Guidelines for IAMG Student Chapters

(appoved by Council  May 21, 2009)

Purpose:
An IAMG Student Chapter is an active organization of IAMG student members with the purpose of increasing IAMG’s visibility and promoting mathematical geology, geomathematics, and geoinformatics.
IAMG Student Chapters are not autonomous institutions, but part of the IAMG. All members and officers of an IAMG Student Chapter must be IAMG members. A Student Chapter may receive funds from the IAMG and exercise its own discretion in using them as long as the uses are compatible with the goals of the IAMG and are approved by the IAMG.
The total amount granted to Student Chapters each year may depends on the availability of funds (as described below).

Guidelines for the foundation of a new Student Chapter:
A group seeking approval to become an IAMG Student Chapter shall submit a proposal to the chair of the IAMG Student Affairs Committee containing the following:

  • Letter of intent briefly presenting:
    1.  educational program proposed by the prospective chapter,
    2. faculty, staff, and students involved in the prospective chapter,
    3.  recent projects related to mathematical geology, geomathematics and geoinformatics (BSc, MSc, PhD theses) undertaken by the prospective chapter’s members.
  • Letter of support from an assigned faculty advisor (preferably an IAMG member).
  • If the proposal is approved, the new Student Chapter should ensure that it meets the operating guidelines listed below before applying for renewal.
  • For additional questions the applicant should contact the IAMG Student Affairs Committee Chairman, or the IAMG Secretary General (in the future, the VP for Student Affairs instead of the Secretary General)
  • Applications may be submitted at any time, but will be evaluated twice a year, as described below under “Internal Procedure”.

Guidelines for operation and continued funding of a Student Chapter:

An IAMG Student Chapter must:

  • elect its officers (as a minimum a President and a Treasurer), and designate a Faculty Advisor.
    • promote mathematical geology, geomathematics, and geoinformatics,
    • establish and maintain a web site. The web site must display the correct name of the association, International Association for Mathematical Geosciences, IAMG, and the the updated IAMG logo to be obtained from the IAMG Webmaster.
  • provide notice of meeting agenda/program prior to meetings,
  • actively recruit student members,
  • ensure that members have paid dues to IAMG,
  • submit an annual report of activities (which will be published in the IAMG Website) using this template to the IAMG Student Affairs Committee at least one month prior to the IAMG annual conference,
  • submit applications for funding with initial organization proposal and with subsequent annual reports,
  • maintain membership of at least 10 student members, documented in annual report.

Failure to follow these guidelines may result in termination of funding and accreditation as an IAMG Student Chapter. The decision to recommend termination of funding or accreditation rests upon the Student Affairs Committee.

Duties of the Student Chapter’s Officers:

Chapter President: organizes and convenes meetings, authorizes expenditures, prepares annual report to IAMG.

Chapter Treasurer: maintains Chapter’s bank account (only the faculty advisor and treasurer should register their signature with the bank where account is open), writes checks for authorized expenditures, prepares grant applications

Secretary (if designated): assists other officers as directed by student Chapter

If funding is approved, the President and Treasurer of the Chapter are responsible to contact the IAMG Treasurer within two months of approval in order to receive funding.

Resources:

IAMG provides Student Chapter grants based on availability of funds. Supported activities should be summarized in annual report to IAMG, but there are no accounting requirements.

Funding of a Student Chapter is based on the evaluation by the Student Affairs Committee of the organization proposal or annual report. Funding application must accompany either the proposal for a new Student Chapter or the annual report of existing Student Chapters, and should include:

  • statement that commitments have been met, approved by the assigned faculty advisor need for financial support and rough budget plan sketch of projects to be financed
  • Chapter’s bank name, mailing address, account number, SWIFT code, name on the account (to permit direct deposit), details of money transfer and tax related issues shall be clarified with IAMG’s treasurer in mutual agreement names of individuals who may sign checks on account (faculty advisor and treasurer) email address of main contact person (preferably the President) of the Student Chapter.

IAMG encourages members of the Student Chapters to apply for IAMG research grants and travel grants to annual IAMG conferences.

Internal procedure

For approving a new Chapter:

  • The Student Affairs Committee shall convene (in person, by remote conferencing or by email) twice a year (during the month in which the IAMG Annual Conference is held and six months after the last IAMG Conference) for the purpose of evaluating new Student Chapter Applications.
  • The Student Affairs Committee may choose to defer the second evaluation period (which normally should take place six months after the last IAMG Conference) to the next conference-month evaluation period, in which case the Student Affairs Committee Chair shall notify the applicants, Treasurer, President and Webmaster of the deferral before the time the approval decision would have been made.
  • Prior to convening, the Student Affairs Committee Chair shall refer to the officially approved IAMG budget to obtain the total amount of funds available for new and continuing Student Chapters for the expected dates of disbursement. In the event that a budget has not yet been officially approved, the Chair shall obtain a statement (written or by email) from the Treasurer and the President, who in consultation with the Council, may decide to approve a student-chapter amount before the budget is finalized. Any amount approved in this manner must later be included in the official budget.
  • Immediately after convening, the Student Affairs Committee shall forward the proposal to the IAMG President or President’s representative in the Student Affairs Committee with a recommendation to accept or reject and the recommended funding amount based on evaluation of submitted proposal. For new Chapters being evaluated six months after the IAMG conference, the recommended funding shall be for the six months prior to the next IAMG conference.
  • The IAMG President (or at the President’s discretion his/her representative in the Student Affairs Committee) shall make the final decision to accept or reject the proposal within one month after receiving the recommendation. The IAMG President (or the President’s representative) shall then immediately:
  1. inform the Student Affairs Committee Chairman of the final acceptance or rejection decision,
  2.  inform the applicants of acceptance or rejection of their proposal, and amount approved,
  3. inform the Treasurer of the accepted new Chapters and amount approved,
  • The Treasurer shall distribute the approved funds immediately upon the request of the approved Student Chapter and timely receipt of all required information to effect the fund transfer. The IAMG Treasurer shall then inform the IAMG Webmaster of the name and contact information of the newly approved Student Chapters who followed procedure and received funding with the purpose of publishing such information on the IAMG Website.
  • The Student Affairs Committee Chair shall gather all records, including applications and reports, and submit them to the IAMG Archivist for archiving.
  • For approving funding for an existing Chapter:
  • Two months prior to the start of the IAMG annual conference, the Student Affairs Committee shall send a notice to existing Student Chapters to remind them to submit Annual Report, which is due one month before the start of the Conference.
  • The Student Affairs Committee shall convene (in person, by remote conferencing or by email) during the month of the IAMG annual conference to evaluate annual reports of existing Chapters and decide the amount of funding for each existing Chapter.
  • Prior to convening, the Student Affairs Committee Chair shall refer to the officially approved IAMG budget to obtain the total amount of funds available for new and continuing Student Chapters for the expected dates of disbursement. In the event that a budget has not yet been officially approved, the Chair shall obtain a statement (written or by email) from the Treasurer and the President, who in consultation with the Council, may decide to approve a student-chapter amount before the budget is finalized. Any amount approved in this manner must later be included in the official budget.
  • The Student Affairs Committee shall ensure that Student Chapters seeking continued funding meet the requirements listed under “Guidelines for operation and continued funding of a Student Chapter” above. In particular the Committee shall ensure that the Chapter has an active and appropriate web site.
  • If a report or application from a Student Chapter is found to be incomplete or a requirement is missing during the Committee meeting, the Committee may give the Chapter a chance to submit the missing material or resolve the omission within 15 days, and the Committee should reevaluate the report when the material is received.
  • The IAMG President (or at the President’s discretion his/her representative in the Student Affairs Committee) shall make the final decision to accept or reject the proposed continued funding for each Chapter within one month after receiving the recommendation. The President (or representative) shall then immediately:
  1. inform the Student Affairs Committee Chairmn of the final acceptance or rejection decision,
  2. inform the applicants of acceptance or rejection of their proposal, and amount of funding approved,
  3. inform the Treasurer of the accepted continuing Chapters and amount approved, as well as those not accepted for renewal.
  • The Treasurer shall distribute the approved funds immediately upon the request of the approved continuing student Chapter and timely receipt of all required information to effect the fund transfer. The IAMG Treasurer shall then inform the IAMG Webmaster of the name and contact information of the continuing approved Student Chapters who followed procedure and received funding -as well as those who did not receive funding or were discontinued- with the purpose of updating the information on the IAMG website. The Treasurer shall also forward the annual report and other information of continuing chapters to the Webmaster for publication in the IAMG Website.
  • The Student Affairs Committee Chair shall gather all related records, including applications and reports, and submit them to the IAMG Archivist for archiving.