| Bylaws | ||||
Bylaws
for the Section on Counseling and Psychotherapy Process and Outcome Research of Division 17 of the American Psychological Association |
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| Article
I - Name and Purpose |
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| 1. | Name The name of the section shall be the “Section on Counseling and Psychotherapy Process and Outcome Research, a section of the Division of Counseling Psychology of the American Psychological Association” (hereafter referred to as the Section, Division and APA, respectively). This full title shall be used in all public references to the Section. The APA is a not-for-profit, tax-exempt corporation, and the Section, as a part of the Division and Association, shall act consistently with the exempt purposes of the Association. | |||
| 2. | Purpose. The purpose of this Section shall be to encourage, facilitate, and promote counseling and psychotherapy process and outcome research and the application of such research to the practice of counseling and psychotherapy, and to inform the profession and the public regarding such research and its application. The Section’s values shall include: | |||
| a.
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an empirical research orientation toward the understanding of counseling and psychotherapy processes and their outcomes | |||
| b.
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the use of empirical research on counseling and psychotherapy processes and outcomes to inform and guide professional education and training in the practice of counseling and psychotherapy | |||
| c. |
the use of empirical research
on counseling and psychotherapy processes and outcomes to inform and guide
the practice of counseling and psychotherapy |
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Article II - Membership |
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| 1. | The membership of the Section shall consist of two categories: Section Member and Section Affiliate | |||
| a. |
Members. Members of the Section shall be persons who are Members or Fellows of Division 17 and whose interests are consistent with the purpose and values of the Section and who make application for Member status within the Section. Section Members may hold elected office within the Section. All Section Members shall be entitled to all other rights and privileges of the Section. That is, all Section Members may hold appointed offices, may serve on Section committees and task forces, and are eligible to vote in Section elections and on business items brought forward to the Section by the Governing Committee or introduced by Section members or Affiliates at its annual meeting. | |||
| b. |
Affiliates. There shall be two categories of Section Affiliate: Section Professional Affiliates and Section Student Affiliates. | |||
| (1) |
Section Professional Affiliates shall be Professional Affiliates of the Division, or Fellows or Members of APA, who are not members of the Division but whose interests are consistent with the purpose and values of the Section and who make application for Professional Affiliate status within the Section. Professional Affiliates may not hold elected office within the Section but may hold appointed office. They may serve on committees and task forces and are eligible to vote in Section elections and on business items brought forward to the Section by the Governing Committee or introduced by Section members or Affiliates at its annual meeting. | |||
| (2) |
Section Student Affiliates shall be graduate students belonging to APAGS or the Division 17 Student Affiliate Group (SAG) whose interests are consistent with the purpose and values of the Section and who make application for Student Affiliate status within the Section. Student Affiliates may not hold elected office within the Section but may hold appointed office. They may serve on committees and task forces and are eligible to vote in Section elections and on business items brought forward to the Section by the Governing Committee or introduced by Section members or Affiliates at its annual meeting. | |||
| 2. | Member and Affiliate status in the Section shall be granted without discrimination on the basis of race, national or ethnic origin, religion, gender, sexual orientation, age or mental or physical disability. | |||
| 3. | At least 50 of the members of the Section must be voting members (i.e., Fellows or Members) of the Division. | |||
Article III - Officers, Duties,
and Terms of Office |
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| 1. | Officers. The officers of the Section shall consist of a Chair, a Secretary, a Treasurer, and two (2) Members-at-Large. Each shall perform the usual duties of the respective office and specific duties provided elsewhere in these Bylaws or as assigned by the Governing Committee. | |||
| a. Chair | ||||
| (1) |
The Chair shall perform such duties as are customarily incident to the office of a Division Section chair. In addition, the Chair’s responsibilities shall include, but not be limited to, the following: | |||
| (a) |
maintaining proper relationships with the Division Vice President for Science, other Division vice presidents and officers who have functions relevant to counseling and psychotherapy process and outcome research, the Science Directorate of the APA, and other divisions of the APA that have interests and functions relevant to counseling and psychotherapy process and outcome research—including those involved in counseling and psychotherapy policy and training/education issues | |||
| (b) |
submitting mid-year and year-end reports and other required documents and information to the Division’s Executive Board | |||
| (c) |
encouraging or recommending and coordinating the development of formal proposals for programming at the APA annual convention on issues of timely concern to counseling psychologists interested in counseling and psychotherapy process and outcome research | |||
(d)
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planning and chairing the annual business meeting of the Section at the APA annual convention | |||
(2) |
The Chair shall serve a two-year term | |||
b. |
Treasurer | |||
| (1) |
The Treasurer shall be responsible for maintaining the funds and financial records of the Section and for making reports on financial matters to the Governing Committee, members, and the Division. The Treasurer shall work with the Division Treasurer to establish and maintain appropriate financial records and procedures. | |||
| (2) |
The Treasurer shall, upon request and at reasonable times, make the financial records of the Section available to the Section membership. | |||
(3) |
The Treasurer shall serve a two-year term | |||
c. |
Secretary | |||
| (1) |
The Secretary shall keep the records of the Section (including, but not limited to minutes of meetings of the Section and of the Governing Committee and the membership records of the Section), conduct the official correspondence of the Section, keep membership informed about the activities of the Section through a Section newsletter or other medium approved by the Governing Committee, and maintain an updated membership roster of the Section. | |||
(2) |
The Secretary shall serve a one-year term. | |||
d. |
Members-at-Large | |||
| (1) |
Members-at-large shall be elected to staggered two-year terms. One Member-at-Large shall be elected every two years, provided, however, that of the first two elected to serve after these Bylaws become effective, one (1) shall serve for 2 years and one (1) shall serve for 1 year. In the second year after these Bylaws are adopted, and in all subsequent years, one (1) will be elected for terms of 2 years. | |||
| 2. | Elections. Elections for officers shall be conducted annually by a mail ballot of the Members, in accordance with the terms of each office. | |||
| 3. | Term limits. Section officers shall not serve
more than two terms consecutively within their respective offices |
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| 4. | Compensation. Members of the Governing Committee shall serve without compensation, monetary or otherwise, except that they may be reimbursed for any actual reasonable expenses incurred in the performance of their duties. | |||
| 5. | Liability risk management. Section officers shall complete liability risk management training as provided by the Division at the commencement of their terms of office. | |||
Article IV - Governing Committee |
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| 1. | Governing Committee. The Governing Committee shall consist of the Chair, the Treasurer, the Secretary, and the (2) Members-at-Large. The Governing Committee shall have general supervision of the affairs of the Section, in accord with the wishes of the Members. | |||
| a. |
The Governing Committee shall elect annually one Member-at-Large to serve as Vice-Chair of the Section to fulfill the duties of the Chair in case of the Chair's absence, incapacity, or resignation. In the event of the Chair's resignation, or lengthy absence or incapacity, the Governing Committee may, by a two-thirds vote, provide for an election of a new Chair before the normal voting cycle. In such a case, the Vice-Chair shall serve as Chair until the new Chair takes office. | |||
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b. |
The Chair, Secretary, Treasurer and Members-at-Large shall constitute the voting members of the Executive Board. | |||
| c. |
The Governing Committee shall serve as the governing body of the Section and shall meet at least annually. The Governing Committee shall have general supervision of the affairs of the Section, performing the duties and abiding by the limitations specified in these Bylaws. Actions of the Governing Committee which the Committee decides establish significant section policy are subject to approval by a majority vote of the members voting at the annual meeting, or by a special mail ballot to the membership. A request for a mail ballot on such matters may be initiated either by a majority of the Governing Committee or by five percent (5%) of the members of the Section, at which point, a mail ballot shall be circulated to the membership. Results of a mail ballot of the membership constitute the final authority of the Section. | |||
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d. |
A simple majority of the voting Governing Committee members shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business. | |||
Article V - Committees and Subsections |
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| 1. | Committees. The Committees of the Section shall consist of such standing committees as may be provided by these Bylaws and such special committees as may be established by the Governing Committee. | |||
| a. |
The Election Committee shall be a standing committee of the Section, selected by the Governing Committee, with a chair appointed by the Chair and approved by the Governing Committee. The Election Committee shall secure nominations by mail ballot from the membership of the Section and shall ascertain whether the nominees are qualified and willing to serve if elected. The Election Committee shall be responsible for making a count of the election ballots and reporting the results to the Governing Committee. | |||
| 2. | Subsections. Subsections shall be groups of members within the Section that represent particular special interests and that meet such organizational criteria as may be established by the Governing Committee. | |||
Article VI - Finances |
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| 1. | The Section, with the approval of the majority of its membership and the Division Executive Board, may set and collect dues from its Members and Affiliates. If such dues are implemented, they will be no more than one-half of the Division dues. The Treasurer shall be responsible for the billing and collection of dues, which shall be payable during the first quarter of the Section’s fiscal year. | |||
| a. |
If dues are implemented, members who have not paid dues during the current fiscal year shall be considered as having tendered their resignation from the Section by non-payment, effective on the last day of the fiscal year for which dues were not paid. | |||
| b. |
The Treasurer shall submit to the Governing Committee and the Division semi-annual reports showing income and expenditures. The dates for these reports shall be at the direction of the Division Treasurer. The Section’s end-of-year semi-annual report include the Section’s proposed budget for the coming year. | |||
Article VII - Activities |
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| 1. | An annual meeting of the Section shall be held for the transaction of business and presentations regarding counseling process and outcome research and its application to the practice of counseling. | |||
a. |
The annual meeting of the Section shall be held in conjunction with the annual meeting of the APA. | |||
| b. |
The membership present at this meeting will constitute a quorum. The agenda for the meeting will be set by the Chair with due regard for input from the membership and will be distributed to the Section membership by mail or other suitable medium prior to the convention. Members and Affiliates not attending the meeting may forward to the Chair their comments on any agenda items and these comments may be shared by the Chair with members present at the meeting. | |||
| 2. | The Section may establish a newsletter in accordance with Division policies. | |||
| 3. | The Section may undertake the tasks of recommending education and training competencies with respect to counseling process and outcome research, and process and outcome research and publication policies; and promoting public education, and encouraging Division initiatives consistent with the purposes of the Section, so long as these are not inconsistent with those of the Division or the APA. | |||
| 4. | The Governing Committee may provide for the formation and dissolution of units within the Section. | |||
Article VIII - Rules of Procedure |
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| 1. | The rules contained in the edition of Robert’s Rules of Order (Newly Revised) shall govern the Section in all cases to which they are applicable and in which they are not inconsistent with these Bylaws and any special rules of order the Section may adopt . | |||
Article IX - Amendments |
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| 1. | These Bylaws may be amended by a two-thirds vote of members who reply to a mail ballot sent to the total membership. Bylaws amendments may be initiated by a majority of the Governing Committee or by petition of five percent (5%) of the total voting membership of the Section. | |||
| a. |
All proposed amendments to the bylaws shall be submitted to and reviewed and approved by the Division’s Executive Board prior to distribution to the Section membership for their approval. | |||
| b. |
A copy of proposed amendments and a voting ballot shall be sent to all members of the Section by the Secretary. Members will have 30 days from the date of the Secretary’s mailing within which to return their ballots in order that they be counted. | |||
| 2. | Within five years after the adoption of these Bylaws, the Governing Committee shall appoint a special committee to review these initial Bylaws and to recommend changes in them. | |||
Article X - Dissolution |
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| 1. | In the event of the dissolution or termination of the Section, all of the assets and title to and possession of the property of the Section shall pass to the Division, or if the Division no longer exists, to a similar Division within the Association selected by the Governing Committee. | |||
| Adopted: ___________________________ Signed:__________________________ | ||||
| Date Acting Section Chair | ||||
| __________________________ | ||||
| Acting Section Secretary | ||||
| __________________________ | ||||
| President, Division 17 | ||||