Constitution

Article 1: Society Name and Mandate

  1. The name of the society is the Canadian Society for Digital Humanities / Société canadienne des humanités numériques(CSDH/SCHN), and is affiliated with the Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences as organisation 255.
  2. The purpose of the society is to draw together humanists throughout the university and college system who are engaged in digital and computer-assisted research, teaching, and creation.
  3. The society fosters work in the digital humanities in Canada’s two official languages, and champions interaction between Canada’s anglophone and francophone communities, in all areas reflected by its diverse membership: providing opportunities for publication, presentation, and collaboration; supporting a number of educational venues and international initiatives; acting as an advisory and lobbying force to local, national, and international research and research-funding bodies; working with allied organisations; and beyond.
  4. The work of the society is carried out without purpose of gain for any of its members; any revenue which comes to the society is used to promote its objectives.

Article 2: The Executive Committee of the Society

1. The Executive Committee (the Executive) manages the affairs and business of the society and is comprised of the officers of Executive. These officers are: the President; the Vice-President (French); the Vice-President (English); the Secretary; the Treasurer; and the non-voting Past-President (if any). To carry out the business of the society, the Executive may establish standing committees and, with consensus, appoint further delegates and officers.

1.1 Terms and Conditions of Appointment: Members of the Executive serve three-year terms and are elected by society members by majority vote from among a slate of members-in-good-standing of the society proposed by the Renewal Committee at the society’s Annual General Meeting (AGM). The Past-President serves ex-officio for a single year immediately following the elected term of office. If any member of the Executive is unable to fulfil the terms and conditions of appointment, the Executive may elect that member’s replacement. Conditions of appointment to the Executive include:

  • attendance at the annual conference, the AGM, plus related meetings;
  • participation in electronic correspondence of the Executive;
  • the fulfillment of other duties and responsibilities of each individual position, as outlined below.

Note: To insure continuity within the Executive, the renewal of individual positions will be staggered, following historical precedent and its state at the inception of this Article. (The first Executive served from 1986 to 1989, with the exception of the Secretary and Treasurer, who served until 1990.)

1.2 The Condition of Membership in All Operations of the Society: All those comprising the Executive, and those invited to assume duties associated with the responsibilities of those comprising the Executive (for committees, for work delegated by its officers, and beyond), must be and must remain on record as members-in-good-standing of the society.

2. Responsibilities and Operation : As a body, the Executive is responsible for managing the affairs and business of the society. It

  • acts as the basic policy making organ for the society, charged with proposing and implementing policies that forward the society’s mission and mandate.
  • establishes and defines the mandate and duration of standing committees, and ensures involvement in those committees that reflects its constituency and its concerns.
  • maintains liaison with professional associations in related fields. It is also permitted to enter the society into formal association with other bodies.
  • sets or alters the rates of annual fees and, in consultation with annual conference organisers, the conference fees.
  • determines the timing of its meetings, and operates only with a quorum of four or more (which may include proxy participation), and approves items with majority vote. It may handle its responsibilities via electronic means or physical assembly, each recorded as part of the minutes at the AGM by the Secretary.
  • presents a full report to society members, officer by officer, on its activities and its fulfillment of Executive functions, at the AGM.
  • accepts, at the AGM, reports from all committees it appoints.
  • seeks input from its advisory group of Past Presidents and Directors of the society.

3. The President is primarily responsible for strategic planning and overall policy issues for the society, and will advance the society’s mandate to foster digital humanities research in Canada’s two official languages and to champion interaction between Canada’s anglophone and francophone research communities, supported by a Vice-President (English) and a Vice-President (French).

3.1. The President will represent the Executive publicly, supported by one of the Vice-Presidents for communications in an official language as necessary.

3.2. The President is responsible for delegating, or taking on, the organization and execution of the society’s annual conference, with the support of the Vice-Presidents, including the selection and supervision of the role of Conference Organizer.

3.3. The President will be responsible for external relations with professional associations in related fields, serving as the society’s liaison member at Executive Council meetings of associations with which the society has a formal affiliation. The President will serve as liaison to national and international associations, except where functioning in an official language makes preferable the delegation of the liaison role to a Vice-President.

3.4. The President will be responsible for organizing or delegating responsibility for organising society-sponsored paper sessions and streams at the meetings of affiliated organizations such as the Association for Computers and the Humanities (ACH), L’Association des professeurs de français des universités et collèges canadiens (APFUCC), the Modern Language Association (MLA), and others.

3.5. In all the above, the President is responsible to the Executive for coordinating agreement in the direction of internal operations and external relations, in accordance with the society’s mandate.

4. The Vice-Presidents are primarily responsible for operational issues of the society. In that capacity, they:

  • preside, under the President, at meetings held by the Executive Council.
  • preside, under the President, over the AGM of the society, and ensures that all orders and resolutions of the Executive and membership are carried into effect.
  • conduct, with the direction of the President, the general and active affairs of the society, overseeing its affairs and continuing operations.
  • formulate, with the President, policies and projects for presentation to the Executive and society membership to fulfill the society’s obligations and purposes.
  • oversee the work of the society’s committees, as outlined in Article 4.4, below, including the chairing of the Awards Committee.

5. The Vice-Presidents are responsible for dividing, in consultation with the President, the above responsibilities and assisting the President in the performance of their duties. Specifically, it works well if one Vice President focuses on internal operations, while the other has a mandate for society outreach and integration, working in conjunction with priorities and direction set by the President. In the absence of one Vice-President, the other Vice-President will perform the duties and exercise the powers of the absent Vice-President.

6. The Secretary is responsible for duties related to the maintenance of the membership, the history, and the general correspondence of the society. He or she:

  • ensures that a functional membership mechanism exists for the society. This includes processes relating to the collection of membership dues and benefits, membership recruitment, reminders of membership renewal, and the ongoing maintenance of an accurate list of members-in-good-standing of the society and of past members.
  • is responsible for assisting the President in setting the agenda for, and taking minutes (including recording the results of voting) at, the society’s AGM and meetings of the Executive.
  • is responsible for tracking consultations of the Executive carried out via electronic means, and for making a record of that activity available after those discussions and, in gathered form, in advance of the AGM for the minutes of that meeting.
  • chairs the Website Committee, and is responsible for ensuring an ongoing home for the society website.
  • chairs the Newsletter Committee.
  • is the society’s archivist, responsible for maintaining a record of the society’s scholarly, organizational and financial activities. These are kept in a private area of the society’s website, available solely to members of the Executive via a confidential password.

7. The Treasurer is responsible for maintaining accurate and timely records of all income and expenditures for the society. She or he:

  • is responsible for the safekeeping of all documents relating to the fiscal affairs of the society.
  • reserves all dues and subscriptions of the society and keeps the funds of the society safely deposited in a chartered bank approved by the Executive.
  • on authorization of the Executive, draws cheques against deposited funds.
  • prepares the annual budget for the approval of the Executive.
  • reports at the AGM on the collection and disbursements of the society.
  • delivers copies of his or her financial records of society transactions to the Secretary for archiving, at least once a year, at the AGM.

Article 3: The Board of Directors

1. The Board of Directors acts as an advisory group to the Executive of the society, and is comprised of esteemed members representative of the community served by the society. The Executive issues invitations to Directors, and defines the nature of that body’s consultative role. To carry out the business of the society, the Executive may establish standing committees and, with consensus, appoint further delegates and officers.

Article 4: Committees

1. To carry out the business of the society, the Executive may establish standing committees and, with consensus, appoint further delegates and officers. The Executive establishes and defines the mandate and duration of standing committees, and ensures involvement in those committees that reflects its constituency and its concerns.

2. As per section 2.1.2, all those invited to assume duties associated with the responsibilities of those comprising the Executive (for committees, for work delegated by its officers, and beyond), must be and must remain on record as members-in-good-standing of the society.

3. One Vice-President, at minimum, will serve as member (at least ex-officio) of each committee.

4. The society’s committees include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Annual Conference Programme Committee: chaired by the President or delegate, the Conference Organiser; responsible for organising the programme and making local arrangements for the annual conference; set at the AGM of the previous year’s conference;
  • Outreach Committee: chaired by a Vice President; dedicated to outreach, operating with direction provided by the President and the Executive.
  • Website Committee: chaired by the Secretary; responsible for the content and maintenance of the society’s website, ensuring that information is accurate and routinely updated for the benefit of the general membership, and archival backups of the website kept (according to the Secretary’s home institution’s data-archiving practices) for recovery purposes; also responsible for technical infrastructure matters as they relate to the work of the society;
  • Newsletter Committee: chaired by the Secretary; responsible for the editing and regular dissemination, via the website and e-mail, of the society’s newsletter; or is responsible for that duty’s delegation to a responsible deputy;
  • Publication Committee: responsible for coordinating the publishing efforts of the society, operating with direction provided by the President and the Executive.
  • Renewal Committee: responsible for establishing a list of candidates for activities associated with Executive Renewal.
  • Award Committee: responsible for administering the several societal awards according to the terms and the rotation outlined in the awards documentation. The award committee is comprised of 3 members of the society, appointed by the executive for three-year terms in rotation with the possibility of renewal plus one Vice-President (as chair), and the society President.