MGSA STANDING COMMITTEE MANDATES
Article IV §13 of the MGSA Constitution states that the Executive Board “shall have the power to create any standing or ad hoc committees . . . [and] shall appoint the personnel thereof from among the membership of the association.”
All standing committees are expected to submit written reports of their deliberations to the board.
Here are mandates for the current standing committees:
The ADMINISTRATION COMMITTEE monitors the association’s institutional structure and operations. In doing this, it considers ways to make the association more effective in carrying out its mission. It
•evaluates the performance of the board and officers
•evaluates the performance, and salary, of the executive director
•considers the best method for appointing committee members and chairs
•evaluates the performance of standing and ad hoc committees
•reviews committee mandates and modifies them as needed
•examines how various projects are funded
•works closely with the Nominations Committee
The COMPUTERS AND TECHNOLOGY COMMITTEE provides MGSA members with electronic resources and aids them in utilizing those resources. It concerns itself with the web site, list-serve, information delivery, and the membership data base. It also provides a forum for electronic exchange for librarians in charge of Modern Greek collections.
The ELIZABETH CONSTANTINIDES TRANSLATION PRIZE COMMITTEE sets the rules for the biennial competition, administers it in collaboration with the Executive Director, determines its own procedures in evaluating submissions, and chooses the winner.
The ENDOWMENT FUNDS COMMITTEE is mandated in Section IV §24 of the MGSA Constitution, which states that this committee “shall determine policy for the investment of all endowment funds” and that the “expenditure of such funds shall be made only by vote of the Endowment Funds Committee (with no more than one dissenting vote) and by a two-thirds majority of the Executive Board.” The chair of the committee “shall report to the Executive Board any action taken with regard to the investment of endowment funds, and shall submit a summary account of such actions for inclusion in the treasurer’s annual report.” The committee is mandated to consist of “all former presidents of the association who are members in good standing, the treasurer of the association, and one additional member appointed for a renewable term of three years by the Executive Board from among those former officers of the association who are members in good standing.”
The FUND RAISING AND LONG-TERM PLANNING COMMITTEE explores ways to improve the association’s finances by identifying fund-raising opportunities. In recommending strategies for exploiting such opportunities, it may
•suggest the use of fund-raising consultants;
•cultivate relationships with foundations and other relevant agencies
•consider a regular public fund-raising event;
•foster contacts with relevant officials in the Greek and US governments
•work closely with the Membership and Publicity Committee
•concern itself with the association’s public image
It also evaluates current programs and considers possible expansion or contraction. Its concerns include
•the quality and relevance of our symposia
•the quality and relevance of JMGS
•the quality and relevance of the Bulletin
•the quality and relevance of our website
The GRADUATE STUDIES COMMITTEE explores ways to make the association more sensitive to the needs of graduate students and provides them with support and encouragement. To facilitate this mission, it
•keeps a list of current graduate students and of dissertations in process;
•gathers and disseminates information regarding job opportunities
•perhaps arranges mini-conferences for graduate students;
•fosters the maximum exposure of graduate students at the MGSA biennial symposia;
•organizes a social event for graduate students at the biennial symposia.
In addition, it constitutes a Dissertation Prize Committee sub-committee and develops rules for how this sub-committee shall operate in holding a competition for a dissertation prize. Ideally, the winner should be announced at each of the biennial symposia.
The LIAISONS with each professional organizations will
•organize Modern Greek panels in that organization’s symposia
•produce a list of MGSA members who specialize in that discipline
•encourage other scholars in their discipline to join MGSA
•advance the visibility of Modern Greek studies in their discipline
•submit annual reports to the Executive Board
The MEMBERSHIP AND PUBLICITY COMMITTEE explores ways to expand the association’s membership. It does this by
•furnishing the executive director with lists of individuals (plus their addresses) who should be invited to become members
•recommending ways to publicize the association’s activities
•working with the local arrangements committee for each of our biennial symposia.
The NOMINATIONS COMMITTEE is established by the Executive Board at its spring meeting every three years, starting in 1997. The composition and duties of this committee are specified in Article IV §6 of the MGSA Constitution. The committee works in cooperation with the Administration Committee; ideally, there should be some overlap in membership.
The PUBLICATIONS COMMITTEE concerns itself with the quality, usefulness, and appeal of the association’s publications. It may offer recommendations to the board concerning JMGS, the Bulletin, various bibliographies, etc. However, editorial responsibility for JMGS rests entirely with the journal’s editors and editorial committee.
The UNDERGRADUATE STUDIES COMMITTEE explores ways to support and enhance the development of undergraduate programs in Modern Greek. It does this by
•examining and recommending teaching methods and resources, including electronic resources
•enhancing cooperation among the various programs
•disseminating information about research resources, including those on the web.
The TRANSNATIONAL STUDIES COMMITTEE (Chair: Neni Panourgiá;
Members: Yiorgos Anagnostou, Constandis Buhayer, Yiorgos Chouliaras, Martha Klironomos)
MANDATE: The Committee on Transnationalism has the following goals and responsibilities both short and long term.
A) To foster and strengthen the relationships between programs, Centers, and Departments of Modern Greek Studies globally through collaboration on intellectual and academic projects. The Committee will seek to initiate such collaborative projects in a spirit of parity among participating entities.
B) To find ways to enact an
intellectual, institutional, and academic dialogue among various organizations,
colleagues, and independent scholars.
************
Last revised March 1, 2006
