Institute of Mathematical Statistics | IMS Handbook Formal Structure

Institute of Mathematical Statistics Constitution

Article I. Name
The name of this organization shall be the Institute of Mathematical Statistics, also hereinafter referred to as the Institute, or as IMS.

Article II. Purpose
The purpose of the Institute is to foster the development and dissemination of the theory and applications of statistics and probability.

Article III. Membership
Section 1.
The Institute shall have Individual Members, also hereinafter referred to as Members, and the Institute may have Organizational Members.

Any individual is eligible to become an Individual Member.

Any organization is eligible to become an Organizational Member. An Organizational Member may designate one person who shall have all the rights of an Individual Member. Such designation may be changed annually.

Applications for membership become elective upon payment of dues to the Treasurer of the Institute.

Section 2.
A Member or Organizational Member may be suspended from Membership by the Council only for nonpayment of dues. Such suspension from Membership shall require a vote of three-fourths of the Council Members voting.

Article IV. Officers
Section 1.
Elective Officers. The Elective Officers of the Institute shall be the President-Elect, the President, and the Past President. Each Elective Officer shall serve for three years, occupying each of the three offices in turn for one year.

Section 2.
Administrative Officers. The Administrative Officers of the Institute shall be the Executive Secretary, the Treasurer, the Program Secretary and the Managing Editor(s).

Section 3.
Editorial Officers. The Editorial Officers of the Institute shall be the Editors of the wholly owned scientific journals of the Institute.

Section 4.
Only Members of the Institute shall be eligible for election or appointment to any office.

Section 5.
The Institute shall not pay a salary to any Officer, Council Member, or Committee Member.

Article V. Council
Section 1.
The Council shall consist of not fewer than 15 elected Members in addition to the Officers of the Institute.

Section 2.
Elected members of the Council shall be elected for terms of three years, the terms of approximately one-third of them terminating each year.

Section 3.
In furtherance of the purposes of the Institute, the Council shall determine the policies and supervise the affairs of the Institute in accordance with the Constitution and with any By-Laws the Institute may adopt.

Article VI. Executive and Officers Committees
Section 1.
The Elective Officers, Executive Secretary, Treasurer and Program Secretary under the Chairof the President shall constitute the Executive Committee of the Council, and following the general policies established by the Council, shall conduct all the affairs of the Institute between meetings of the Council.

Section 2.
The Executive Committee shall report at each Council meeting.

Section 3.
The Executive Committee may create temporary committees with assigned tasks coming within the scope and purposes of the Institute.

Article VII. Publications
The Annals of Statistics and The Annals of Probability, which supersede The Annals of Mathematical Statistics, Statistical Science, The Annals of Applied Probability and The Annals of Applied Statistics shall be the scientific journals of the Institute. These and The IMS Bulletin comprise the official journals of the Institute. Other publications may be authorized by the Council.

Article VIII. Amendments
Section 1.
An amendment to the Constitution may be proposed by a two-thirds majority vote of the Council or by a petition signed by at least 2% of the Members of the Institute.

Section 2.
Proposed amendments shall be submitted through the Executive Secretary, who shall submit them within 60 days to the Members of the Institute for a vote. Ballots will be counted if received within 45 days after the date of transmission by the Executive Secretary.

Section 3.
A proposed amendment shall require for its adoption a favorable vote of two-thirds of the Members voting.

Institute of Mathematical Statistics By Laws

Article I. Officers
Section 1. Duties

Section 1.1.
The President shall preside at Council Meetings and at Business Meetings of the Institute. The President shall chair the Executive Committee. The President, in consultation with the Past President and President-Elect, shall make appointments to all committee vacancies.

Section 1.2.
The Executive Secretary shall serve as recording secretary of the Council, the Executive and Officers Committees and of the Business Meetings. The Executive Secretary shall also oversee the web page and electronic issues of the Institute.

Section 1.3.
The Treasurer shall oversee the receipt and disbursement of all funds of the IMS, shall ensure that proper accounts of all financial transactions are kept, and shall make an annual financial report to the Council. This financial report shall be audited by a Certified Public Accountant and presented to the Council within nine months of the close of the fiscal year being reported upon.

Section 1.4.
The Program Secretary shall arrange and coordinate all activities concerned with meetings of the Institute.

Section 1.5.
The Editor of each scientific journal shall exercise general supervision over all editorial affairs of the journal. The Editor may appoint a sufficient number and variety of Associate Editors, and with their collaboration, shall appoint referees. All appointments as Associate Editor terminate with the appointment of a new Editor.

Section 1.6.
The Editor of The IMS Bulletin shall exercise general supervision of the editorial affairs of that journal.

Section 1.7.
The Managing Editor(s) shall exercise responsibility over the production of those journals assigned to him or her.

Section 1.8.
The President, and each of the Administrative and Editorial Officers, shall submit an Annual report to the Council.

Section 2. Tenure and Re-election

Section 2.1.
For the purpose of defining the terms of the Council or Administrative Officers, a year is the period from one Business Meeting to the next. For the Editorial Officers, a year is the calendar year.

Section 2.2.
Elective Officers are elected to serve a first year as President-Elect, a second year as President, and a third year as Past President. Elective Officers are ineligible for nomination to the Council for one year after leaving office.

Section 2.3.
Administrative and Editorial Officers shall have three-year terms and may not serve for more than six years. They are ineligible for nomination to the Council for one year after leaving office.

Section 2.4.
If the President is absent or incapacitated, the President-Elect shall act as President, or in case the President-Elect is also incapacitated, the Executive Secretary so shall act. In the event of the incapacity of any Administrative or Editorial Officer, the Council shall appoint a successor for the unexpired term. Incapacity shall be determined by the Council.

Article II. The Council

Section 1.
Five Members shall be elected to the Council by the Members of the Institute to serve for a term of three years. If an elected member of Council becomes President-Elect, the vacancy will be filled with an additional candidate from that election. Other vacancies in the elected Council occurring subsequent to an election shall not be filled for the unexpired term until the next election.

Section 2.
An elected member of the Council who has completed a three-year term on the Council shall not be eligible for nomination to the Council for one year following the term of office. [See also Article I of the By-Laws, sections 2.2 and 2.3, regarding officers.]

Section 3.
a) The Council shall meet at least twice a year. b) Meetings shall be held on at least thirty days’ notice at the call of the President, or the call of any eight members of the Council. c) Any member of the Council unable to be present may appoint a Member as proxy by writing to the Executive Secretary. d) A quorum shall be a simple majority of the Council.

Section 4.
The Council shall elect the Administrative and Editorial Officers by majority vote.

Section 5.
Motions may be presented to the Council between regular meetings. Presentation of a motion shall be followed by a 7-day discussion period before the vote is called. After the vote is called, Council members have 10 days to vote. A motion passes once affirmative votes are received from a majority of the Council. If sufficient affirmative votes are not received within the 10 voting days, the motion is defeated. After the 10 day voting period, the vote tally (number of votes for, against and abstaining) will be reported to the Council.

Article III. Nomination and Elections
Section 1. Nominations

Section 1.1.
The President, in consultation with the President-Elect and the Past President, shall appoint a Nominating Committee before the annual Meeting when he or she retires as President and shall announce their names at the Annual Meeting. This Committee shall submit to the Members, through the Executive Secretary, at least four months before the next succeeding Business Meeting at least one nomination for President-Elect, and a slate containing at least twice as many names as the number of anticipated vacancies on the Council.

Section 1.2.
Nominations may be made for President-Elect or for the Council by a petition signed by at least 20 members. Such nominations shall appear on the ballot if they are in the hands of the Executive Secretary at least four months before the Business Meeting. In any event, Members may vote for names in addition to those nominated.

Section 2.
The ballots for the Annual Election must be sent to the members at least 90 days before the first day of the next succeeding Business Meeting. In order to be counted, ballots must be received from the Members at least 45 days before the first day of the Business Meeting. The names of the nominees for the Council shall be placed on the ballot in random order.

Section 3.
Candidates for Council receiving the five highest numbers of votes shall be elected to serve for three- year terms; those receiving the next highest numbers of votes shall fill any unexpired terms in order of length.

Article IV. Fellows

Section 1.
The Council may, by majority vote, elect to Fellowship any Member nominated by the Committee on Fellows. Such nomination shall be on the basis of the Nominee’s contributions to the development and dissemination of the theory and application of statistics and probability.

Section 2.
Each President shall appoint at least three Fellows annually to serve three-year terms on the Committee on Fellows. One of those members whose turn is next to expire shall be designated as chair by the President.

Article V. Certain Standing Committees

The President, in consultation with the President-Elect and the Past President, shall at the beginning of the year in office appoint one or more members to a three-year term (unless specified otherwise) on each of the following standing committees:

a) Publications
The Committee is responsible for determining general policy for all publications of the Institute. The Editors of the official journals shall be ex-officio members of the Committee.

b) Selection of Administrative Officers
The Committee shall submit to the Council nominations for each office when vacancies occur.

c) Selection of Editors
The Committee shall submit to the Council nominations for each Editor of an official journal when vacancies occur.

d) Memorials
The Committee shall ensure that proper steps are taken to memorialize the death of distinguished mathematical statisticians and probabilists in an appropriate manner. The Committee, in conjunction with the appropriate Editor or program chair, is responsible for the selection of appropriate authors of memorial articles or organizers of program sessions, and for recommending the Council that an issue of a journal be dedicated to an individual deemed particularly deserving.

e) Named and Special Invited Lectures
The Committee is empowered to arrange for papers of unusual interest to be given at regular meetings of the Institute by distinguished scientists. The Committee also recommends to the Council candidates for all named lectures.

f) New Researchers Committee
The Committee’s responsibility is to assist the IMS in understanding and meeting the needs of new researchers, especially concerning publications and meetings. The Committee will also be in charge of organizing and running the New Researchers Conference, under the supervision of the IMS Program Secretary. The members of the committee will serve for three years. One of those members shall be designated as chair by the IMS President, in consultation with the New Researchers Committee and IMS Program Secretary. If needed, a Local Arrangements Chair for the New Researchers Conference will also be selected by the same process.

Article VI. Dues

Section 1.
Members shall pay dues on a calendar year basis at rates set by the Council at an Annual Meeting or by ballot. Payment of Membership dues entitles a Member to receive the full current volume of The IMS Bulletin and, as determined by the Council for each dues rate, the full current volume of other journal(s) published by the Institute.

Section 2.
Annual dues shall be payable on the first day of January of each year.

Section 3.
Each year approximately ninety (90) days before the beginning of the Annual Meeting for the year, but in no case earlier than the first day of March or later than the first day of July, it shall be the duty of the Treasurer to notify anyone whose dues are in arrears. If the Treasurer does not receive payment of such dues within eighty (80) days from the date of such notice, the Treasurer shall report those who have not paid their dues to the Council, who may suspend their membership. A suspended member shall be reinstated to membership for a given calendar year if the Treasurer receives payment of dues before the end of that calendar year.

Article VII. Executive Director

Section 1.
The Executive Director shall carry on the work of the Institute, by managing activities of the Institute subject to the policies of the Council. The Executive Director will be directly supervised by the Treasurer. The Executive Director shall serve without vote as an ex officio Member of the Executive Committee (and therefore of the Council).

Section 2.
The Executive Director cannot authorize spending of funds except within the approved budget and with the Treasurer’s approval. Authority to spend funds outside the approved budget requires approval by the Executive Committee.

Article VIII. Dissolution Statement

In the event of termination or dissolution of the Institute, the Council shall, after payment of all the liabilities of the Institute, dispose of all of the assets of the Institute exclusively for the objectives of the Institute, in such manner, or to such organization or organizations exclusively for charitable, educational, or scientific purposes as shall at the time qualify as an exempt organization or organizations under Section 501(c)3 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 (or the corresponding provision of any future United States Internal Revenue Law) as the Council shall determine. Any such assets not so disposed of shall be disposed of by the Court of Common Pleas of the County in which the principal office of the Institute is then located, exclusively for such purposes or to such organization or organizations as said Court shall determine, which are organized and operated exclusively for such purposes.

Article IX. Amendments

Section 1.
An Amendment to these By-Laws may be proposed by a two-thirds majority vote of the Council or by a petition signed by at least 2% of the Members of the Institute.

Section 3.
A proposed amendment shall require for its adoption a favorable vote of a majority of the Members voting.

Section 4.
If at a regularly scheduled Council Meeting three-fourths of the Council Members affirm that an emergency exists which precludes a mail ballot, then the By-Laws may be amended at a regularly scheduled Business Meeting.

Section 5.
A proposed amendment to the By-Laws shall require for its adoption a favorable vote of two-thirds of the Members voting at a Business Meeting.