Bylaws 2010

The Bylaws 2010 of the USTCAF were passed unanimously by the 2010 term of the Governing Board (GB) in January of 2011 and became effective on March 3, 2011. The HTML version is below, while the PDF Version is available for download.

ARTICLE I

Section 1. Name:

The name of the organization is the University of Science and Technology of China Alumni Foundation, hereinafter referred to as "USTCAF". The University of Science and Technology of China will be abbreviated as USTC in this document.

Section 2. Nature:

The USTCAF is a non-profit organization. All members of the USTCAF work voluntarily. The USTCAF is independent of USTC. The USTCAF is independent of any USTC alumni association.

Section 3. Registered Office Address:

The registered office of the USTCAF within the State of Delaware shall be at 7 Burkwood Drive, Newark, DE 19713.

Section 4. Other Offices:

The USTCAF may also have offices other than said registered office within the United States and around the world. Such office address(es) shall be made publicly available, within seven (7) days of its establishment, on the USTCAF website.

Section 5. URL:

The website of USTCAF shall be http://www.ustcaf.org.

ARTICLE II

Section 1. Mission:

The foundation is founded to:

1. Promote the excellence of members of USTC, including students, teachers, and alumni in USA and elsewhere;
2. Promote the academic and cultural exchange between USTC and researchers in USA.

Section 2. Goals and Awards:

1. USTCAF shall raise donations from USTC alumni and elsewhere. USTCAF shall present various awards to USTC students and faculty members, but not limited to, to accomplish USTCAF mission.
2. USTCAF offers awards defined in following sections. Depending on the fund availability and circumstances, USTCAF can decide additional criteria for scholarship or award recipients. USTCAF will announce these additional criteria before the application procedure starts. USTCAF will also sponsor awards set up by private groups (see Article IV-5). Any new award and its selection criteria must to be consistent with USTCAF mission and must be approved by the Board (GB) (see Article IV-1). USTCAF current or retiring leadership within certain years may not be eligible for any award (see Article III-3(i)).
3. Provide a scholarship to the most outstanding high school graduates in China to attend USTC. The scholarship is named "USTC Alumni Foundation Outstanding New Student Award". The recipients must be either ranked top in his/her province, or ranked top among all new students admitted to USTC.
4. Provide an award, named "USTCAF Young Faculty Career Award" to outstanding young USTC faculty members at the HEFEI campus, based on achievements or promises in teaching and research.
5. Provide a scholarship to the USTC students based on financial need with some minor academic standing requirements. The scholarship is named "USTCAF Goodwill Fellowship".
6. Provide award to people making significant, recognized achievement in promoting scientific exchange programs between USTC and universities in the USA and other countries. Provide financial assistance to bring distinguished professor(s) based in USA and other countries to give (series) lectures in USTC, or qualified USTC professor(s) to visit and lecture in USA and other countries.
7. Provide a scholarship to the best graduates of USTC to assist them going to good graduate schools in the USA and other countries.
8. Provide a scholarship to the best college graduates in USA and other countries, excluding those from USTC, to attend USTC for their graduate studies.
9. Assist USTC to recruit distinguished faculty members. Provide fellowship to bring promising young postdoctoral researchers from USA and other countries to work in USTC.

ARTICLE III

Section 1. Organization:

1. The USTCAF shall have a Governing Board, being referred as GB in this document, consisting of no less than ten (10), but no more than twenty (20) members. These members are called directors. The important decisions must be made by the GB meetings.
2. The USTCAF shall have a three-member executive committee (EC), consisting of a chairperson, a vice-chair, and a secretary, and several other standing committees in charge of various functions/areas. Standing Committees include Membership/Alumni Services, Fund-raising, Finance, Publicity, Communication, USTC Liaison, and Scholarship.
3. The head and members of committees are appointed by the GB. There should be GB directors in each committee.

Section 2. Executive Committee:

1. The EC supervises the management, represents USTCAF externally, solves urgent problems, and sets agenda for the board (GB) meetings.
2. The EC shall follow the bylaws and execute the resolutions of the GB.
3. The EC must file a report on GB operations once every two months.
4. The EC is responsible to deposit fund raised by the USTCAF into a bank and to co-sign all checks.
5. The EC is responsible to record all contributions, member lists, and all expenditures.
6. Vice-chair will serve as acting chair at Chairperson's absence.
7. Chairperson is the official spokesperson for USTCAF. He/she can authorize any other officer or board member to represent him/her externally.
8. Chairperson and other leaders of USTCAF are forbidden to conduct any political, business and other activities under the name of USTCAF inconsistent with the mission of USTCAF.

Section 3. Procedures:

1. GB is elected by members of the USTCAF. The procedure is defined by Article III-4. The term of the GB shall be the duration of time between the two dates of election result announcement of the two consecutive general elections. The timing of election is defined in the article III-4.
2. Any member of GB can send a petition to the EC for a board debate on his/her proposal, usually, by electronic mail. The voting deadline must be at least seventy two hours after the call. A quorum needs two-third of directors. A passing resolution needs two-third votes. Only the Chairperson, a majority of the EC, or three GB members can initiate such debates and voting.
3. The Chairperson is elected by GB. Only those directors of GB are qualified for the Chairperson. The term for the Chairperson is for the duration of the GB term. No one is to be elected as the chairperson consecutively and no one is to be elected as the chairperson more than once during the same GB term. A chairperson-elect shall appoint a vice-chair and a secretary and thus form the EC. A two-thirds vote from GB is needed to disapprove such appointment and the chairperson-elect shall then appoint new persons to the posts.
4. Upon an impeachment of two-third directors of GB, the Chairperson is to step down in fifteen days.
5. Any officer can resign from the GB, the EC, or other subcommittees provided a notice of resignation seven days in advance.
6. Any officer can be dismissed by 2/3 directors of GB at anytime. Initiation of dismissal shall be from the Chairperson, a majority of EC or three GB members. The counting of dismissal votes (both the quorum and two-thirds criteria) shall exclude the GB member who is subject to dismissal recommendation.
7. The term for heads of committees is the same as the GB term and it requires a GB decision to fill a vacancy due to resignation, dismissal or term maturation.
8. Every GB member must report to the Chairperson by email once every other month either by contacting the Chairperson directly or participating in discussions at GB email list.
9. Current GB members and GB members who served in the past two terms are not eligible for any award sponsored by USTCAF. Other than normal expenditures, GB members or volunteers should not receive compensation from USTCAF for their work (see Article IV-3).
10. GB may select new GB members if the lower limit of GB is about to bereached due to resignation or dismissal. If the size of GB is less than the minimum, all the remaining members of GB may still select new GB members.
    
    1. The nomination shall be from the Chairperson, the majority of the EC, three GB members or one quarter of all remaining GB members.
    2. Such selection shall receive two-thirds votes from all the remaining GB members.
    3. The selected GB members' term shall expire upon the next election.
    4. The number of selected GB members shall be such to have GB reach its minimum size.
11. GB may decide to appoint advisors, upon nomination from the Chairperson or two GB directors. Such advisors may participate in GB meetings, monitor email communications, audit financial reports and relevant documents, and participate in discussions, but do not have a voting right.

Section 4. Election:

1. The GB or the Election Committee shall conduct a general election which will close no earlier than 11 months and no later than 13 months from the closing date of a previous general election.
2. The voting mechanism shall be through electronic mail ballot: one ballot per member.
3. If multiple email ballots were received from the same member during the voting period, the last such email ballot from this member will be processed for purposes of ballot validation and counting of votes.
4. The election will be conducted by the current GB, or by a committee appointed by the current GB.
5. The GB or the Election Committee shall set a date of record for each election 30 days prior to the first day of voting.
6. All persons whose memberships are valid on the date of record will be eligible to vote in the upcoming election.
7. The election quorum requires the return of ballots from one fourth or more of the number of members who are eligible to vote in the general election on the date of record.
8. The quorum must be specified in the election ballot.
9. The voting period of an election shall be at least two weeks and the dates of the first and last days of voting period shall be specified in the election ballot.
10. The announcement of election shall be sent out to the complete list of members that are on USTCAF's records for at least three times, no less than seven (7) calendar days apart. The same announcement shall also be published on USTCAF website within three (3) calendar days since the first email announcement.
11. All nominations must be submitted to the election committee at least seven (7) days before the election.
12. Qualification for GB candidacy:
    1. The candidate must have been a member of USTCAF for 180 days or more from the date of record;
    2. The candidate must maintain a valid membership status during the whole duration of his/her expected GB term if elected;
    3. The candidate shall not be a current student or employee of USTC;
    bellayoscura.com
    4. The candidate shall not, on behalf of entities other than USTCAF, handle or expect to handle USTCAF's matters during the expected GB term;
    5. The candidate must have electronic mail access (see III-3(h)(j));
    6. The candidate is encouraged to include, if applicable, his or her past leadership or public service experience in his or her candidacy statement.
13. The ballot should properly identify every candidate by their names, in Chinese characters or PinYin. If applicable, a candidate's USTC class number shall also be specified.
14. In the ballot, the candidates shall be listed in the order by which the Election Committee receives the candidacy statement emails.
15. In case that a quorum is not met in an election or if the GB otherwise fails to declare the success of a general election within timeframes specified in these bylaws, a re-election shall be organized within no less than 30 days and no more than 90 days from the last date of voting of the failed election:
    1. The election committee shall be comprised of no less than three life-time members;
    2. All the members who were eligible to vote at the failed election shall be entitled to vote in the re-election;
    3. All the members whose memberships become newly effective between the date of record of the failed election and the date of record of the reelection shall be entitled to vote in the re-election;
    4. All the then-sitting GB members, including those who resign after the date of record for the failed election, shall be excluded from the election committee as well as the candidacy in the re-election; other candidacy qualification requirements still apply.
    5. All the members who participate in re-election shall constitute the quorum.
    6. The GB-elect shall receive majority votes;
    7. The GB-elect shall be subject to the upper limit of the GB size;
    8. The GB-elect shall not be subject to the lower limit of GB size;
    9. The term of the GB-elect shall start from the date of re-election result announcement;
    10. The GB-elect shall have the authority to shorten its own term by organizing a new general election;
    11. The GB-elect shall have all other rights and authority the same as an otherwise normally elected GB.

Section 5. Membership:

1. Life-time members are those donating no less than the lifetime membership dues during any calendar year.
2. Regular members are those donating no less than the regular membership dues during any calendar year. The regular membership expires within one year.
3. There shall not be membership for non-natural-person entities.
4. There shall be only one membership per natural person.
5. A membership shall become effective 45 days after the earliest donation dates by which time the respective membership due requirement is met. Such date shall be available from a donation receipt issued by USTCAF.
6. For donation records in which there are multiple natural persons, USTCAF shall allocate the whole donation to the person whose email was provided in the donation form unless the donors provided instructions, in writing, on the allocation of donation among donors.
7. A member shall be entitled to change his or her email address after a process of verification. Change of membership emails shall become effective immediately upon the verification is completed.
8. A donor may opt to reject the membership at the time of making donations if a clear indication of such intention is specified on the donation form and/or in the memo field of the payment transaction documents.
9. A member shall be entitled to cancel his or her membership at any time by informing, in writing, the GB or GB-appointed Membership Committee of such intention. A process of verification on the identity and intention will be conducted by officers of the GB or the Membership Committee. The termination of the membership shall become effective immediately after the verification is completed.
10. Membership, once cancelled, cannot be reinstated without new donations. All past donations prior to the cancellation shall be excluded from any future considerations of membership establishment.
11. The GB is authorized to terminate a membership upon verification of the death of a member.
12. The amount of dues is set by the GB. It may change at most once per calendar year and no less than six (6) months apart from the last change.
13. Percentage changes to membership dues shall not exceed 25 per cent in either direction during any GB term with exceptions allowed for rounding to the nearest dollar amount.
14. The regular membership due shall not be greater than one-third of the life-time membership due.
15. Memberships, once established, shall not be retrospectively affected by future changes in membership dues.
16. The EC shall be responsible for collecting the dues and keeping membership records up-to-date. The collected dues and records shall be kept by GB as well.
17. Any financial contribution from one individual to the Foundation is considered as a membership payment. Unless otherwise specified by donors, those who donate more funds than the membership due will be listed as members automatically.
18. The account summary shall be presented to the GB and public at least once every two months.
19. The Foundation keeps the anonymity of all or part of information of a donor from the public, if he or she explicitly instructs so.

Section 6. Member meetings:

1. Only the GB can call the general member meetings. Members can submit proposed agenda items to the Chairperson or the directors of the GB. Announcement of the general member meeting including the agenda will be sent to all members no later than seven days before the meeting.
2. A quorum needs one-third of members in such a case.
3. Any resolution needs two-thirds for-votes. Such meetings are rare.

Section 7. Minutes:

1. Minutes of the meeting shall be prepared by the chairperson of the meeting and shall be distributed within two weeks after the meeting.
2. Records of the approved minutes shall be kept by the EC.

ARTICLE IV

Section 1. Award Procedure:

1. All USTCAF awards, no matter the source of funding is the general fund, or any sub-fund (see IV-5), must be approved by the Board (GB).
2. In general, the Board (GB) would approve the award criteria and the awardee selection made by a private group whose USTCAF sub-fund covers the award, unless there is a concern, such as negative recommendations from USTC when verifying applicants' materials, or narrow selection base which may cause frauds, or possible discrimination in criteria or selection.
3. In a normal situation, a sub-fund must submit a description and criteria of a new award to the Board (GB) six months in advance before the award can be issued.

Section 2. Fund campaign:

1. All donation forms and campaign letters under the name of the Foundation must be approved by the chairperson.
2. All contributions must be payable directly to "USTC Alumni Foundation".
3. To make checks payable to any fund raising member is illegal.

Section 3. Expenditures:

1. Guaranteed eighty five percent (85%) of fund will go to the scholarships. The rest of the fund would cover registration cost, fund transaction fee, postage cost, materials for printing award certificates, and other operational costs.
2. Salary or work compensation for USTCAF officers/directors of the board is forbidden.
3. Expenditures for fund raising parties will never be paid by USTCAF. Such expenditures must be paid by the party members only, not from the checks payable to the Foundation.
4. Any expenditure inconsistent with the mission of USTCAF is forbidden.

Section 4. Financial reports:

1. At least once a year, the Bookkeeper (secretary) needs to present a list of all contributions that year and a list of total contributions by each person in the history, which will be sent to every member as a form of receipt.
2. All fund transactions and their description would be listed on USTCAF website so that the fund balance can be checked at any time by public.

Section 5. Private Scholarship:

1. Anyone who wishes to set up private scholarship under USTCAF sponsorship and management is welcome to do so.
2. In general, the organizers of the private scholarship should be responsible for the fundraising; a certain percentage* of the private fund will be paid to the general fund; the organizers of the private scholarship have the right to set up their own criteria within the mission of USTCAF.
3. Details of the private scholarship will be regulated by the guideline for private scholarship and the contract between the organizers of the private scholarship and USTCAF (see IV-1).
4. All such private funds and the general fund must be listed on website for public to view.
5. All funds are to be centrally managed by a committee under the supervision of GB, according to a fund management guideline.

Section 6. Regional subcommittees:

1. All members are encouraged to form local subcommittees for the Foundation.
2. A regional subcommittee will be expelled from the Foundation if it collects its own member dues, or its own fund.
3. The Chairperson shall make decisions to dismiss any regional subcommittee if its policy disagrees with that of the Foundation.

ARTICLE V

Section 1. Amendments:

1. The Bylaws may be amended by member meetings specified by Article III-7.
2. The Bylaws can also be amended by two-thirds for-votes of GB. However the new Bylaws can be effective only after fifty (50) days of the amendment.
3. To ensure the continuity and independent nature of USTCAF, Article I-1, Article I-2 and Article II-1 of this bylaw shall never be changed in principle.

THE END