CONSTITUTION OF THE ROME ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

Article I

Name and Purposes

Section 1:This Corporation shall be known by the name of “The Rome Academy of Sciences”.

Section 2: This Corporation has been chartered as an educational corporation by the Board of Regents of the Department of Education of the State of New York.

Section 3: The corporation hereby created shall be a non-stock corporation, organized and operated exclusively for educational purposes, and no part of its earnings or net income shall insure to the benefit of any individual, and no officer, member, or employee of the corporation shall receive or be entitled to receive any pecuniary profit from the operations thereof except reasonable compensation for services.

Section 4:Upon dissolution of the Rome Academy of Sciences, all assets shall be distributed to scientific educational or similar organizations as stipulated under 501(c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code. The Treasurer, with approval by the Board of Trustees, will be responsible for dissolution of all Academy assets.

Section 5: The center of its activities shall be located in the City of Rome, County of Oneida, and State of New York.

Section 6: The purposes shall be:

  1. To foster in the community an understanding of science and scientific thought through sponsorship of community discussion and presentation;
  2. To provide a forum for people in industry, medical, education and government, who are engaged, trained or interested in the various scientific disciplines for the purpose of sharing their scientific knowledge with the community; and
  3. To serve as a resource of various scientific skills to help further scientific education in the Rome Community through sponsorship of scientific events and programs such as local science fairs and speaker presentations.

Article II

Membership

Section 1:Membership shall be open to any person interested in science and who subscribes to the purposes of the Academy of Sciences.

Section 2:There shall be five classes of members, namely: active, fellows, honorary, emeritus, and sustaining members.

  1. Active members. Active members and Fellows shall be qualified to vote and to hold office;
  2. Fellows shall be chosen from the active membership in recognition of scientific attainments or distinguished service to the Academy;
  3. Honorary members shall be chosen from among outstanding scientists who are not members of this Academy;
  4. Emeritus position shall be chosen from the retired membership in recognition of long-term support or contribution to the Academy. Emeritus position shall have no vote in the organization; and,
  5. Sustaining members (Friends of RAS) shall be those individuals or corporations who subscribe to the purposes of the Academy and contribute to the financial support of the Academy. They shall have no vote in the organization.

Article III

Board of Trustees

Section 1:The fifteen persons named as incorporators shall constitute the first board of trustees.

Section 2:The Board of Trustees shall number no more than fifteen or less than five members as stipulated in the Charter.

Section 3:One third of the Board of Trustees shall be elected annually as provided for in the By-laws to serve for a three-year term.

Section 4: The Board of Trustees shall have power by a vote of 2/3 of all the members of the Board of Trustees to amend the By-Laws.

Section 5:The Board of Trustees shall conduct all the business of the Academy and shall be responsible for carrying out effectively the purposes of the Academy. A quorum must be established in order to conduct any business of the Academy.

Section 6:The Board of Trustees shall elect from among their members the Officers of the Academy. These elections shall take place annually at the meeting of the board at the beginning of each fiscal year. A fiscal year is defined as 1 Sep till 31 Aug of each year.

Article IV

Officers

Section 1:The officers of the Academy shall be a President, a Vice President, a Secretary, a Treasurer and such other officers as required by the By-Laws.

Article V

Quorum

Section 1:A simple majority of the Trustees shall constitute a quorum at meetings of the Board of Trustees.

Article VI

Amendments

Section 1:This constitution may be amended by a vote of not less than two-thirds of the active members.

Section 2:Active members shall be notified of the proposed amendments four weeks in advance of voting. Voting shall be by letter ballot and/or e-mail.

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Current as of Feb 25 2016