AMERICAN MUSICOLOGICAL SOCIETY

ALLEGHENY CHAPTER

BY-LAWS (as amended April 19, 2019)

Article I.          Name

The name of the organization shall be the Allegheny Chapter (“the Chapter”) of the American Musicological Society (“the Society”).

Article II.        Object

The object of the Chapter shall be the advancement of research in the various fields of music as a branch of learning and scholarship. The chapter is organized exclusively for educational purposes under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, or corresponding section of any future federal tax code.

Article III.       Membership

  1. The Chapter shall consist of ten or more regular and student members of the Society who elect membership in the Chapter with the intent to serve the institutions in eastern Ohio, western Pennsylvania, western Maryland, western Virginia, and all of West Virginia, and of those who joined the Chapter while residing in this region and wish to continue as active members.
    1. A regular member shall be any person who joins the Society out of interest in its stated object.
    2. A student member shall be any student in residence in an accredited institution of higher learning who joins the Society. The rights and responsibilities shall be the same as those of regular members except that: (a) student membership cannot exceed a period of more than five years; (b) the student shall be ineligible to hold national posts in the Society other than that of nonvoting student member in the AMS Council.
  2. Annual dues shall be four dollars ($4.00) for regular members and one ($1.00) for student members.

Article IV.       Officers

  1. The officers of the Chapter shall be President, Program Chair, Secretary-Treasurer, and the regular representative and two student representatives to the AMS Council.
    1. The President shall call and preside at meetings and shall supervise the affairs of the Chapter.
    2. In the absence, incapacity or disability of the President, the Program Chair shall exercise the functions of the President. In the event that the office of President becomes vacant before the conclusion of the term, the Program Chair shall succeed to that office. In the event of a vacancy in the office of Program Chair, the President may appoint a member of the Chapter to fill the vacancy until the next meeting, at which time a member shall be elected to fill the remaining tenure of the vacated office.
    3. The Secretary-Treasurer shall keep the records, correspondence, and collect and disburse the Chapter’s funds. In the event of a vacancy in the office, the President may appoint a member of the Chapter to fill the vacancy until the next meeting, at which time a member shall be elected to fill the remaining tenure of the vacated office.
  2. Terms of Office
    1. The President and Program Chair shall serve two-year terms, which begin on August 1 of odd-numbered years and end on July 31.
    2. The Secretary-Treasurer shall serve a two-year term, which begins on August 1 of even-numbered years and ends on July 31.
    3. The regular representative of the AMS Council shall serve a three-year term.
    4. The two student representatives of the AMS Council shall serve overlapping two-year terms.
      1. Except for the Secretary-Treasurer, officers and AMS Council members may not be elected to succeed themselves.
  3. Nominations and Elections
    1. At the completion of the President’s two-year term, the incumbent Program Chair will become the new President.
    2. In case the outgoing Program Chair declines to serve as the new President, an election for a new President will take place at the final meeting of the outgoing President. The new President will be elected by a simple majority vote.
    3. An election for a new Program Chair will take place at the final meeting of the President’s term. The new Program Chair will be elected by a simple majority vote.
    4. In accordance with Article IV.B.3, the Chapter’s Representative to the AMS Council will be elected by a simple majority vote every third year at the spring meeting.
    5. In accordance with Article IV.B.4, a Student Representative to the AMS Council will be elected by a simple majority vote each year at the spring meeting, there being two student representatives to the AMS Council.
    6. Election Procedure: Candidates for the Program Chair, Chapter’s Representative to the AMS Council and Student Representative to the AMS Council positions may be nominated by a third party or may self-nominate themselves at the spring meeting. All Officers will be elected by a simple majority vote. The ballots will be counted by the President, the Program Chair, and a volunteer from the membership. If only one candidate has been nominated, the candidacy may be approved by a voice vote.
    7. No person shall hold more than one elective office in the Chapter at the same time.

Article V.        AMS Council

The Chapter shall elect representatives from its membership to serve as regular and student members of the AMS Council, as specified in Article IV of the Society’s By-Laws.

  1. The regular member shall serve a term of three years. The term begins on August 1 and ends on July 31.
  2. The two student members shall serve overlapping terms of two years. Terms begin on August 1 and end on July 31.

Article VI.       Committees

  1. The President shall appoint chairs and members of such committees (except for the Program Committee (including the Program Chair), which is formed by orderly elections through the members at either the spring or fall meeting) as are necessary and shall also serve as an ex officio member of all committees. Committees shall consist of no fewer than three members. Terms of members of all committees shall be one year, unless otherwise specified in the appointment.
  2. The standing committees shall be Executive, Program, and Publications.
    1. The four officers of the Chapter shall constitute the Executive Committee, and shall conduct any urgent business of the Chapter between regular meetings of the Chapter.
    2. The two members of the Program Committee shall be elected by the members present at the meeting in which elections take place. It shall be the duty of the Program Committee (Program Chair and two members) to prepare the program for the regular meetings of the Chapter. The Program Committee shall issue a call for papers at least sixty days before each meeting. Anyone interested in presenting a paper or organizing a plenary session must submit an abstract of said paper/panel containing not more than 300 words to the Program Chair. Protocol for selecting papers and panels is found in Appendix 1 of this document. The Program Committee shall also oversee the orderly procedure of the awarding of the West Virginia University Press Award for Best Student Paper. Protocol for selecting the best student paper is found in Appendix 2 of this document.
    3. The Publications Committee shall make recommendations to the Executive Committee for special publications, and shall collaborate in the execution of all business in connection with their manufacture and distribution.
  3. With the approval of the Executive Committee the President may remove members of Committees.

Article VII.     Publications

Publications, including newsletters, directories, and websites are to be approved by the Executive Committee and the Publications Committee. Any publication issued in the name of the American Musicological Society or in the name of the Allegheny Chapter must receive permission from the Society’s Board of Directors.

Article VIII.    Meetings of Members

  1. The Chapter shall hold one or two meetings during the fiscal year: one in the fall and/or one in the spring. Notification of the meeting shall be mailed to the members at least one month in advance. Additional meetings may be called by the President on occasions of special interest to the members.
    1. Ten percent of the membership shall constitute a quorum.
  2. The President shall hold a business meeting at every regular meeting.
    1. The Secretary-Treasurer shall read the minutes of the last regular meeting unless these have been previously circulated.
    2. The Secretary–Treasurer shall report on the assets and liabilities of the Chapter.
  3. The Secretary-Treasurer must submit an annual report, which must be verified by the President.
    1. The Secretary-Treasurer shall report, by June 1 of each year, to the Society’s secretary concerning the Chapter meetings and financial operation.
    2. The Secretary-Treasurer shall report to the editor of the Society’s Newsletter by December 1 and July 1 of each year all material to be published in the Newsletter.
  4. Grants are available from the Society’s Board of Directors, which are based upon per capita membership, or are awarded to the Chapter upon application for particular projects within the Chapter’s official activities and functions. Application for special funds should be sent by the President to the Society’s chairman of the Chapter Fund Committee.

Article IX.       The Fiscal Year

The fiscal year of the Chapter shall be from July 1 to June 30.

Article X.        Action of the Chapter

No action of the Chapter shall be considered an action of the Society unless approved by the Society’s Board of Directors.

Article XI.       Amendments

Amendments to these By-Laws may be proposed to the Chapter President by the membership at a stated business meeting, or by a petition of five or more members. Amendments thus proposed shall be made known to the membership at least four weeks before the next meeting, and they shall be placed on the agenda of the meeting for discussion and revision. Amendments may be approved by a majority vote of the members present at the business meeting.

Article XII.     Dissolution

Upon the dissolution of this organization, assets shall be distributed for one or more exempt purposes within the meaning of section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, or corresponding section of any future federal tax code, or shall be distributed to the federal government, or to a state or local government, for a public purpose.

Article XIII.    Rules

Roberts Rules of Order shall govern all meetings and committees where these rules are applicable and not inconsistent with these By-Laws. The immediate past- president shall serve as parliamentarian.

Appendix 1. Protocol for Organizing the Program of a Chapter Meeting (approved at the spring 2014 meeting)

  1. A Call for Papers (CFP) will be sent to members as well as to the Allegheny Chapter website and the AMS-Announce email list approximately nine weeks before the day of a Chapter Meeting.
  2. Abstracts no longer than 300 words are to be submitted electronically to the Chair of the Program Committee not later than five weeks before the day of the Chapter Meeting. These are to include title, author, institutional affiliation, and equipment requests.
  3. “In judging abstracts for AMS programs, whether regional or national, members of program committees should evaluate submissions on merit alone, refraining from discussing or voting on abstracts that present a conflict of interest” (“American Musicological Society Guidelines for Ethical Conduct: Section II, ‘Ethical Conduct in Publication and Other Presentation of Scholarly Work,’ Sub-section C, ‘Reviewing Procedures and Obligations of Referees’,” American Musicological Society Directory, 2013, pp. xlvi-xlvii).

In compliance with the statement quoted above, the Chair of the Program Committee will redact each abstract of information concerning the identity and institutional affiliation of its author and then, with the following exceptions, forward all redacted abstracts to the other members of the Program Committee. The Program Chair will not forward abstracts submitted by either faculty colleagues or students to members of the Program Committee affiliated with the same institution. The Program Chair will also recuse her/himself from ranking abstracts originating in her/his institution.

  1. Members of the Program Committee will numerically rank the abstracts and inform the Program Chair no later than four weeks before the day of a Chapter Meeting of those rankings. The Program Chair will calculate the mean score of each abstract and inform the committee of the scores of all submitted abstracts. The six highest-scoring abstracts will be accepted automatically, but the committee may discuss the merits of the remaining abstracts to determine which to accept or reject for the final two places on the program. In the event that the committee does not come to a consensus on the remaining abstracts, they should rank them once more (regardless of institutional affiliation) and use those rankings for the final determination.

Note: Mean scores will be calculated on the basis of the number of Program Committee members ranking each abstract. Where a member is recused, the mean score shall be calculated by dividing the sum of separate evaluations by 2, otherwise the sum of the separate evaluations will be divided by 3.

  1. As soon as the program has been determined, the Program Chair will inform the other members of the Program Committee of the outcome of their collective decision-making as well as all who submitted abstracts. The Program Chair will maintain the list of ranked proposals up to the time of the meeting so that in the event an accepted member is unable to present her/his paper, the next ranked paper will be included in the program.

Appendix 2: Deane L. Root Award for Best Student Paper (approved at the spring 2021 meeting)

The AMS Allegheny Chapter offers the Deane L. Root Award for the best scholarly paper read by a graduate student at either the spring or fall meeting. The Award consists of a $250.00 monetary award generously sponsored by the Center for American Music at the University of Pittsburgh.

  1. Any student who is enrolled in a master or doctoral program at an institution of higher education is eligible to participate. Any paper by all eligible graduate students that has been accepted by the chapter program committee and read at a chapter meeting may be considered for the award.
  2. An individual may receive the award more than once but not in consecutive academic years.
  3. Any paper topic dealing with music through any methodological approach is welcome.
  4. Students wishing to compete for the award should disclose their intention to the program committee chair when submitting their abstracts. Furthermore, the complete text of the paper as read, along with relevant accompanying materials, must be submitted, in electronic format, to the program committee chair no later than a week before the chapter meeting at which the paper is presented. Late submissions will not be considered. These materials should be accompanied by a letter from the student’s adviser confirming the graduate-student status of the applicant as of the date that the paper is to be read.
  5. The program committee and the chapter president will review all entries on the basis of equal standards and determine the winner. The program committee reserves the right to refrain from announcing an award if the program committee deems no student paper worthy. Only one student will receive the award each year.
  6. The competition coincides with the academic year. The chapter president will announce the prize at the spring meeting during the reception/business meeting for papers read at the fall and spring meeting of the particular academic year.
  7. The chapter president will promptly inform all entrants of the program committee’s decision. The winner will be acknowledged on the AMS Allegheny webpage and in the newsletter of the national organization.