Engineers Without Borders of University of Houston,

a Recognized Student Organization

Constitution and By-Laws

Article I- Creation

  1. Engineers Without Borders of University of Houston, known henceforth as EWB UH or EWB University of Houston is an organization created through the Cullen College of Engineering and is associated with the University of Houston
  2. The University of Houston chapter of EWB will operate within the boundaries and rules enumerated within the Student Body Constitution and Statutes of the University of Houston as well as the EWB Constitution and/or By-laws.

Article II- Purpose

  1. The purpose of EWB UH shall be to improve the quality of life in underdeveloped areas using practical, sustainable engineering while cultivated a sense of international responsibility in engineering students. The EWB UH chapter will immerse its actions and affiliations to promote the betterment of any given community.

Article III- Affiliations

  1. The UH Chapter of EWB shall be affiliated with Engineers without Borders- USA.

Article IV- Composition of Membership

  1. Pursuant to the Statutes, the EWB Executive Board will be comprised of the following voting members
  2. Executive Officers
  3. President
  4. Vice-President
  5. Treasurer
  6. Secretary
  7. Head of Fundraising Committee
  8. Project Manager
  9. Non-executive Members
  10. Positions shall be added as deemed necessary
  11. (A) faculty/staff advisor(s) will act as (an) ex-officio member(s) of the organization.
  12. Pursuant to the Statutes, the President may appoint non-voting members (hereinafter referred to as “staff”) to the Board to serve in staff positions.

Article V- Membership Qualifications

  1. Regulations of UH non-discrimination statements:
  2. No hazing or discrimination will be used as a condition of membership in this organization. This organization agrees to adhere to the University non-discrimination statement: No university student may be denied membership on the basis of race, creed, color, sex, religion, national origin, age, disability, veterans’ or marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, or any other protected group status.
  3. All members must
  4. Have desire to implement their skills benevolently both locally and globally.
  5. Consider the technical problems faced worldwide.
  6. Approach problems with an open mind and open heart.
  7. Welcome other prospective members, regardless of major or background
  8. Revocation of Membership
  9. Members, before the revocation of membership, shall be notified at least 72 hours prior to the meeting upon which the decision of membership shall be made
  10. The Member shall have the opportunity to speak for five minutes in defense of their membership
  11. The Member shall have the opportunity to call upon two other members to speak in their defense.
  12. Membership can be revoked without mutual agreement for misconduct or violations of the EWB Constitution and Bylaws or for participation in acts that are in defiance of the University Of Houston Code Of Conduct
  1. Only with a 2/3 majority vote can a membership be revoked
  1. Reinstating a Former Member
  2. A former member can appeal the revocation of their membership after no less than two weeks have passed since the date of revocation.
  3. Former members are required to submit their appeal in writing to the President.
  4. The President will read the appeal to all members at the next EWBchaptermeeting
  5. A majority vote by voting members of the student chapter shall allow the former member an invite to the next meeting. This invite must be extended at least 72 hours before said meeting.
  6. Having received the majority vote allowing the former member to speak, the former member is permitted to attend the next meeting
  7. The former member will have 10 minutes of the meeting granted to their appeal. During this time, the former member can speak or have others speak on their behalf.
  8. After 10 minutes, the active members can vote to reinstate membership, which requires a 2/3 majority vote.

Article VI- Duties of Active Members

  1. General Duties and Membership Qualifications of the Executive Officers
  2. Officers must be active members in good standing with their respective alum
  3. All members of the organization who meet the general body membership criteria, have been members for at least four weeks prior to elections, and have attended at least 2/3 of meetings within four weeks of elections are eligible to be elected as officers.
  4. It is the responsibility of the President to insure that all EWB responsibilities are fulfilled
  5. In case of financial hardship or other extenuating circumstances, an executive officer may have this requirement waived with the unanimous approval of the executive officers and advisor(s).
  6. The executive officers shall enforce, as well as advise the President on, policy decisions pertaining to the appropriation of ideas or funding towards projects
  7. The executive officers must approve the creation of new staff positions by the President.
  8. No individual may be permitted to hold a particular office for more than two years. This is defined as the Term of Office.
  9. Specific Duties of the Executive Officers
  10. President
  11. Supervises executive board in making decisions and executing projects and meetings, also work directly with project leaders on Nicaragua project and any other projects
  12. Promotes EWB at events and activities at off campus – events and meetings of other organizations, other chapters of EWB, professional society meetings, etc. ALWAYS
  13. Have a strong point of view of where to take the direction of EWB throughout the year
  14. Knowledgeable of EWB-USA Handbook and other information on ewb website
  15. Forging and maintaining relationships with faculty advisors, chapter mentor, corporate sponsors, deans
  16. Fundraising
  17. Appoint a temporary replacement to a vacancy in the Executive Board until an election is feasible
  18. Assign members to committees
  19. Vice President
  20. Main support for EWB events on-campus – planning, responsible as main contact person, advertising, intra-organization forums, UH organizations
  21. Help president organize and execute activities and projects
  22. Knowledgeable of EWB-USA Handbook and other information on ewb website
  23. Keep in contact with faculty advisors, chapter mentor, sponsors, deans
  24. Run meetings
  25. Fundraising
  26. Fulfill any other duty prescribed by the President and/or the executive officers
  27. Initiate the formation of any necessary committees
  28. Secretary
  29. Record keeper of event details, calendar of events, lessons learned, etc.
  30. Keep running tab of Action Items
  31. Knowledgeable of EWB-USA Handbook and other information on EWB website
  32. Help plan chapter projects
  33. Responsible for print media
  34. Link for communication of the club
  35. Maintain blog and minutes of Chapter meetings
  36. Treasurer
  37. Knowledgeable of EWB-USA Handbook and other information on EWB website in relation to chapter finances
  38. Maintain organization with membership payment, documentation of club expenses
  39. Knowledgeable of rules and regulations of Campus Activities & Activities Funding Board (important for conferences)
  40. Responsible for chapter account under EWB-USA Treasury dept.
  41. Help project leaders plan the finances for the trips
  42. Fulfill any other duties prescribed by the President and/or the executive officers
  43. Prepare and revise, as necessary, the EWB budget, with the advice of the executive officers
  1. Project Leaders (1-2)
  2. Maintain contact with those in charge of project
  3. Knowledgeable of ewb-usa handbook and other information on website pertaining to Projects
  4. Fundraising
  5. Selecting travel team
  6. Selecting project mentors
  7. Plan trips - assessments or implementation
  8. Organize workshops with or without other chapters
  1. Head of the Fundraising Committee
  2. Be responsible for the fundraising committee and for appealing to private/public corporations for additional funding
  3. Create letters to be sent to engineering firms appealing for funding.
  4. Contribute to ideas for student fundraising.
  5. Organize fundraising events to be held for EWB.
  6. Establish all staff positions and members within the committee to help with the tasks at hand.
  1. Entire executive board
  2. Should get to know current members
  3. Promote EWB and recruit sponsors and members
  4. Be transparent with Nicaragua project because EWB-USA is complex and we want everyone to be on the same page so we can make the project quality consistent
  5. The executive officers, by a unanimous vote, may reallocate the duties and responsibilities enumerated in this section of this document.
  6. The Executive board is made up of all officers and positions mentioned above excluding committee members
  1. Specific Duties of the Members (all voting, acting members)
  2. Unless specifically stated otherwise or decided by the executive board, the members must pass all decisions by a majority vote (i.e. >50% of votes cast).
  3. The meetings shall occur at the discretion of the President
  4. The members must approve all major expenditures by majority vote
  5. The organization must approve all budget and allocation requests including, but not limited to, the following:
  6. Student government annual budget requests
  7. Budgeting for the organization’s individual project requests
  8. The organization may revise any of its internal governing rules and regulations as prescribed in the EWB Constitution and/or By-laws
  9. Any member may recommend the creation of permanent and/or temporary staff positions to the President.
  10. The members may elect executive officers in accordance with statutes and the EWB UH Constitution and/or By-laws.
  11. The members, by a 2/3 vote, may remove any member of the board.
  12. Duties and Qualifications of the Advisors
  13. The advisor(s) shall advise EWB members on policies as well as advice on how to approach problem-solving situations

Article VII- Committees

  1. Permanent Committees
  2. Fundraising Committee
  3. The fundraising chair shall chair the council
  4. Members are to be members of EWB
  5. The council shall meet at the discretion of the Fundraising Committee
  6. The purpose of the Fundraising Committee is to engage in the discussion and present information about possible methods of securing funding from various sources.
  7. The members of the Fundraising Committee may delegate tasks, under the supervision of the chair.
  8. Staff positions within the fundraising committee Shall be determined by the Fundraising chair and the Executive board
  9. Temporary/Ad Hoc Committees
  10. Pursuant to Statutes, the President may create ad hoc committees
  11. The President shall choose a chair for the committees
  12. The President may serve as chair for the committee.
  13. Committees shall meet as prescribed by the Chair and/or Director.
  14. Any person may serve on a committee.

VIII- Funding and Monetary Transactions

  1. The Treasurer or any other elected officer may appeal to the Student Government of The University of Houston to receive funding
  2. Funding may be generated by
  3. EWB Fundraising projects
  4. Funds generated by the EWB Fundraising Committee
  5. Membership dues, although no university student may be denied membership due to inability to pay dues. If a member is not able to pay dues, the fee will be waived.
  6. Corporate donations
  7. Any funding raised under premise that it shall be used for service projects may not be used for any other purpose except the purpose that was described to the donor
  8. The members must approve all major expenditures by majority vote
  9. The organization must approve all budget and allocation requests including, but not limited to, the following:
  10. Student Government annual budget requests
  11. Budgeting for the organization’s individual project requests
  12. Membership Dues
  13. The organization may ask for membership dues, collected at the first meeting of the Fall, Spring, and Summer semesters
  14. Voting rights and participation on trips and to regional events are only available to paid members
  15. Spending Organization’s Money
  16. At least one officer must sign all monetary transactions
  17. If a bank account is established, only the President, treasurer and UH Faculty/Staff Advisor can sign on the organizations’ account.
  18. Organizational funds may be spent on items such as office supplies, events/activities, publicity, travel expenses, conference fees, etc. but will not be used for anything illegal under University, local, state and federal laws.
  19. Officer Transition: It shall be the responsibility of all account signers to change contact information as well as assist in the update of new account signatures after each election with the organization’s financial institution. In addition, the Treasurer will be responsible to pass along all information from previous year’s budget and current budget.
  20. In the event that the organization ceases to exist, any funds remaining in the organization’s account shall be remitted back to either the Student Government which allocated the funds, or to the EWB-National foundation, which is a registered non-profit charity.

Article XI- Elections

  1. Executive Elections
  2. The Executive Board shall be elected approximately one month before the end of the spring term.
  3. Nomination will be to be emailed to . You can nominate yourself or others, if you are nominated by another person we will email you for consent. If you are nominating others it's common courtesy to ask for their consent/opinion first anyway.
  4. Officers/nominee need to be paid members and be registered for EWB-National.
  5. Nomination deadline is 12:01 PM on August 15th. Nominees will be announced on the meeting that day.
  6. The length of office shall be no longer than two calendar years. Length of office does not include any period of training of a prospective or future officer by a current officer.
  7. Voting will be conducted at a meeting to be designated by the excutive board
  8. Only paid members of EWB-UH are eligible for voting. Voting will be done by casting written ballots. In the case of a tie, both members will be able to communicate their eligibility to the present student body and a vote will be recast.
  9. All open executive officer positions must be advertised within the UH College of Engineering at least two weeks before the election.
  10. An individual is allowed to run for election and occupy an office if voted as officer for only as long as their term limits apply. Once the term limit has been surpassed, that individual must resign.
  11. Any active member is eligible to run for office.
  12. On the election date each member running for a position will have the opportunity to speak to the general body and present his worth for the position.
  13. The members running for the position will exit the room, where at that time all general body members will have the opportunity to vote for the member they prefer.
  14. The president or vice-president will count the votes, the members running for the position will be asked to come back into the room and the winner will be announced.
  15. Filling Vacant Officer Positions
  16. If the position of President becomes vacant, the Vice President shall immediately assume that position.
  17. If any executive officer position besides President becomes vacant, there will be a special election to fill the vacancy.
  18. Special elections shall be subject to the provisions in VII.
  19. The President may appoint a temporary replacement to any position in the Executive Board.

Article X- Rules of Procedure

  1. Meetings may operate under the discretion of the President or Vice President.
  2. The structure and level of formality of discussion will be at the discretion of the chair.
  3. The EWB Constitution, By-laws, or any other internal operating document shall not contradict the Constitution and Statutes of the Student Body of The University of Houston.

Article XI- Impeachment and Removal

  1. Pursuant to Statutes and the EWB Constitution and By-laws, the Board may remove any members by a 2/3 vote.
  2. The following shall be grounds for impeachment:
  3. Gross negligence and/or ineffectiveness
  4. Excessive absences
  5. Acting in defiance to the Constitution and Statutes of the Student Body of The University of Houston, EWB Constitution and/or By-laws, or the Student Code of Conduct of the University of Houston.
  6. The impeacher(s) must submit a written statement on the grounds for impeachment to the executive officers at an executive meeting before an impeachment may begin.
  7. Any member directly involved with impeachment proceedings may not act as chair for said proceedings.

Article XII- Publications

  1. Compliance: All advertisements of the organization must comply with the University Posting Policy
  1. Approval: The President and Executive Board must approve all publications, shirts, flyers, etc. prior to duplication and distribution.

Article XIII- Amendments

  1. Members may revise these EWB By-laws by a majority vote.
  2. These By-laws may not be revised during summer sessions.
  3. The President or any other member may suggest the addition or removal of amendments and can present suggestions at any general meeting.

Created: September 9, 2014

Ratified: