MSERA OPERATIONS MANUAL: Committees

Program Committee

Purpose

     The Program Committee will plan the program of the Annual Meeting of the Association.

Membership

     The President will appoint to the Program Committee a chair, a member from each of the constituent states, the editor of the Researcher and the editor of the Proceedings, and as many other members as necessary to allow for a distribution of a small number of proposals submitted for consideration for the program to each.

     The Program Committee chair and the Local Arrangements Committee chair need to communicate early in the summer about meeting room facilities.

Responsibilities

• The Program Committee will solicit members and prospective members to submit several types of proposals for consideration for inclusion in the program of the Annual Meeting (papers, display sessions, symposia, training sessions, and featured sessions). The Call for Participation will be published in the February issue of the Researcher. The deadline for the proposals is that they be postmarked no later than June 15 unless that date is either a Saturday or a Sunday or received electronically by the deadline.
• The chair will send an acknowledgement of receipt of the proposal to the submitter and indicate the completeness or omissions of the proposal.
• The chair will monitor the proposals and, when an individual exceeds the permissible slumber of submissions as first author, notify the individual regarding disposition of the excessive submissions.
• The chair will distribute proposals to committee members for evaluation for inclusion in the Annual Meeting. Criteria will be established for acceptance.
• The chair will notify submitters about either the acceptance or rejection of the proposals. General regulations concerning participation will be followed. The chair and members of the committee will assign each presenter a date and time on the program and will send presenters this information in the acceptance letter.
• The chair will assign session chairs and notify the individuals of their assignments and duties.
• The completed program schedule will be submitted to the editor of the MSERA Researcher for publication in an issue to precede the Annual Meeting (October issue) and to the editor of the Proceedings for compilation and submission to the editor of the MSERA Web Page. The chair will contact the editors regarding dates by which the program is needed by them.
• The Secretary-Treasurer should not be scheduled to present or chair a session in the morning on Wednesday or Thursday as this is when the Secretary-Treasurer will be most active in coordinating activities at the registration desk.
• The chair will recommend needed changes in the procedures and materials to the Board and to the person who is to serve as the Program Committee chair for the following year.

Note: An extensive notebook is available to the chair of the Program Committee that provides expanded examples and duties.