As of November 11, 2007.

Constitution of the Florida Philosophical Association

Article I. NAME

The Name of this organization shall be the Florida Philosophical Association.

Article II. PURPOSE

The purpose of this organization shall be to promote philosophy in Florida by facilitating the exchange of ideas among those engaged in this field of inquiry, by encouraging investigation, by fostering the educational function of philosophy, and by improving the academic status of philosophy. To this end there will be held an Annual Conference at which a variety of professional activities will be sponsored. This annual meeting shall be held in November, if feasible.

Article III. GEOGRAPHICAL AREA

For practical convenience, the geographical area that this Association will undertake to serve shall be the State of Florida.

Article IV. MEMBERSHIP

Section A (Classes of Members) Membership shall consist of Charter Members, Members, and Associate Members.

Section B (Eligibility) (1) Charter Members shall include all active and paid participants as of January 1, 1956. (2) Thereafter any person shall be eligible for Full Membership in the Florida Philosophical Association who (a) has a degree from or has been teaching at a Florida College or University, or is professionally active in philosophy in Florida, (b) holds an M.A. or Ph.D. in philosophy or else has had substantially equivalent training, (c) has had some teaching experience in philosophy at a college or university, and (d) has made written application to the Secretary-Treasurer on an official application form that bears the endorsement of a member of the Florida Philosophical Association who is in good standing. (3) Any person shall be eligible to be an Associate Member who is pursuing or has pursued graduate study in philosophy, or who has had substantially equivalent training or is an undergraduate philosophy major. Associate Members shall not be eligible to hold office or membership in the Council and shall not have the right to vote; but they shall have the privilege of participation in discussion, and may submit papers for consideration for presentation at the meetings as for full members.

Section C (Election) Membership (Full or Associate) shall be granted upon application and recommendation by the Executive Council when approved by a majority of those present and voting at any annual meeting of the Association. Application must be made in due form to the Secretary-Treasurer prior to the annual meeting of the Executive Council.

Section D (Membership Status) Members maintain their good standing by keeping current with the dues owed to the Association.

Paragraph 1: (Restoration) Members will be dropped from the membership rolls after three consecutive years of non-payment of dues. To present a paper at the annual meetings of the Florida Philosophical Association, a member must pay dues for that year. If a member’s dues are not current but not overdue by more than three years, he or she will receive a dues notice and notice of annual meetings.

Paragraph 2: (Emeritus) A charter or regular member will attain emeritus status in the Florida Philosophical Association upon (i) retirement from active teaching or reaching the age of 70, whichever comes first, and (ii) completion of at least five years of active membership in the Association. The attainment of emeritus status carries with it suspension of dues.

Section E (Encouragement of the Profession) The Association will support efforts to develop interest and proficiency in philosophy including the management of an annual essay contest for graduate students, for undergraduate students in four-year institutions, and for undergraduate students in two-year institutions.

Paragraph 1: Annual Essay Awards are to be administered by the Vice-President as a part of the Annual Conference of the FPA. There are three categories of award: for a paper by a graduate student, for a paper by an undergraduate student in a four-year institution, and for a paper by an undergraduate student in a two-year institution. The competition shall provide for one award in each category for a paper deemed of sufficient merit in its category. The financial award accompanying each of the winning essays for these three categories shall be in an amount to be determined by the Executive Officers at a meeting prior to the annual meeting and recommended for the subsequent year’s contest.

Paragraph 2: (Rules) Rules governing the award shall be as follows:

(a) any student enrolled in a Florida college or University shall be eligible to submit papers;

(b) the Vice-President shall prepare a timely announcement of the Essay Awards Competition, and shall distribute it to the members of the Association,

(c) a committee of at least three members appointed by the President, with the Vice-President serving as one of the members and chair, shall read all papers submitted and three will be selected as the award winning papers; with one paper selected for award from each category, if papers deemed of sufficient quality be found.

(d) Provision in the conference program shall be made and the authors of the winning papers shall be invited to deliver their papers at the annual meeting;

(f) students wishing to compete for either the two Undergraduate or one Graduate essay awards may not enter more than one paper competition.

Paragraph 3: (Announcement) The Secretary-Treasurer shall announce the winners of the award in the next Newsletter of the Association. The Secretary shall also notify the student’s academic Deans of the award.

Article V. DUES

Section A Annual dues for Members shall be reviewed each year by the Council of Past Presidents at its Nominating Committee meeting and a specific recommendation will be made at that annual business meeting.

Section B Annual dues are to be paid by the time of the annual business meeting and will cover the period from that meeting to the next annual business meeting. These moneys are separate from any registration fee that may be levied by the host institution for covering incidental costs connected with the annual FPA professional conference.

Article VI. OFFICERS AND STANDING COMMITTEES

Section A (Officers) The officers of the Association shall be a President, a Vice-President, a Secretary-Treasurer, a Technical Secretary, and a Member at Large who shall perform the usual duties of their respective offices. These officers shall constitute the Executive Council of the Association.

Section B (Duties and terms of the Officers) The officers of the FPA will be responsible for the following duties during the term for which they are elected:

Paragraph 1: The duties of the President include representing the FPA to all agencies to which the FPA relates, convening the Council of Past Presidents, convening and presiding over the annual business meeting, chairing the session at the annual conference at which the winning entries for the essay contests will be read, and such other duties as will seem reasonable by the membership and determined at a regularly scheduled business meeting. The term of the president will be for one year commencing with the end of the election in which balloting for this office takes place.

Paragraph 2: The duties of the Vice-President include organizing and announcing the time and location of the annual conference of the FPA, announcing the essay contests, selecting the essay contest judges and in a timely way receiving the winners of the contest, working with the host institution for the location of the annual conference, including the detailed identification of the papers to be read, panels to be held, symposiums or colloquiums and other special features as deemed of interest to the membership and the specific location at which these events will be held along with the publication of an official program informing the membership of all the relevant information on the functioning of the annual meeting. The term of office for the Vice-President will be for one year commencing with the end of the election in which balloting for this office takes place.

Paragraph 3: The duties of the Secretary-Treasurer include the keeping of an accurate account of the business of the Florida Philosophical Association conducted at its annual business meeting, distributing the record of the Association’s business at its immediate past meeting at its annual business meeting, receiving any reports for memorial records during the year between annual meetings and arranging for memorial presentation at the annual meeting, maintaining the records and the artifacts of the Association, including a copy of each of the conference programs and a list of all past presidents, collecting dues from the membership and any other revenues which are due to the Association, keeping accurate records of all financial transactions performed for the Association, providing an up-to-date account of these financial transactions at the annual business meeting, conducting mail ballots of the membership in accordance with the procedures outlined in this constitution, assisting the presiding president in the conducting of the annual meeting. The term of this office shall be for three years commencing with the end of the election in which balloting for this office takes place.

Paragraph 4. The duties of the Technical Secretary include maintenance of the Association’s web site, and, in coordination with the Secretary-Treasurer, the maintenance of the Association’s email lists and membership/institutional database, and provision of technical support services to the Executive. The term of this office shall be for three years commencing with the end of the election in which balloting for this office takes place.

Paragraph 5: The duties of Member-at-Large include gathering information of professional activity and any other information that may be of interest to the membership and publishing at least one issue of a newsletter spreading this information before the membership, assisting the Vice President and Host Institution in organizing the annual meeting, and representing the interests of the membership at the meetings of the Executive Officers. The term of this office will be for one year commencing with the end of the election in which balloting for this office takes place.

Section C (Program Committee) The Program Committee for the annual conference shall consist of the Vice-President, who shall act as chair, the Secretary-Treasurer, and other such members as the Vice-President shall appoint.

Article VII. NOMINATION AND ELECTION OF OFFICERS

The Nomination Committee shall consist of the Council of Past Presidents which shall provide a slate of officers for the annual meeting. This slate of nominees will include, except for the president’s office, at least two candidates for all offices to be filled. The only nominee for the Office of President shall be the Vice-President of the current year. Except for the Office of President, presenting this slate of officers to the membership at its annual business meeting shall not exclude nominations from the floor. Election shall be by plurality ballot of members in good standing. Ballots may be cast at the annual business meeting, but a mail ballot shall be conducted of members in good standing not present at the annual business meeting.

Section A (The Council of Past Presidents) All members in good standing who have been elected to the office of President of the FPA will form the Council of Past Presidents.

Section B (Call of the Annual Meeting) It will be the responsibility of the Vice-President to arrange with the presiding President of the FPA for the meeting of the Council of Past Presidents to be held prior to the annual business meeting. The presiding President will convene the meeting and keep accurate minutes of the decisions of the Council presenting its recommendations to the membership at its annual meeting.

Section C (Function) The function of the Past Presidents Council will be, first, to meet prior to the annual business meeting and draw up the slate of officers to be presented at that year’s business meeting. Secondly, it shall review at its annual meeting the status of the dues for membership in the Association and make recommendation to the FPA membership on whether these should remain the same or be changed for the upcoming year.

Article VIII. AMENDMENTS

This constitution may be amended by a ballot of members in good standing. Adoption of an amendment will require a two-thirds majority of those returning ballots. For consideration, an amendment must be submitted to the members at the annual business meeting, and be received for presentation by the Executive Council at least sixty days in advance of the meeting at which it is presented.

Article IX. PROCEDURE

The Association shall be conducted in accordance with Robert’s Rules of Order except where such Rules of Order conflict with this constitution.

Article X. ADOPTION OF THIS CONSTITUTION

This constitution was adopted when accepted by twelve of those representatives present at the first meeting in DeLand on April 28 and 29, 1955. It was revised in accord with constitutional procedure on 8 November 1997 and again on 11 November 2007.

BY-LAWS

The by-laws of the Florida Philosophical Association will be recorded in a special section of the Constitution so identified. When these changes are made by the membership in its annual business meetings, in accord with the procedures spelled out in Article VIII Amendments, the documentation of the specific minutes at which meeting these changes were made will be incorporated as a part of the by-law.

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