University of Arizona Medieval, Renaissance, and Reformation Committee
CONSTITUTION
I. Membership
The University of Arizona Medieval, Renaissance, and Reformation Committee (UAMARRC) comprises faculty, professional staff, and students, including undergraduates, from across the university community who work on or have an interest in the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and the Reformation as broadly conceived. For purposes of UAMARRC self-governance, the voting membership shall be defined as employees of the University of Arizona and students registered at the University of Arizona whose names appear on the current UAMARRC listserv or an equivalent publicly available document.
II. Representation in National and Regional Organizations
UAMARRC is a member of the Medieval Academy of America’s Committee on Centers and Regional Associations (CARA). It also serves as the University of Arizona liaison with the Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies (ACMRS), located at Arizona State University in Tempe.
UAMARRC membership partially overlaps with that of the Group for Early Modern Studies (GEMS) and with the personnel of the Division of Late Medieval and Reformation Studies in the History Department. However, the activities and emphases of these programs differ. In particular, UAMARRC does not grant degrees or certificates but is instead an organization operating on a broader plane to foster scholarship on and teaching of the Middle Ages, Renaissance, and Reformation.
IV. Activities
A. UAMARRC activities are centered on 1) facilitating, promoting, and publicizing scholarship on issues or sources from the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and the Reformation; 2) educating undergraduate and graduate students in those issues and sources; and 3) making current scholarship available to the wider public.
B. To those ends, UAMARRC holds general meetings of its full membership at least once a year as well as regular symposia featuring members’ work in progress; it also sponsors scholarly conferences, public lectures on relevant topics, public readings of medieval and Renaissance literature, and musical and dramatic performances, all on the University of Arizona campus. In addition, it makes regular contributions of funding and personnel to the cooperative endeavors of ACMRS, including but not limited to the ACMRS Undergraduate Book Award, ACMRS publications, and the ACMRS Annual Conference for which UAMARRC organizes and sponsors a session. UAMARRC maintains a website with information on activities and resources of interest to its members and also offers small Graduate Research Grants to support graduate students’ research-related travel
C. UAMARRC is committed to fostering both the core disciplines in study of the past (art history, history, history of science, languages and literature, law, philosophy, and religion) and topics and emerging fields that cross disciplinary lines.
V. Administration
A. The sole elected officer of UAMARRC shall be the Chair, elected to serve a three-year term. The Chair’s responsibilities shall include calling and chairing regular meetings, promoting membership and participation in UAMARRC activities, programming public events, fundraising, and establishing and maintaining appropriate liaisons with other programs at the University of Arizona and elsewhere.
B. At the Chair’s discretion, a Treasurer and a Secretary may be appointed to manage UAMARRC funds and take minutes at UAMARRC meetings, respectively.
C. Only full-time university faculty members or research professionals are eligible to serve as Chair. An Election Committee of two to three persons appointed by the incumbent Chair shall be charged with inviting nominations (including self-nominations) for the office of Chair no later than April of the third year of an incumbent Chair’s term. The Election Committee shall be responsible for advising the UAMARRC membership of an upcoming election, conducting the election, tabulating the results, and reporting the outcome.
VI. General Meetings
A. The Chair shall call one general meeting of the membership each fall semester. Notice of the meeting must be circulated to the membership not later than two weeks in advance of the meeting. The meeting may be scheduled as part of another UAMARRC event, such as a Works-in-Progress symposium.
B. On the Chair’s initiative or upon receipt of a petition signed by five members, and with the requisite two weeks’ notice, additional general meetings may be called during the fall or spring semester. The reason for any additional meeting must be stated in the petition and in the call for such a meeting.
C. No general meeting may be scheduled during university holidays or outside the regular academic calendar of the fall and spring semesters.
VII. Voting and Quorums
A. Votes may be taken at general meetings or by mail paper ballot sent to the entire membership.
B. At meetings, half of the membership who are current faculty shall constitute a quorum. If at a meeting at which a vote is to be taken there are not enough faculty members present to make up a quorum, the Chair shall cause paper ballots to be mailed to the entire membership within one week after the meeting at which the quorum failed to appear.
C. Mail ballots will be counted and results announced not later than two weeks after the date the ballots were mailed out.
D. For all matters except adoption of and amendments to the Constitution, an affirmative vote of a simple majority of those voting is sufficient for passage.
VIII. Constitutional Adoption and Amendments
A. For purposes of adoption of or amendments to the constitution, the Chair will call a general meeting. Notice of a general meeting at which a vote on one or more amendments is to be taken must be circulated to the membership at least two weeks before the meeting date. If a quorum is present, an affirmative vote by two-thirds of those voting shall be sufficient for passage. If a quorum is not present, the vote will go to a mail ballot, as described in section VII, above, and an affirmative vote of two-thirds of those voting will be sufficient for passage.
B. Any UAMARRC member may propose amendment to the constitution; if the proposal is seconded, the Election Committee shall conduct a vote on the proposed change following public discussion at a general meeting. Proposed constitutional amendments must be circulated in writing to the membership with the call for the meeting at which the vote is to be taken. No amendment can be made from the floor, and proposed amendments cannot themselves be amended before the vote.
C. The Election Committee shall decide whether to permit vote by proxy and, in consultation with the Chair, shall exercise its discretion on all procedural matters not set out in the Constitution and by-laws.