By-laws

BYLAWS OF THE GREAT PLAINS CATALYSIS SOCIETY

(AMENDED SEPTEMBER 2021)

BYLAW I – Name

The name of the corporation is The Great Plains Catalysis Society (GPCS), also referred to as “Society” in this document

BYLAW II – Objectives

The principal objectives of the GPCS shall be to:

• Promote and encourage the advancement of the science of catalysis, reaction

mechanisms, catalytic materials and related scientific disciplines, consistent

with the mission of the North American Catalysis Society (NACS)

• Organize regional professional meetings for members to present and discuss

their work in the fields mentioned above.

• Invite leading catalysis scientists to present their work to the GPCS as guest

speakers.

• Promote fellowship and collaborations among the chemists, chemical

engineers, material scientists and other scientists in the general Great Plains

region who are interested in catalysis and related fields.

• To organize biennial NACS meetings in the GPCS region

BYLAW III – Officers and Duties

The officers of the GPCS shall be a President, a President–elect, a Past President, a Secretary, a Treasurer, an Industrial Liaison, and Directors. The President–elect shall serve as Vice–President.

(a)  The President shall be the chief executive officer and will be in charge of all the affairs of the GPCS. The duties of the President shall be to call and preside at meetings of the Society, and to undertake or to delegate – such as to committees – those actions which are deemed necessary to achieve the objectives of the Society or to carry out the policies proposed by the Executive Committee.

(b)  The Executive Committee shall consist of the President, President-Elect, the Past-President, the Secretary, the Treasurer, the Industrial Liaison, at least three elected Directors, and an elected Representative to the North American Catalysis Society (NACS). The Executive Committee has the discretion to increase the number of elected Directors to five and/or extend the terms of existing Officers/Directors in order to maintain continuity from one year to another. One of the Directors will be elected to serve as Communications Director. Other elected Directors may be assigned to be in charge of Scientific Programming aspects (such as assisting with webinars), membership chair, etc., at the discretion of the President. The Executive Committee shall advise the President about policies and plans that will promote the achievement of the objectives of the GPCS.

(c)  The President shall distribute the Bylaws to each new Officer elected to the Executive Committee and will contribute to the website; annual President’s letter (typically in September); list of new Officers with affiliation and emails (typically in December); biographies of the candidates for the GPCS Executive Committee (typically in September); election results (typically in November).  

(d)  The President–elect shall assist the President in her/his duties and perform all duties of the office of President in the latter’s absence or incapacity and, when so acting, shall have all powers of and be subject to all restrictions upon the office of President.

(e)  The Past-President chairs the Nominating Committee for the GPCS Award. (f)  The duties of the Secretary shall be to keep minutes of the business meetings, take care of all the correspondence the business of the Society requires, send notices for dues, and keep a list of members. The Secretary shall also send notices to members of the time and place of meetings. The minutes of all meetings shall be kept in a file that will be electronically accessible to the members.

(g)  The duties of the Treasurer shall be to collect the dues of the Society and to handle all financial matters pertaining to the business of the Society, subject to approval by the Executive Committee. The Treasurer shall prepare and submit complete and accurate interim financial reports of the finances of the GPCS at the end of each fiscal year, or at any time upon request of the Executive Committee or the President. The Treasurer is responsible for ensuring that GPCS maintains non-profit status according to the US Internal Revenue Code. Reasonable funds will be provided for professional tax-filing and audit services.

(h)  The Representative to the NACS shall serve on the Board of Directors of NACS and shall report to the Executive Committee of the GPCS. When the NACS Representative is unable to attend a specific NACS meeting, the president shall appoint a temporary representative, who shall execute any activities required by NACS.

(i)   One of the Directors will be elected to serve as Communications Director. The Communications Director shall maintain the internet presence of the Society, adding new content to the GPCS website, Facebook, and Twitter accounts. The duties also include renewing the website domain name, as scheduled by payments in register.com; publishing a Newsletter with a target of two issues per year, coordinating with the Secretary to maintain an email distribution list of members, and with the President who will contribute writings, as described in section (a) of Bylaw V.

(j)   The Industrial Liaison will be in charge of solicitation of funds to cover guest speakers, events, publicity, etc.

(k)  At the discretion of the President and mutual consent, other Directors may be assigned to be in charge of Scientific Programming aspects (such as assisting with webinars), coordinate GPCS membership drive, at GPCS meetings manage the poster contest and other activities recommended by consensus of the Executive Committee.

BYLAW IV – Membership

·      Membership in this Society shall be open to all persons who are interested in achieving the objectives described in Bylaw II and who indicate their desire to join and pay the annual dues.

BYLAW V – Dues, Finances and Compensation

·      Membership fees shall be paid in such amounts and for such periods as shall be determined by the Executive Committee.

·      The GPCS shall subsequently pay annual dues to the NACS on behalf of each member in good standing.

·      The fiscal year of the GPCS runs from January 1 to December 31. The

·      Donations may be solicited in order to support the Society’s activities

·      No compensation shall be paid to any officers or directors for their services rendered to the GPCS in such capacities; however, this shall not preclude such officers and directors from being reimbursed for expenses incurred by them in the conduct of their activities in such capacities, at the discretion of the Executive Committee.

BYLAW VI - Elections

·      Elections shall be held before the end of October of any given year, so the elected officers can start their duties at the beginning of the upcoming fiscal year. The Executive Committee shall present a slate of candidates for elected positions. Further, nominations may be made by any member of the GPCS in good standing and should strive to achieve a diverse and inclusive pool. The elections shall be conducted by the Secretary, with two assistants appointed by the President, unless the Secretary happens to be a nominee. In such case, the President shall appoint a substitute.

·      Balloting procedures should ensure fairness such that (a) they are inclusive and open to all eligible members, (b) offer protection against fraudulent balloting, and (c) results are reported and archived in a timely fashion.

·      The President shall serve for one fiscal year, which together with the year as a President-Elect, and the year as Past-President represents a commitment of three years. The Representative to the North American Catalysis Society shall serve a term of four years while the rest of the Officers shall serve for two years.

·      If a member of the Executive Committee is unable to complete his/her term of office, a replacement will be appointed by the remaining members of the Executive Committee. The individual selected for the position shall serve for the unexpired term of office.

·      Before the elections, a biographical sketch for each candidate will be distributed to the members by the Communications Director, in coordination with the Secretary.

BYLAW VII-Meetings

The frequency and nature of the meetings of the GPCS shall be at the discretion of the Executive Committee, with a minimum of one meeting per year. Any costs to the GPCS associated with organizing a given meeting can be passed, in part or in whole, to those members and non-members who express a willingness to attend such meetings.

BYLAW VIII – Amendments

The Bylaws may be amended by approval of the members. The Executive Committee shall submit the proposed amendments to the GPCS membership for approval by a ballot distributed to all members. Two-thirds (2/3) of the valid ballots returned and numbering >30% of members in good standing must be affirmative for approval.

BYLAW IX – GPCS Award

·      An Award is hereby established and is to be known as The Great Plains Catalysis Society Award. The awardee is to be a person, preferably from the Great Plains area, who has made an outstanding contribution to the advancement of catalysis. Such advancement can be scientific, technological or in organization leadership. The Award consists of a scroll suitably inscribed and memento and is to be presented at a scheduled GPCS meeting. The Award may also include a cash prize. The decision on whether to award a cash prize and the amount of the prize will be determined each year and must be approved by two-thirds of the members of the executive committee. The GPCS will permit sponsors to contribute specifically to the yearly Award and the sponsor will be appropriately acknowledged.

·      The Award winner shall be selected by simple majority vote of the Executive Committee from a slate proposed by a Nominating Committee. This committee consists of five members of the GPCS, including the President, the Immediate Past President, who will act as the Nominating Committee Chairman, and three additional members chosen by the Past President. Preferably, none of these additional members shall be a member of the Executive Committee. The Past President shall attempt to achieve the widest possible representation on the Nominating Committee by the general GPCS membership.

·      If only one candidate is offered and that candidate does not receive a simple majority endorsement by the Executive Committee, the Nominating Committee may be called by the President to reconvene and establish a new slate.

·      The President shall conduct all polls of the Executive Committee for this Award and shall inform all members of the Executive and Nominating Committees when an Awardee has been selected. The GPCS Treasurer shall be responsible for obtaining the scroll and memento.

·      The Awardee shall agree to make a scientific/technical presentation at the regional meeting where the award is made.