SIGMAA Charter: WEBSIGMAA

 

Article I.  Identification

Section 1. The name of this SIGMAA is the Special Interest Group of the MAA on Mathematics Instruction and Other Endeavors Using the Web which will be shortened to The SIGMAA on Mathematics Instruction Using the Web.  The group will usually be referred to as WEBSIGMAA (as one word).

Section 2.  This SIGMAA is formed for the purposes of

(a) educating its members about the use of internet resources for instruction in mathematics at the undergraduate level, whether for on-line courses or as an adjunct to the in-person classroom and laboratory

(b) encouraging and facilitating projects of members who use the World-Wide Web for mathematics instruction and

(c) creating an interactive community of members of the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) who are interested in the use of the World-Wide Web in mathematics instruction.

Article II.  Membership.

 Section 1. Membership in this SIGMAA shall be open to any MAA member. WEBSIGMAA members will be those MAA members who have paid the WEBSIGMAA membership dues.

Article III.  Administration

Section 1. Officers and the Executive Committee

(a) Elected officers of the SIGMAA will be chair, past-chair/chair-elect, vice chair for programs, vice chair for web communications, and secretary-treasurer.  The WEBSIGMAA Executive Committee comprises these five officers.  The Executive Committee acts on behalf of the membership in carrying out day-to-day business.

(b) Of the five members of the Executive Committee, the four other than the Chair are elected in the fall preceding their term of office, as specified in Section 3, while the Chair is elected a year earlier and serves as Chair-Elect during the extra year.  

(c) Decisions of the Executive Committee are by a majority consisting of at least three votes.  Voting may be conducted in person or by e-mail.  A quorum consists of four members.

(d) From time to time the Executive Committee may establish committees with specific missions, composed of members of the SIGMAA.  A majority of a committee determines its actions unless the Executive Committee specifies otherwise.  The Executive Committee may at any time dissolve such a committee or change its membership and powers.

 Section 2.  Duties of Officers.

(a) The chair presides at SIGMAA general membership meetings, organizes, and directs the activities of the SIGMAA, and acts as its chief spokesperson.  The chair provides liaison with the Associate Secretary of the MAA and with other organizations. The past-chair acts as advisor to the SIGMAA generally, to the Executive Committee in particular, and will serve in the chair’s place if the chair is temporarily unable to fulfill his/her duties.  The chair-elect becomes chair one year after being selected as chair-elect and will serve in the chair’s place if the chair is temporarily unable to fulfill his/her duties.    

(b) The vice-chair for programs will solicit proposals for sessions such as contributed paper sessions and minicourses at MAA MathFest, as well as other workshops, conferences, etc., from the SIGMAA membership. The vice-chair for programs will also submit the proposals for sessions that are to be part of the MAA scientific program at MAA MathFest and/or other SIGMAA-sponsored events via MAA’s online proposal submission system by the posted deadlines. The vice-chair for programs will arrange sessions at MAA MathFest that are directed primarily at the SIGMAA membership, such as guest lectures and business meetings. This work should be coordinated with the MAA Associate Secretary.

(c) The vice chair for web communications is responsible for dissemination of information to the membership of the SIGMAA through electronic media and oversees the contents of the web site of this SIGMAA.  The vice chair for web communications assists the Secretary/Treasurer, as needed, with correspondence and with recording and disseminating the activities of this SIGMAA.

(d) The secretary-treasurer will keep a record of the affairs of the SIGMAA, including minutes of meetings, handle correspondence, and submit required written reports to the Committee on SIGMAAs. In addition, the secretary-treasurer will coordinate the finances of the SIGMAA and submit required financial reports to the MAA office.

 Section 3. Terms of Office, Nominations and Elections

a)      A new chair is elected every two years, and cannot succeed him/herself.  Past-chair is the most recent past chair and serves for one year; chair-elect serves on the Executive Committee the year prior to becoming chair and then serves as chair for two years.  Thus, in any given year, there is either a past-chair or chair-elect, but not both.  The vice chair for programs, vice chair for web-communications, and secretary-treasurer will each serve two-year terms.  The election for the secretary-treasurer and the chair-elect will be held in even numbered years..  Elections for the vice-chair for programming and vice-chair for web communications will be held in odd numbered years.

b)       A Nominating Committee will consist of the chair-elect/past-chair and two SIGMAA members appointed by the SIGMAA Executive Committee. The Nominating Committee will solicit suggestions and volunteers for office from the membership and then select a slate of one or more candidates for office open in any given year, making efforts to encourage new members to serve on the executive committee.

c)      Election of officers will take place by electronic ballot of the membership. The secretary-treasurer will send members a request for nominations at the beginning of August, with a deadline for nominations of August 31. By October 1, the MAA will distribute to the SIGMAA members instructions for voting, and voting must be completed by October 31. The electronic ballot will indicate that write-in votes are permitted. The winner will be the candidate receiving the most votes. Ties will be broken by a fair, unbiased random process supervised by the MAA. The vice chair for communications will notify members of the election via the WEBSIGMAA electronic discussion group and the WEBSIGMAA web page.

If fewer than 12 members, or 1/25 of the membership, whichever is larger, vote, the current officers will remain in office until further deliberate actions are taken to achieve a quorum (see section V.1 for the definition of quorum).

d)          Should an office other than chair become vacant midterm, the SIGMAA Executive Committee, in consultation with the most recent Nominating Committee, will appoint a member of the SIGMAA to fill that office for the remainder of the term of office. Should the office of chair become vacant midterm, the past-chair or chair-elect, whichever is in office at the time, will assume the chair duties until the new chair-elect becomes chair.

 

Article IV.  Activities

 Section 1.  SIGMAAs are a program of the MAA and are not separate entities from the association. For this reason, all administrative, financial, and programmatic activities of the SIGMAAs must operate in a manner consistent with MAA operating procedures in order to maintain the tax-exempt status of the association. To the extent that any SIGMAA charter contradicts the policies and procedures of the MAA, the MAA policies and procedures will supersede.

 Section 2. This SIGMAA will engage in activities such as, but not limited to, the following:

 (a) sponsoring talks, panel discussions, and presentations of papers at MAA meetings

 (b) sponsoring receptions at MAA meetings

 (c) maintaining a website

 (d) publishing an on-line newsletter

 (e) holding an annual meeting in connection with MathFest

 Section 3. Interactions within the association:

 (a) This SIGMAA will coordinate its undertakings with other units and activities of the MAA, especially those involved with electronic publication and with the use of computers and internet resources in the teaching of mathematics.  

 (b) Any product of the SIGMAA belongs to the MAA; therefore, the SIGMAA chair should collect signed copyright agreements from the creators of the product.

 (c) Reports of SIGMAA activities will be included in an annual report submitted by the secretary-treasurer to the chair of the MAA Committee on SIGMAAs.

 

Article V.  Membership Meetings

 Section 1.  Quorum

A quorum at any membership meeting, including electronic meetings, will consist of at least 12 members, at least two of whom are officers.

Section 2. Frequency and place of meetings.

The SIGMAA will have at least one business meeting each year. Business meetings will take place at MAA MathFest and/or through a synchronous virtual platform accessible to members. Other activities may also be scheduled for MAA section meetings. All official business outside the required annual meeting will be conducted electronically, provided a quorum is attained.

 

Section 3. Conduct of meetings.

The SIGMAA chair will preside over the business meetings. The chair will circulate an agenda via e-mail or electronic posting to SIGMAA membership at least one month in advance and will request additional agenda items at that time. During the meeting, the chair will allow ample time for discussion and will seek to achieve consensus. If a consensus is not reached, decisions will be made by a vote in accordance with Robert's Rules of Order

When the SIGMAA Executive Committee decides that an issue requires the attention of the entire SIGMAA in advance of the next membership meeting, the committee may decide to convene a meeting electronically. The quorum definition in section V.1 applies to any vote conducted electronically, and ample time for discussion will still be allowed. Members will be given at least two weeks to vote on any issue requiring an electronic vote.

For votes by e-mail, the e-mail address of record for each member of the SIGMAA shall be deemed to be the address currently on file with the MAA, unless a different address has been communicated directly to the secretary-treasurer before the distribution of e-mail ballots.

 

Article VI.  Finances.

 Section 1. An annual MAA dues supplement will be assessed of each member of the SIGMAA. The dues supplement will be used to support the activities of the SIGMAA. The MAA Board of Directors will determine the manner of collection and disbursement of these funds. The MAA Committee on SIGMAAs can submit a request to the Board of Directors to modify the dues supplement. The committee will forward a recommendation to the MAA Board of Directors for final approval. The MAA Board of Directors may also initiate a change in the dues supplement.

 Section 2. The SIGMAA is not required to submit an annual budget if they do not expect to spend more than they bring in over the course of the year.  The SIGMAA does not accumulate funds from year to year, so current expenses are limited to current revenues unless the SIGMAA submits a request as detailed in section VI.3.

 Section 3. This SIGMAA may apply to the MAA for specific funding beyond that provided by the dues supplement.  All requests for funds shall be substantiated by a budget for the proposed expenditures and must be approved by the MAA Communities Department.

 Article VII.  External Funding

 Section 1.  The SIGMAA may initiate grant proposals to be submitted by the MAA. The SIGMAA will follow the policies and procedures of the MAA for all such submissions.

 Section 2.  Neither this SIGMAA nor any of its representatives shall have any authority to contract debts for, pledge the credit of, or in any way bind the MAA.

 

 Article VIII.  Changes to this Charter

Section 1.  Changes to this charter may be initiated by the SIGMAA as follows: The SIGMAA Executive Committee will provide notice of the proposed changes to membership electronically, allowing at least one month for discussion. If such changes are approved by two-thirds of the members voting, provided a quorum is attained, the changes will be submitted for consideration to the Committee on SIGMAAs. The Committee on SIGMAAs will then forward a recommendation for approval to the MAA Board of Directors or a recommendation for revisions to the SIGMAA Executive Committee. If substantial revisions are necessary, the SIGMAA Executive Committee will submit the revised changes to membership for discussion and vote, as described above. The SIGMAA Executive Committee is encouraged to work in close consultation with the Committee on SIGMAAs at all steps in this process so as to prevent delays.

Section 2.  Changes to this charter may also be initiated by the MAA Board of Directors, which will forward such a request to the Committee on SIGMAAs. In turn, the committee will work with the SIGMAA to develop specific new language for the charter that is acceptable to the SIGMAA (as indicated by a two-thirds majority of the members voting, provided a quorum is attained) and the MAA Board of Directors. The Committee on SIGMAAs will then forward the revised charter to the MAA Board of Directors.

Article IX.  Minimum Membership and Dissolution.

Section 1. SIGMAAs are expected to represent an active community of MAA members. As one measure of this, SIGMAAs must maintain a membership of at least 80 in order to remain in good standing. If a SIGMAA has fewer than 80 members for two years in a row (as measured on Dec. 31 of two consecutive years), the SIGMAA will be placed on probation and will be immediately reviewed by the Committee on SIGMAAs. Within one year of this probation, the Committee on SIGMAAs will recommend reinstatement of good standing, continued probation (with conditions to meet to regain good standing), or dissolution of the SIGMAA to the Council on Communities.

Section 2. The Council on Communities may recommend dissolution of a SIGMAA, ordinarily as part of the SIGMAA review process. The SIGMAA will be dissolved upon acceptance of this recommendation by a majority vote of the MAA Board of Directors.

Section 3. If dissolved, any unspent funds of this SIGMAA will be returned to the general fund of the MAA.