American Phytopathological Society
Potomac Division
Note:
Underlined text indicates proposed
insertion. Strike-through (strike-through) indicates
proposed deletion.
CONSTITUTION
Article 3. Officers and Their Duties
.... The President, Vice-President,
Secretary-Treasurer, and Immediate Past President shall serve
for a term of one year, and the Secretary-Treasurer
and the Councilor for a term of three years, or until their
successors are elected. …
STANDING RULES
4. Election of Officers. The Vice-President, at
the end of the term of office, shall automatically become President
and the Secretary-Treasurer will become Vice-President. The
Vice-President, Secretary-Treasurer, and Councilor
shall be elected by mail ballot sent to the members in good standing
of the Division by the Secretary-Treasurer. …
The entire text of the Constitution and Standing Rules: html version or pdf file
I (Anton Baudoin) think the proposed change should be combined with giving the Vice-President more responsibility in developing the program ("The Vice-President, in cooperation with the President, shall develop the Program ...")
Advantage: abolishes the difference between 2-year tours and 3- to 5-year tours (I am omitting the last year as immediate past president because the IPP duties are fairly light, although valuable.) Currently, the Vice-President has relatively few duties, but the following year is confronted with the much more substantial President's responsibilities, without having had very much exposure to the way the Division works. In the proposed scheme, every officer will get the Secretary-Treasurer's exposure to the logistics for one year, then is expected to develop program ideas the following year, together with the person who did it the previous year.
Possible drawback: would it be harder to find people for a 3-year commitment than for the current 2-year commitment of those entering as Vice-President?