NOTE: The new Constitution has been approved by the membership and is now updated. CLICK HERE to read the summary of the changes from the old Constitution and the process by which the By-Laws Committee created the revised document. If you have any comments, questions, or concerns about the proposed document, please email Executive Director Jeremy Land (jeremy.land@helsinki.fi) and President Ho-fung Hung (hofung@jhu.edu) at the same time.
SSHA Constitution
I. Objectives
The purpose of the Social Science History Association is to improve the quality of historical explanation in every manner possible, particularly by encouraging the selective use and adaptation in historical teaching and research of relevant theories and methods from related disciplines, especially the social sciences. The Association will seek to achieve this purpose through various means. It will:
- Publish Social Science History and other publications in order to encourage and disseminate high quality social science history devoted to substantive research and methodological concerns.
- Organize conferences to foster dialog among historians and historical social scientists.
- Offer intellectual support to the work of organizations that enable historians and other social scientists to learn social science methodology or methods for the retrieval and archiving of quantitative historical data.
- Work to secure access to data of particular interest to social science historians.
- Take any other appropriate action which the members of the Association believe necessary to achieve the above objectives.
II. Membership
Any person supporting the objectives of the Association will be enrolled, upon the payment of dues. The Executive Committee of the Association may designate various classes of membership, setting appropriate membership fees and rights of participation. All Executive Committee members, Officers, and standing committee members must be active, dues-paying members for the duration of their terms and appointments.
III. Officers
The Association shall have the following elected Officers: President, Vice-President, and Treasurer. The terms of office of the President and Vice-President shall be one year. The Vice-President shall, upon completion of her/his term, serve as President in the following year. The term of office of the Treasurer shall be four years.
The elected Officers shall appoint an Executive Director for a term of 5 years, with the possibility of extension for renewal following review by the Executive Committee with a supermajority in agreement.
The Executive Committee shall consist of the three Officers; the Executive Director; nine committee members, three to be elected each year for three-year terms; the Editor of Social Science History; and the three most recent past presidents willing and able to serve. A majority of the voting members of the Executive Committee shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business. Action recommended at any meeting without a quorum will take permanent effect when confirmed subsequently, by a majority vote of the Committee, through email or another expeditious method. The Executive Committee may appoint other editors of Association publications as non-voting, ex officio members of the Executive Committee.
The Vice President, with the advice of the Executive Committee, shall appoint one new member to the Nominations Committee, which shall present to the Executive Director nominations as required above.
The President shall be ineligible for re-election.
Voting shall be by secret ballot using appropriate electronic means and allowing members the opportunity to cast write-in votes. The results of the election shall be certified and announced by the Executive Director at the next annual meeting of the Association or by individual communication to members of the Association.
In the event that the office of the Treasurer becomes vacant, the President, with the advice of the Executive Committee, shall appoint a temporary Treasurer. Such appointee shall serve until the next annual election.
IV. Duties of Officers
The President shall preside at all meetings of the Association and the Executive Committee. In case of her/his disability or absence, the duties shall devolve upon the Vice-President, or the Executive Director, or the Treasurer, in that order.
The Executive Director shall keep the records of the Association, have custody of its funds, and prepare an annual report. The Treasurer (with the assistance of the Executive Director) shall review annually the financial status of the Association and shall discuss the annual financial report at the meeting of the Executive Committee. The accounts shall be subject to periodic audit, at the discretion of the President. Upon succession of the Executive Directors, the accounts must be audited by a certified public accountant. The Executive Director and the Treasurer shall perform such other duties as the Executive Committee shall assign them.
The Executive Committee shall pursue the objectives of the Association and have control and management of the funds of the Association. The Executive Committee may adopt any rules and regulations for the conduct of its business not inconsistent with this constitution or with the rules adopted at any annual meeting of the Association. It shall act as a committee on time and place of meetings and perform such other duties as the Association may delegate to it.
V. Other Committees
There shall be five standing committees: a nominations committee, a publications committee, a program committee, a finance committee and a membership committee.
The President shall appoint the chair and the members of the publications committee, and the Vice President shall appoint two program committee co-chairs responsible for producing the program for the subsequent year.
Members of the Association may organize as networks around topics of interest, and those networks should consult with the Program Committee.
The Nominations committee shall consist of 6 members serving staggered 3-year terms. Each year one new member of the committee will be appointed by the Vice President and one by election of the general membership. The Chair of the committee will be a member in their third year of service. The nominations committee will prepare the annual slate of Officer candidates as well as open slots for elective committee positions.
The Officers shall appoint the chair of the membership committee for a one-year term, drawn from the current members of the committee. The duties of the membership committee shall consist of strategic planning to increase membership, support the provision of member services, and to advise the Executive Director when requested. Membership rolls will be managed by the Executive Director.
The finance committee will consist of three members appointed for staggered 3-year terms, joined by the President, the Executive Director, and the Treasurer as ex officio members. In every year the Vice President will appoint one new member of the committee which shall be chaired by the longest-serving member in every year. The finance committee is tasked with the stewardship of the Association’s fiscal assets.
The President may appoint ad hoc committees as needed or as recommended by the Executive Committee. Nothing shall prevent committees from establishing subcommittees that extend beyond the membership with the approval of the President. Officers of the Association may sit as ex officio members of any committee.
Likewise, the executive committee may dissolve any committee other than nominations, publications, program, finance, or membership by majority vote.
VI. Networks
Network co-chairs shall be responsible for assembling sessions for the annual meeting and submitting sessions to the Program Committee for approval and scheduling.
Network co-chairs are appointed by the individual Network meetings at the annual conference. If a Network does not select co-chairs or a new Network is created, the Program Committee shall appoint co-chairs from the membership of the relevant Network. Each network is recommended to have two or three co-chairs with overlapping terms of three years, renewable.
Any group of more than 30 association members is invited to form a network on any topic they choose, though they are advised to first survey the activities of all other sections to minimize duplication of effort. Upon presenting a petition by 30 members of the association to the Association’s President and Executive Director, the Network will be officially enrolled.
In the event that the Association’s Officers are unable to contact representatives of a Network, the Network will be placed on hiatus, and the Executive Director will contact all listed members of the Network informing them of this status. If, after 2 consecutive conferences with no chairs and there are no volunteers to serve as network representatives, the Network will be considered dissolved.
VII. Meetings
The annual and other meetings of the Association shall be held at such time and place as determined by the Executive Committee. Adequate notice of such time and place shall be given to members in the print or electronic publications of the Association and also through electronic communications from the Executive Director or the Treasurer at least one month before such meetings.
The annual meeting of the Association shall include a Business meeting presided over by the President and open to all members of the Association in attendance.
Special meetings of the Association may be called by the Executive Committee.
Extraordinary motions outside of normal business introduced and passed at meetings of the Association will be referred to the membership of the Association by electronic ballot for final approval or rejection.
Meetings of the Executive Committee or the Officers of the Association shall be called by the President of the Association, the Executive Director, or at the request of four members of the Executive Committee; all announcements shall be made through the office of the Executive Director, or the President in case of incapacity of the Executive Director.
The President and Executive Committee of the organization are encouraged to hold regular, publicized listening sessions with the membership at large.
VIII. Dissolution
This organization may be dissolved by a vote of the membership, providing that its assets are transferred to a non-profit scholarly organization.
IX. Amendments
The Executive Committee may generate proposals to amend the constitution. Proposed amendments may also be generated by fifty voting members of the Association and sent for consideration to the Executive Committee. The recommendation of the Executive Committee on any amendment shall be reported to the membership at the next annual business meeting of the Association, and such action shall be confirmed, amended, or rejected by a majority vote of the Association voting electronically.
Previous Versions of the Constitution: