Duties

Under Article VI. of the bylaws of the Botanical Society of America, The Past-President shall perform such duties as prescribed by the President or the Board of Directors, as well as chairing the Election Committee and the Corresponding Member Committee.

Committee Assignments – EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE, ELECTION COMMITTEE and CORRESPONDING MEMBERS COMMITTEE

Write thank you letters, etc., generated from presidential term and any business that emanated from the Annual Meeting.

Start work on PAST-PRESIDENT'S SYMPOSIUM, to be on a topic of your choice, but one that cuts across fields of plant biology, or is a topic of general interest to botanists in some other way. You may organize the symposium yourself, or ask someone else to do it in your place. You have some limited funds ($1,000-2,000) to support the symposium each year.

Attend the Executive Committee, Council, and Annual Business Meetings. Report on ELECTIONS AND CORRESPONDING MEMBERS. Run PAST-PRESIDENT'S SYMPOSIUM.

September

Activate the Elections Committee. Contact members and ask them to be thinking about candidates. The Ballot is made up of candidates the Committee selects, and, if possible, includes names from the nominations by the general membership. This is not so hard; there are a number of good persons nominated by the general membership, but the Bylaws do not restrict the ballot to the open nominations.

ELECTION/NOMINATIONS see Article IV, section 1, for the specific charges to the Election Committee, of which you are the Chair.

Prepare the Call for NOMINATION OF OFFICERS which goes out with the Fall Mailing, as an email to members and is posted on the BSA website. The Executive Director will provide the appropriate form (example) and ensure the email and web-posting. Deadline for return of the nominations is February 15^th.

Prepare a call for CORRESPONDING MEMBER nominations for either or both, the Fall mailing or the "PSB". The Executive Director will provide the appropriate form and ensure the email and web-posting. Deadline for the submission, in order to act on these at Spring Executive Committee meeting, has been March 1^st.

November-December

Attend the meeting of the Council of Scientific Society Presidents along with the President, Past President and the Executive Director. This is used as a planning meeting as well as an opportunity to meet with Washington based sister organizations (AIBS, ASPB...).

February

Send list of persons nominated to Elections Committee to seek their input and to add other names if required.

In consultation with the Election Committee, decide on a slate of candidates. They must agree in writing to stand for election.

Advise the Executive Director to prepare the ballot. Ensure each canidate provides a provides a profile that is included on the ballot.

Distribute ballot by separate mailing and as an electronic ballot. Paper Ballots are sent to members without email. Elections open March 1^st and close April 15^th.

March

Attend Executive Committee meeting. Report on activities.

April

Receive and count BALLOTS. In consultation with the President, notify the winners and other candidates of the outcome. Also, report to the Elections Committee - if they have not helped count the ballots (given that the Committee is spread across the country, the Chair usually seeks permission to use other local BSA members to do the counting).

Receive CORRESPONDING MEMBER nominations. Distribute copies to the other members of the Committee (other two immediate Past-Presidents) for action on recommendation to accept or not. The candidates are usually discussed at the Spring Executive Committee meeting in April, and recommended to the Council and Membership at the Annual Business Meeting in August. New members are elected by the Membership at the Annual Business Meeting.

BSA Conference

Lead the Past-President's Symposium