Article 2: The Executive Committee of the Society
2.1 The Executive Committee (the Executive) manages the affairs and business of the society and is comprised of the officers of Executive. These officers are: the President (English) and President (French), who make up the Presidency; the Vice-President; the Vice-President (Outreach); the Secretary; and the Treasurer.
To carry out the business of the society, the Executive may establish standing committees and, with consensus, appoint further delegates and officers.
2.1.1 Terms and Conditions of Appointment: Members of the Executive serve three-year terms and are elected by society members by majority vote from among a slate of members-in-good-standing of the society proposed by the Renewal Committee at the society’s Annual General Meeting (AGM). If any member of the Executive is unable to fulfil the terms and conditions of appointment, the Executive may elect that member’s replacement.
Conditions of appointment to the Executive include:
- attendance at the annual conference, the AGM, plus related meetings;
- participation in electronic correspondence of the Executive;
- the fulfillment of other duties and responsibilities of each individual position, as outlined below.
Note: To insure continuity within the Executive, the renewal of individual positions will be staggered, following historical precedent and its state at the inception of this Article. (The first Executive served from 1986 to 1989, with the exception of the Secretary and Treasurer, who served until 1990.)
2.1.2 The Condition of Membership in All Operations of the Society: All those comprising the Executive, and those invited to assume duties associated with the responsibilities of those comprising the Executive (for committees, for work delegated by its officers, and beyond), must be and must remain on record as members-in-good-standing of the society.
2.2 Responsibilities and Operation : As a body, the Executive is responsible for managing the affairs and business of the society. It
- acts as the basic policy making organ for the society, charged with proposing and implementing policies that forward the society’s mission and mandate.
- establishes and defines the mandate and duration of standing committees, and ensures involvement in those committees that reflects its constituency and its concerns.
- maintains liaison with professional associations in related fields. It is also permitted to enter the society into formal association with other bodies.
- sets or alters the rates of annual fees and, in consultation with annual conference organisers, the conference fees.
- determines the timing of its meetings, and operates only with a quorum of four or more (which may include proxy participation), and approves items with majority vote. It may handle its responsibilities via electronic means or physical assembly, each recorded as part of the minutes at the AGM by the Secretary.
- presents a full report to society members, officer by officer, on its activities and its fulfillment of Executive functions, at the AGM.
- accepts, at the AGM, reports from all committees it appoints.
- seeks input from its advisory group of Past Presidents and Directors of the society.
2.3 The Presidency is primarily responsible for strategic planning and overall policy issues for the society. Given the society’s mandate to foster digital humanities research in Canada’s two official languages and to champion interaction between Canada’s anglophone and francophone research communities, the Presidency will be comprised of two Presidents: a President (English) and a President (French).
2.3.1The Presidency will represent the Executive publicly. The President (English) will be responsible for all communications or queries in English. The President (French) will be responsible for all communications or queries in French.
2.3.2 The Presidency is responsible for delegating, or taking on, the organization and execution of the society’s annual conference. The selection and supervision of the role of Conference Organizer will fall in alternate years to the President (English) and the President (French). When one President assumes the leadership role in conference organisation, the other will serve as deputy.
2.3.3 The Presidency will be responsible for external relations with professional associations in related fields, serving as the society’s liaison member at Executive Council meetings of associations with which the society has a formal affiliation. The President (English) will serve as liaison to national and international associations in which the working language is exclusively or predominately English. The President (French) will serve as liaison to national and international associations in which the working language is exclusively or predominately French.
2.3.4 The Presidency will be responsible for organizing or delegating responsibility for organising society-sponsored paper sessions and streams at the meetings of affiliated organizations such as the Association for Computers and the Humanities (ACH), L'Association des professeurs de français des universités et collèges canadiens (APFUCC), the Modern Language Association (MLA), and others. The President (English) will work with those groups in which the working language is exclusively or predominately English. The President (French) will work with those groups in which the working language is exclusively or predominately French.
2.3.5 In all the above, the Presidents comprising the Presidency are responsible to each other and to the Executive for coordinating agreement in the direction of internal operations and external relations, in accordance with the society’s mandate.
2.4 The Vice-President is primarily responsible for operational issues of the society. In that capacity, he or she:
- presides, under the Presidency, at meetings held by the Executive Council.
- presides, under the Presidency, over the AGM of the society, and ensures that all orders and resolutions of the Executive and membership are carried into effect.
- conducts, with the direction of the Presidency, the general and active affairs of the society, overseeing its affairs and continuing operations.
- formulates, with the Presidency, policies and projects for presentation to the Executive and society membership to fulfill the society’s obligations and purposes.
- oversees the work of the society’s committees, and is an ex-officio member of each. [NOTE: The following will be moved to Article 4 of the revised constitution, as that section is revised.] These committees include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Annual Conference Programme Committee: chaired by the Presidency or delegate, the Conference Organiser (as above); responsible for organising the programme and making local arrangements for the annual conference; set at the AGM of the previous year’s conference;
- Website Committee: chaired by the Secretary (as below); responsible for the content and maintenance of the society’s website, ensuring that information is accurate and routinely updated for the benefit of the general membership, and archival backups of the website kept (according to the Secretary’s home institution’s data-archiving practices) for recovery purposes; also responsible for technical infrastructure matters as they relate to the work of the society;
- Newsletter Committee: chaired by the Secretary (as below); responsible for the editing and regular dissemination, via the website and e-mail, of the society’s newsletter; or is responsible for that duty’s delegation to a responsible deputy;
- Publication Committee: responsible for coordinating the publishing efforts of the society, operating with direction provided by the Presidency and the Executive.
- Outreach Committee: an adhoc committee, dedicated to outreach, operating with direction provided by the Presidency and the Executive.
- Renewal Committee: responsible for establishing a list of candidates for activities associated with Executive Renewal.
- Award Committee: responsible for administering the societal Award for Outstanding Achievement, Computing in the Arts and Humanities, acknowledges those who have made a significant contribution to computing in the arts and humanities whether theoretical, applied, or in the area of community building.
- The award is presented annually by the society at the recommendation of the Award Committee. The committee's decision will be presented to the Presidents of the society no later than the January preceding the conference for the year in which the award will be made. The Award Committee can decide not to recommend anyone for a given year.
- The award committee is comprised of 3 members (or past members) of the society executive, appointed by the executive at the AGM for three year terms in rotation with the possibility of renewal. At least one of the society Presidents will have a seat on this committee and, should each indicate the desire to be involved at the AGM, then the committee will be expanded such that it will be comprised of four members (or past members) of the society executive.
- The committee will accept recommendations and, at times, may issues calls for nominations for the award.
- Those awarded are presented with a plaque and/or framed certificate, signed by members of the award committee. Winners are invited to receive the award and to address the society in a plenary session of the annual conference for the year in which the award is made.
2.5 The Vice-President (Outreach) is responsible for assisting the Presidency and Vice-President in the performance of their duties. Specifically, the Vice-President (Outreach) works closely with the Vice President in the operational issues of the society, as noted above, and has a mandate for society outreach and integration, working in conjunction with priorities and direction set by the Presidency. In the absence of the Vice-President, the Vice-President (Outreach) will perform the duties and exercise the powers of the Vice-President.
2.6 The Secretary is responsible for duties related to the maintenance of the membership, the history, and the general correspondence of the society. He or she:
- ensures that a functional membership mechanism exists for the society. This includes processes relating to the collection of membership dues and benefits, membership recruitment, reminders of membership renewal, and the ongoing maintenance of an accurate list of members-in-good-standing of the society and of past members.
- is responsible for assisting the Presidency in setting the agenda for, and taking minutes (including recording the results of voting) at, the society’s AGM and meetings of the Executive.
- is responsible for tracking consultations of the Executive carried out via electronic means, and for making a record of that activity available after those discussions and, in gathered form, in advance of the AGM for the minutes of that meeting.
- chairs the Website Committee, and is responsible for ensuring an ongoing home for the society website.
- chairs the Newsletter Committee.
- is the society’s archivist, responsible for maintaining a record of the society’s scholarly, organizational and financial activities. These are kept in a private area of the society’s website, available solely to members of the Executive via a confidential password.
2.7 The Treasurer is responsible for maintaining accurate and timely records of all income and expenditures for the society. He or she:
- is responsible for the safekeeping of all documents relating to the fiscal affairs of the society.
- reserves all dues and subscriptions of the society and keeps the funds of the society safely deposited in a chartered bank approved by the Executive.
- on authorization of the Executive, draws cheques against deposited funds.
- prepares the annual budget for the approval of the Executive.
- reports at the AGM on the collection and disbursements of the society.
- delivers copies of his or her financial records of society transactions to the Secretary for archiving, at least once a year, at the AGM.
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