Amendments approved by membership votes certified 11 December 2015.
Message about the Constitutional Change of Officer Terms
Dear SOR Members,
Due to issues of coordination of financial records with the names of the Society Officers, the Executive Committee brought before the Business Meeting held on October 13, 2015 at
the SOR Annual Meeting in Baltimore the below proposed amendment to change the dates of terms of office from the present practice of running from the end of one annual meeting to
the end of the annual meeting two years later to having the terms run from January 1 of the year immediately following election to December 31 two years later. This helps with
treasurer issues related to reporting to the IRS by simplifying procedures. It also has some advantages upon change of officers in “cleaning up” business immediately after the
annual meeting. By current practice the outgoing treasurer passes signature authority to the incoming treasurer, but has been dealing with the financial entities and the local
arrangements committee and is, consequently, most familiar with the details of the finances of the meeting. The Business Meeting voted to place the below SOR Constitutional
amendment onto the ballot and the ExCom recommends that the membership vote to approve.
Sincerely,
Gareth H. McKinley
President, The Society of Rheology
Gregory B. McKenna
Immediate Past President, The Society of Rheology
Ballot for Constitutional Amendments on Officer Terms
The first paragraph of Section 4 of ARTICLE IV - Officers and Executive Committee:
The terms of the officers and of the members of the Executive Committee shall be two years or until their successors are elected. The terms shall start at the beginning of the
last day of the Annual Meeting held subsequent to the date of their election, hereinafter provided for in ARTICLE VI, and shall terminate at the beginning of the last day of the
Annual Meeting in the year of expiration of their terms of office.
will be replaced by
The terms of the officers and of the members of the Executive Committee shall be two years or until their successors are elected. The terms shall start at the beginning of January 1
of the year immediately following their election, hereinafter provided for in ARTICLE V, and shall terminate at the end of December 31 in the year of expiration of their terms of office.
The second paragraph of Section 4 of ARTICLE IV - Officers and Executive Committee:
If for any reason the Annual Meeting is postponed beyond the end of the election calendar year in which it would normally be scheduled, the incoming officers and members of the Executive
Committee shall take office at noon on December 31 of said election year.
will be removed since it will no longer be relevant.
Message about the Rules Change of Raise SOR Dues
Dear SOR Members,
The Executive Committee voted on October 11, 2015 to raise dues per the ballot measure given below. The reasons for this are multiple, but stem from a report given to the ExCom at the
May 3, 2015 meeting by a special Finance Committee that was appointed by Greg McKenna, then the SOR president. This initial report indicated that the SOR was beginning to run budget
deficits because the income from the JOR was not increasing significantly and activities by the SOR were continuing to grow. Furthermore, when the Finance Committee gave an update and
finer report to the October 11, 2015 meeting, the situation became clearer, showing a long term prognostic of deficit spending. The Finance Committee recommended that we undertake a
multiple pronged attack on the deficit and this recommendation included reducing expenditures on, for example, student travel grants. This the ExCom did for 2016 budget year. However,
the reasoning for having such grants was to encourage growth of the SOR and their reduction is not the preferred route to take. We do not think the SOR is extravagant, and we think that
the budget deficits should be eliminated in the long term. Among the Finance Committee’s recommendations was that the dues to be a member be increased. The ExCom took this recommendation
and specifically voted to modify the SOR Rules to increase dues to $65.00 for regular members and to $35.00 for student members. The current dues have not been changed since the early 1990s.
The Executive Committee recommends to the SOR membership that they vote to raise the dues as recommended. This creates the first leg of our efforts to bring the SOR budget into balance in
a healthy way that allows us to continue our efforts to support and promote the Science of Rheology. Let us add one additional point, you will have, perhaps, heard that we have very large
reserves, which is partially a truth. But reserves are not meant to be spent except in unusual circumstances and they should be replenished if the budget goes into surplus. We feel that
the budget should balance without dipping into the reserves, as we have done over the last few years. Your Executive Committee will continue working on the other recommendations made by
the Finance Committee during the upcoming year under the Presidency of Gareth McKinley.
Sincerely,
Gareth H. McKinley
President, The Society of Rheology
Gregory B. McKenna
Immediate Past President, The Society of Rheology
Ballot for Rules Amendments to Raise SOR Dues
Section 1 of ARTICLE III - Dues and Privileges:
Members in good standing of The Society ("members") shall be live natural persons and shall pay annual dues of $40, payable in advance. Each member shall receive the official publications
of The Society.
Student members of The Society shall be live natural persons who are full-time students and shall pay annual dues of $25, payable in advance. The Membership Committee shall determine the
mechanism by which a member's status as a student is determined. Student members have all the rights and responsibilities of members in good standing.
will be replaced by
Members in good standing of The Society ("members") shall be live natural persons and shall pay annual dues of $65, payable in advance. Each member shall receive the official publications
of The Society.
Student members of The Society shall be live natural persons who are full-time students and shall pay annual dues of $35, payable in advance. The Membership Committee shall determine the
mechanism by which a member's status as a student is determined. Student members have all the rights and responsibilities of members in good standing.