeting.
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