By-Laws: The Pacific Northwest Section of the Mathematical Association of America.

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Note: These bylaws were written in 1972, amended in 1983, revised in 1996, 2003, 2014, and 2017. 2014 was the required ten-year review of the by-laws.

Article I: Name and Purpose

The name of this Section shall be the Pacific Northwest Section of the Mathematical Association of America (MAA).
The purposes of the Pacific Northwest Section shall be to advance the mission of the MAA on a regional level (namely within the territory defined in Article II below); to offer guidance to the MAA as it forms and fulfills its mission; to provide professional development and networking activities for section members and mathematics students in geographically accessible locations; and to promote discussion and action on issues affecting mathematics teaching, learning, and research in the region.

Article II: Membership

The membership of the Pacific Northwest Section shall be as follows:
1. Members of the Mathematical Association of America residing in the states of Oregon (Zip Code 97000–97999) Washington (Zip Code 98000–99499), Idaho (Zip Code 83200–83899), Montana (Zip Code 59000–59699 and 59800–59999), Alaska (Zip Code 99500–99999), the provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, and the Northwest, Nunavut, and Yukon territories.
2. Members of the Mathematical Association of America, not being resident in the territory of this Section, who have become members of this Section in accordance with the By-laws of the Mathematical Association of America.

Article III: Officers

The officers of the Section shall be a Chair, a Chair-elect (in even-numbered calendar years) or Past-chair (in odd-numbered calendar years), a Secretary-Treasurer, a Newsletter Editor, a Web Manager, a Section NExT Director, and a Student Program Coordinator.
The Executive Committee of the Section shall consist of the Officers of the Section and the Section Representative to the MAA Congress (ex officio).
Each Section Officer must be a member of the Mathematical Association of America and of this Section.
The Chair-elect and the Secretary-Treasurer shall be elected at the Annual Meeting of the Section. These officers shall assume office upon adjournment of the meeting at which they are elected.
The officers who are not elected shall be appointed by the Chair with the approval of the Executive Committee.
The Chair-elect shall serve one year as Chair-elect, the subsequent two years as Chair followed by a year as Past-chair. The Secretary-Treasurer shall be elected for a term of four years. The terms of the Chair and Secretary-Treasurer shall begin in alternate years. All other officers shall be appointed for two year terms. The Newsletter Editor and Web Manager shall be appointed in odd-numbered years and the Section NExT Director and a Student Program Coordinator in even-numbered years.
Duties of the Section Officers:
1. The Chair shall preside at each meeting of the Section and of the Executive Committee of the Section. The Chair shall appoint every committee of the Section and be an ex-officio member of each committee unless directed otherwise by the membership of the Section at an official meeting. In addition, the Chair (or representative) will attend the MAA Section Officers meeting at MathFest and the Joint meeting.
2. The duties of the Chair-elect and Past-chair shall be determined by the Chair and the Executive Committee.
3. The duties of the Secretary-Treasurer shall include keeping the minutes of official meetings of the Section and of meetings of the Executive Committee, custody of records of the Section, the notification to the members of all meetings and to the members of the Executive Committee of meetings of that committee. In addition, the Secretary-Treasurer shall arrange for the collection of Section dues, for the receipt of the subvention provided by the MAA, for making appropriate reports to the MAA, the safekeeping of the funds of the Section, the maintaining of proper and accurate books of account of Section funds and the paying of bills of the Section.
4. The duties of the Newsletter Editor include publishing a newsletter at least twice each academic year. The Newsletter Editor will work together with the Web Manager to place the newsletter on the Section's website. The Newsletter Editor will notify the Section membership and other newsletter editors and secretaries from other sections informing them of the publication of a new newsletter.
5. The Web Manager should be responsible for the design, technical operation and content of the Section’s Web site. In addition, the Web Manager should maintain contact with and consult with the officers of the Section on both content and design of the section web page.
6. The Section NExT Director shall serve as liaison between the Section and the PNW Project NExT Fellows. The Section NExT Director shall have the responsibility of promoting the objectives of the MAA among new college-level faculty and shall coordinate the annual PNW Project NExT meeting with the Section Meeting.
7. The duties of the Student Program Coordinator shall be to represent the interests of the students in the Section. The Student Program Coordinator shall ensure that students are informed about MAA resources and activities that are relevant to them, facilitate communication between students and student chapters, and promote student involvement at Section meetings.
The Executive Committee shall conduct the affairs of the Section between meetings of the Section membership.
If a vacancy of an elected office should occur, the Executive Committee shall fill the vacancy by appointing a member of the Section to serve until the next meeting, at which an election by the membership of the Section shall be held.

Article IV: Meetings

The Section shall hold one or more regular meetings each year. Normally the annual meeting will be held in late spring or early summer and the election of officers shall take place at the business meeting to be held during this annual meeting.
The executive committee shall approve the location of the annual meeting and determine which matters are to be brought to a vote by the members of the Section at the business meeting to be held during this annual meeting.
A special meeting may be called by the Executive Committee.
Each member of the Section shall be notified at least ten days in advance of any regular or special meeting of the Section.
A quorum at a Section business meeting shall consist of not less than 15 members of the Section, and no votes may be taken at a section business meeting unless a quorum is present.

Article V: Use of Assets

The assets of the Pacific Northwest Section shall be used exclusively to further the purposes of the Section, and in the event of the dissolution of the Section the remaining assets shall be returned to the MAA to be used for a purpose consistent with the purposes of the MAA.
Decisions regarding expenditures and investments of Section funds shall be made by the Secretary-Treasurer with the approval of the Executive Committee.
The Chair (or representative) will receive at least $250 to attend the Section Officers Meeting at MathFest.

Article VI: Committees

For each regular meeting of the Section, a Program Committee shall be appointed. This committee shall include two Program Chairs (for example, one for universities and four-year colleges and one for two-year colleges or one for the invited program and one for the contributed program), a Local Arrangements Coordinator, the Student Program Coordinator (ex-officio), the Section NExT Director (ex-officio), the Chair (ex-officio) and the Secretary-Treasurer (ex-officio).
1. The Program Chairs or Local Arrangements Coordinator may serve as co-chairs, or they may agree to designate one of them to serve as chair.
2. The Program Committee shall be responsible for arranging the program for the meeting, which includes decisions regarding invited speakers, minicourses, special sessions, banquets, etc. The committee is also responsible for inviting speakers and arranging all sessions. The committee shall work with the Newsletter Editor and Web Manager to publicize the meeting. The committee shall keep the Executive Committee informed of its progress.
3. The Local Arrangements Coordinator shall be responsible for making local physical arrangements including meeting and registration space at the local institution, lodging, etc.
4. Registration fees for annual Section meetings shall be determined by the Executive Committee in consultation with the Program Committee. Whenever the Chair or Secretary-Treasurer deems it prudent, other decisions of the Program Committee, financial or otherwise, shall require approval of the Executive Committee.
The Chair shall appoint a nominating committee to choose a slate of candidates for the elective offices, but nominations may also be made by members at the time of the annual election.
Every year the Chair will appoint one section member to the Distinguished Teaching Award Committee. Each member serves a 3-year term, becoming chair of the committee in the 3rd year of service.
The Chair is authorized to appoint, with the advice of the Executive Committee, any committees which are needed to carry out effectively the purpose of the Section.

Article VII: Amendments

These By-laws may be amended by a majority of the votes cast by the members at a regular or special meeting of the Section, subject to the approval of the Board of Directors of the Mathematical Association of America.
A proposed amendment shall be submitted to every member of the Section at least ten days prior to the meeting at which the vote on the amendment will take place.
When an amendment has been approved by the members of the Section, the amended By-laws shall be submitted to the MAA Committee on Sections for its recommendation to the Board of Directors.
A complete revision of this set of By-laws will be subject to the same procedure as that for amending this set.