Great Colleges to Work for 2024

Duties of Officers and Committees

 

ARF Officers and Committees Responsibilities, and Suggestions on How to Accomplish their Duties

This Paper specifies duties of all Association of Retired Faculty Officers, Board Members, and Committee Chairs.

  1. Read the Bylaws, and Officers, Board, and Committee Chairs duties
  2. Past President
  3. President
  4. Vice President
  5. Secretary
  6. Treasurer
  7. Publicity/Historian
  8. Board of Directors
  9. Committees

I. Read the Bylaws, and Officers, Board, and Committee Chairs duties as defined in this item.

II. Past President.

The ARF fiscal year ends in December. The Past President shall give the new ARF president a complete listing of the new executive board/committee, including Officers, Board members, and Committee heads.

Past presidents are automatically in charge of the nominating committee in the year after they are the ARF president.

III. President.

The President Presides at all ARF General meetings and executive committee meetings. He/she is also responsible for all meeting agendas (the vice president plans the content of general meetings). Since ARF has around 96% of all members’ email addresses, meeting reminders may be done via email. The ARF Secretary in the Provost office has been most gracious about mailing ARF general meeting written notices to our membership. The ARF Treasurer maintains membership information (name, address, phone number, email address, and last title before retirement), and shares this info with the ARF Provost Secretary.

It is an ARF tradition to have a Christmas Banquet/Awards Ceremony hosted by (and usually the main speaker) the MSU President. Guests to this Banquet include ARF Members and Spouses, Spouses of deceased ARF Members, and others invited by the MSU President’s office. Awards at this Banquet are managed through the ARF Awards committee. Awardees are selected by members of Departments from which each award is defined. Honors are paid to deceased members during this meeting.

The December General Membership meeting is the time to elect new officers and directors. A Nominating Committee (Past President and two other ARF members), an Auditing committee of two, an Awards Committee of three, a Publicity Committee of two, and a Website Committee of two are appointed/re-appointed. All officers (President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, Publicist/Historian) are revisited in this process.

The president is an ex-officio member of all committees except the Nominating Committee.

IV. Vice President.

The Vice President shall preside at all meetings in which the President cannot preside.

It is customary for the Vice President to plan all ARF meetings except the Banquet (hosted by the MSU President’s office). This includes recommending a meeting place, establishing a program/speaker/entertainment of membership interest and arranging refreshments. These recommendations are all subject to board approval.

V. Secretary.

The Secretary is responsible for recording and presenting minutes of all Board and General ARF meetings. Minutes are recorded during each ARF Meeting. They are presented at the beginning of each meeting for approval. It is important for the Secretary to keep records of all ARF meetings.

VI. Treasurer.

The Treasurer shall maintain all necessary bank accounts, and account for all ARF income and expenses. A brief Treasurer’s report is expected at each ARF meeting.

The Treasurer is expected to maintain a membership list as well as an accounting for all dues paid. Those who don’t pay their dues for 2-3 years may be deleted from the membership list.

When an Audit is deemed necessary, the Treasurer shall provide information for audit review.

VII. Publicity/Historian.

The Publicity chair shall provide timely press releases of all ARF meetings and activities. The Historian shall maintain a general updated history of ARF activities.

VIII. Board of Directors.

The directors are responsible for aiding in sensing the needs of the ARF membership, and being sensitive to comments they hear from the Membership. Ideas gleaned by talking to ARF members should be submitted to board meetings for discussion and action. Directors are encouraged to accept assignments from the President, Vice President, and Board. Directors are urged to be present at all board meetings, and to participate in all business at hand. Five Directors are appointed by the ARF Board. One Director rolls off the board each year, and a new director is appointed by the Nominating Committee in December.

Those included in ARF Board Meetings are ARF Officers, Board of Directors, Committee Heads, and any ARF Member who wishes to attend.

IX. Committees.

Auditing.

The auditor shall audit the treasurer’s accounts at the end of the (calendar) year. Auditors shall report their findings at the next business meeting.

Membership.

This committee shall keep itself informed of those eligible for ARF Membership and solicit their participation in ARF, particularly at the end of each fiscal year. Letters of invitation shall be provided to all prospective members. Just after a Faculty Member or Professional Staff member retires is the prime time to Invite them. The ARF Secretary in the Provost’s office is a very important participant in attracting new ARF members. They usually provide a list of recent retirees to each ARF officer yearly. Any ARF member can invite an eligible retiree to join ARF!

Awards.

The main function of this committee is to work through each step of presenting awards to four or five deserving MSU students for academic excellence. ARF currently presents $500 Monetary awards to each awardee. The ARF Awards Committee shall consist of a Head and two additional members. The five possible ARF Awards are as follows:

  • Peyton Ward Williams Distinguished Writing Award (English Department)
  • Charles E. Lindley Leadership Award (Dean of Agriculture and Life Sciences)
  • William Giles Award for Excellence in Architecture (Dean of Architecture)
  • Harry Simrall Award for Engineering Excellence (Dean of Engineering)
  • ARF Exemplary Service Award (Honors ARF Members on an ad hoc basis)

The ARF Awards Committee shall contact the appropriate Dean’s offices or Departments (English for distinguished writing and, when an ARF member is honored, that Member’s Department) to begin the Awards process. Awardees are selected by Faculty Members in appropriate Dean’s offices and Departments. The Williams, Lindley, Giles, and Simrall Awards are presented yearly. The ARF Exemplary Service Award is presented at the discretion of the ARF Board and Membership. Faculty speakers for the Williams, Lindley, Giles, and Simrall awards are chosen by their respective Dean’s offices and Departments. Comments honoring each Awardee are necessarily brief, because this is done at the Banquet (the MSU President is usually the principal speaker).

The ARF Secretary shall invite all Awardees (plus their parents) to the Banquet.

The Awards Committee is charged with Coordination of the entire Awards Process / Presentations (a Check from the ARF Treasurer, and a Certificate especially prepared by an ARF Member, presented by the ARF President)!!!

Website.

The Chair of the ARF Website must be Computer Literate. He/she is responsible for the content of the ARF Website (Subject to Board approval). He/she shall submit up-to-date computer files (Microsoft Office formats) to MSU Human Resources Management. HRM supports the ARF Website on their servers.

The ARF Website is currently organized into 13 files, each representing one item on the ARF Main Menu. They are: 0 ARF Overview, 1 info on joining ARF, 2 Current and Previous ARF Officers, 3 Current and Previous ARF Directors and Committees, 4 Brief ARF Historical Overview, 5 Meeting Activities and Generalized ARF Calendar, 6 Suggestions on how ARF Officers, Board Members, and Committee Members should Accomplish their work, 7 Current and Previous Student Awards, 8 Current ARF Bylaws, 9 Current ARF Membership list, with Names, Addresses, Phone numbers, email addresses, and titles at retirement from MSU, A A file of retirement info from Retirees who were in the Military, B Links to great local websites, and C An explanation of how to place new website files online.