BY-LAWS OF THE DIVISION ON SOLAR PHYSICS

This Division of the American Astronomical Society (hereinafter called "the Society") shall be known as the "Division on Solar Physics".

The object of the Division on Solar Physics (hereinafter called "the Division") shall be the advancement of the study of the Sun and promotion of coordination of such research with other branches of science.

Article VII of the Society By-laws, as revised in 1968, is hereby incorporated into these By-laws by reference.

1. Any member of the American Astronomical Society may become a member of the Division by applying to the Secretary of the Division. Any member of the Division may resign from the Division by notifying the Secretary. Membership in the Division is contingent upon continuing membership in the Society and upon payment of such dues as the Division shall assess.

2. Affiliate Membership in the Division is provided for persons who are not members of the American Astronomical Society, but who are members of another recognized professional organization with interests related to solar physics. An application for Affiliate Membership shall be sponsored by at least two regular members of the Division. It shall be submitted to the Secretary of the Division for presentation to the Committee for approval or disapproval. Whenever the total of Affiliate Members exceeds one-third of the total of the regular Members of the Division, new applications shall be held in abeyance by the Secretary in the order in which they are received. Affiliate Members shall have all the rights, privileges and obligations of regular Members, except that they may not vote nor hold any office in the Division.

3. Emeritus Membership in the Division is provided for persons who are Emeritus Members of the Society. Emeritus Members of the Division shall have all the rights, privileges and obligations of regular Members of the Division, except they shall be exempt from payment of dues. Emeritus Members of the Division shall be required to apply annually to the Division in order to maintain their status.

1. The Committee of the Division (hereinafter called "the Committee") shall consist of the officers of the Division, and five committee-persons. All members of the Committee shall be Members of the Division and the Society. The Committee shall have general charge of the affairs of the Division, and through the Chairperson or Secretary shall report the activities of the Division to the Council of the Society. The Committee may set an enrollment fee for new members, annual dues for all members, registration fees for persons attending meetings of the Division, or any combination of such fees and dues. Fees and dues may be waived by the Committee on an individual basis by request for those Members or Affiliate Members for which payment in United States dollars represents a barrier to membership.

2. The officers of the Committee and of the Division shall be a Chairperson, a Vice-Chairperson, a Secretary, and a Treasurer. In addition to the duties specifically assigned to them by these By-laws, the officers shall discharge the other duties usually incident to their respective officers.

3. The Chairperson shall call all meetings of the Committee and shall preside at those meetings if possible. With the advice and consent of the Committee the Chairperson shall appoint any special committees which are necessary to conduct the affairs of the Division and shall be an ex-officio member of each such special committee except the Nominating Committee.

4. The Vice-Chairperson may act for the Chairperson at the latter's request and shall act for the Chairperson in the event that the latter cannot discharge the duties of the office. The Vice-Chairperson shall with the assistance of the Program Committee, be responsible for organizing the scientific programs of the Division.

5. The Secretary shall send out necessary notices and announcements to the members of the Committee and to members of the Division. Announcements of the meetings of the Division shall be prepared by the Secretary and transmitted to the appropriate officer of the Society for publication and distribution to all Society members, at least nine weeks before the date of each meeting. The Secretary shall assist the Committee or the Program Committee with arrangements for the meeting and for the publication, if any, of the proceedings. The Secretary shall also prepare minutes of each meeting of the Committee, and of the Business sessions of the Division, and submit these minutes to each member of the Committee and to the Secretary of the Society within three weeks after each meeting.

6. The Treasurer shall collect the enrollment fees and any Division dues set by the Committee, and handle funds and make disbursements in accordance with the budget approved by the Committee. The Treasurer shall submit to the Committee an annual financial report which, after approval by auditors appointed by the Chairperson from the members of the Division, shall be submitted to the Council of the Society.

7. The Committee shall meet at least once each year. A request in writing from at least three members of the Committee shall render a convocation of an additional meeting of the Committee obligatory. Any member of the Committee unable to attend the meeting shall have the privilege of naming an alternate representative to participate in the meeting without vote, subject to the approval of the Chairperson. At any meeting of the Committee, five of its members shall constitute a quorum.

   VI. Election and Tenure of Officers and Committee-persons

   1. The terms of office for officers and Committee members shall be as follows: The Vice-Person shall be elected, serve one year as Vice-Chairperson, then two years as Chairperson and a fourth year as Vice-Chairperson, plus two years as Committee person. Secretary and Treasurer shall serve for three years and Committee member shall serve for two years. The term year shall be construed as running from one regular meeting to the next.

   2. At each regular meeting of the Division, the Chairperson of the Division shall, with the advice and consent of the Committee, appoint a chairperson and two members of a nominating committee to serve until the next regular meeting. No more than one member of the Nominating Committee shall be a member of the Committee of the Division.

   3. Not later than nine weeks before the regular meeting, the Nominating Committee shall submit to the Secretary nominations of at least two candidates for each vacancy. the Nominating Committee shall ascertain the willingness of its nominees to serve if elected. If the existing Vice-Chairperson is unwilling or unable to assume the office of the Chairperson, or if the existing Vice-Chairperson was appointed by the Committee, the Nominating Committee shall nominate at least two candidates for the office of Chairperson.

   4. Any member of the Division proposed as a candidate for Officer or Committee member by petition of not fewer than 12 members of the Division, at least six weeks before the regular meeting, shall be deemed to be nominated to the post provided the nominee has stated to the Secretary willingness to serve if elected.

   5. The Secretary of the Division shall prepare a ballot containing the names of all candidates nominated according to paragraphs 3 and 4 of this Article, and shall distribute these ballots to all members of the Division not later than four weeks before the regular meeting. Each member may cast one vote for each post of the Committee to be filled and shall return the ballot in a sealed, unmarked envelope enclosed within a signed envelope to the Secretary not later than the day before the business session of the regular meeting. The Secretary shall count the votes and submit the tally to the Chairperson. Election shall be by plurality of those voting, and the Chairperson shall not cast a ballot unless it is needed to break a tie. The Chairperson shall report the results of the election to the Division members during the business session and to the Secretary of the Society not more than a week later.

   6. The tenure of members of the Committee shall begin at the close of the regular meeting at which they are elected.

   7. If a vacancy occurs in the post of Chairperson, the Vice-Chairperson shall act as Chairperson for the remainder of the unexpired term and shall continue to serve the term as Chairperson to which he or she normally would succeed. If a vacancy occurs in the post of Vice-Chairperson or Committee member, the Committee may appoint a member of the Division to serve until the next regular election occurring more than twelve weeks after the vacancy occurs, at which time the vacancy shall be filled by the regular procedure. If a vacancy occurs in the post of Secretary or Treasurer, the Committee may appoint a member of the Division to serve the remainder of the term.

   VII. Meetings of the Division

   1. A meeting of the Division to be known as the regular meeting shall be held each year at such time and place as shall be ordered by the Committee. This meeting shall include a business session devoted exclusively to the reports of officers and committees, and to the transaction of business affairs. no scientific program of the Division shall be presented simultaneously with the business session.

   2. Meetings of the Division other than the regular meeting may be scheduled by the Committee. Special conferences or symposia, when designated as being wholly or jointly sponsored by the Division, shall have the status of meetings.

   3. The dates and places of all meetings of the Division shall be chosen in consultation with the Council of the Society, or with an officer designated by the Council.

   4. All meetings of the Division shall be open to all members of the American Astronomical Society and to such other categories of participants and individuals as invited by the Committee.

   VIII. Appointed Special Committees

   1. The Chairperson, with the advice and consent of the Committee of the Division shall appoint the Nominating Committee, which shall have such duties as are specified in Article VI of these By-laws, and such other special committees as conditions may demand.

   2. All appointed special committees, unless otherwise terminated by the Committee, shall be considered to be automatically discharged at the close of the regular meeting next following their appointment.

   IX. Programs

   1. Meetings of the Division may include programs of invited papers, contributed papers, or such other format as designated by the Committee. The Chairperson with the advice and consent of the Committee may appoint a Program Committee and delegate to it the planning of programs, the selection of papers to be placed on the programs, and arrangements for meetings. The program committee will be chaired by the Vice-Chairperson.

   2. The Division may hold joint meetings with other Divisions of the Society as well as with other scientific groups.

   X. Prizes and Awards

   1. The Solar Physics Division of the American Astronomical Society sponsors, with the cooperation of the American Astronomical Society, an Honorary Prize in memory of George Ellery Hale, normally to be awarded every two years to a scientist for outstanding contributions to the field of solar astronomy. The recipient will be invited to deliver a Hale Prize lecture at a joint meeting of the Division and the Society and the text of the lecture will be published in a journal of the Society. The prize-winner will receive a medal, honorarium, and a citation in recognition of his or her contributions.

      The following regulations govern the award:

      (a)Selection is to be based upon outstanding contributions over an extended period of time to the field of solar astronomy. In considering candidates, the Hale Prize Nominating Committee is to be guided by the impact of the candidates' research in solar physics, general astronomy, geophysics, mathematics, and physics.

      (b) Any living scientist is eligible to receive the award without consideration of race, sex, or nationality.

      (c) A Hale Prize Nominating Committee is appointed by the Chairperson of the Solar Physics Division in consultation with the Division Committee. The Hale Prize Committee shall consist of five members including a voting chairperson. They shall be chosen for their knowledge of solar astronomy and breadth of scientific perspective. Terms of office of the committee shall be four years with two or three new members being selected each two years.

      (d) A reminder of the opportunity of making a nomination is to be printed in the announcements of meetings of the Society and of the Division.

      (e) The Hale Prize Committee will receive proposals for nominations endorsed by two members of the Society. Such a proposal must include a basic bibliography emphasizing those papers which form the basis for the proposal as well as a description of the scientific achievements which justify the award. The Hale Prize Committee retains the privilege of considering candidates not proposed by this process. If a member of the Nominating Committee is proposed, such a proposal will be deferred for automatic consideration after the proposed individual has rotated off the Nominating Committee after his/her term of duty.

      (f) The Hale Prize Committee may nominate a candidate approximately every two years. Up-to-date vitae, a bibliography, and a citation for the nomination will be forwarded to the President of the Society.

      (g) The Division has arranged the funding for the medal, honorarium, publication costs (if any) and travel allowance, although the Society, as the legal corporate body, is the legal agent for the administration of the funds for these purposes. The amount of the honorarium is to be set by the Committee of the Division, subject to approval by the Council of the Society.

      (h) Formal announcement of the winner of each award together with the award citation will be carried in the Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society. A similar announcement in other journals may be made at the discretion of the Division Committee.

   2. The Solar Physics Division of the American Astronomical Society sponsors, with the cooperation of the American Astronomical Society, two Popular Writing Awards to be awarded annually to authors of popular or semi-popular articles on the Sun or the effects of the Sun on the Earth's environment. The purpose of these awards is to encourage scientists, science writers, and journalists to write about the Sun and thereby educate the public about results from contemporary solar research.

      The following rules govern the awards:

      (a) The articles shall be judged, and selections for the awards shall be made by a Popular Writing Awards Committee, which is appointed by the Chairperson of the Solar Physics Division in consultation with the Division Committee. The Popular Writing Awards Committee shall consist of five members including a voting chairperson. Four of the members shall be chosen for their knowledge of solar astronomy or space physics, and the fifth member shall be chosen from outside the science community. Terms of office of the committee shall be two years with two or three new members being selected each year.

      (b) Awards shall be made annually in two categories, one for scientists (including both professionals and students) and another for science writers and journalists. One award shall be offered in each category.

      (c) Any living scientist, science writer or journalist is eligible to receive an award without consideration of race, sex, or nationality, except that current members of the Popular Writing Awards Committee are not eligible for awards in that year.

      (d) The Popular Writing Awards Committee is to publish an announcement of the competition for the awards in publications of the Society and the Division. The committee shall actively solicit nominations for the awards. Nominations of candidate articles may be submitted (in writing to the committee) by any member of the public. Self-nominations are welcome. The committee retains the privilege to nominate candidate articles themselves.

      (e) Candidate articles are popular or semi-popular articles about contemporary scientific studies of the Sun or the effects of the Sun on the Earth's environment. The articles must be in English, and must have been published in a North American newspaper, magazine, or popular science journal during the previous calendar year. The selection of winning articles is to be based on the following criteria: relevance to solar astronomy or solar physics, or space physics directly related with the Sun; educational value; accuracy in describing the scientific issues involved; clarity of presentation; number of readers who would likely have seen the article.

      (f) Awards will be made to the first author of each winning article, who will receive a cash award and a certificate citing the article for which the award was made. In case of articles with multiple authors, each co-author will receive such a certificate.

      (g) The Division will arrange the funding for the awards, including the cost of producing award certificates (if any), although the Society, as the legal corporate body, is the legal agent for the administration of the funds for these purposes. The awards may be funded in part from the operating funds of the Division. The competition for the awards is subject to annual approval of the SPD Committee.

      (h) The winners of the awards shall be announced at the annual meeting of the Division. Formal announcement of the winners of the awards will be carried in the Bulletin of the Americal Astronomical Society.

   XI. Amendment of By-laws

   Proposals for amendments to these By-laws may be made by the Council of the Society, by the Committee of the Division, or by a petition to the Chairperson of the Division signed by not fewer than 20 members of the Division. After discussion of the proposed amendment by the Committee at its earliest opportunity, the Secretary shall distribute copies of the proposed amendment to the members of the Council of the Society for their review and comment, not less than three weeks prior to the next meeting of the Council. The Secretary shall then distribute copies of the proposed amendment, together with the comments of the Council, the Committee, and the petitioners, if any, to all members of the Division, not less than three weeks before the next regular meeting. An opportunity shall be given for discussion and changes in the wording of the proposed amendment during the business session. After this meeting the Secretary shall distribute ballots containing the final wording of the proposed amendment to all members of the Division who shall return their marked ballots in sealed and signed envelopes not later than three weeks after the date of distribution of the ballot. The adoption of an amendment shall require the affirmative vote of not fewer than two-thirds of the members voting. An amendment, if passed, shall be transmitted to the Secretary of the Society.

   ---

   Return to the SPD homepage.

   ---

   Set in HTML by J.B. Gurman, 1996 February 4. Any errors, omissions, or confusion resulting from the translation from LaTeX to HTML are my fault alone, and should not be construed as an action by the membership or officers of the Division.

   Last revised - J.B. Gurman