FCA Constitution

*This constitution is currently under review, and may not reflect current FCA information*

Constitution of the Florida Communication Association

ARTICLE I — NAME

The name of this organization shall be the Florida Communication Association, hereinafter referred to as this Association.

ARTICLE II —PURPOSE

Section 1. The purpose of this Association shall be to coordinate the efforts of teachers, scholars, educators, students, communication practitioners, and others interested in advancing the communication arts and sciences in the state of Florida toward

  1. Developing a comprehensive philosophy of communication and communication pedagogy;
  2. Raising the standards of communication instruction and activities;
  3. Encouraging students to prepare for professional careers in the communication discipline;
  4. Providing a means of mutual stimulation and encouragement through sharing of experiences, and ideas;
  5. Striving to increase the diversity of the field and to include marginalized voices.

Section 2. The purposes for which this Association is organized are exclusively scientific, literary, and educational within the meaning of Section 501 (c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 or the corresponding provision of any future United States Internal Revenue law.

Section 3. Notwithstanding any other provisions of these articles, this Association shall not carry on any activities not permitted to be carried on by an organization exempt from Federal income tax under Section 501 (c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 or the corresponding provision of any future United States Internal Revenue law.

ARTICLE III — MEMBERSHIP

Section 1.  Active membership shall be open to all persons interested in the discipline of communication upon payment of annual dues.

Section 2. Student membership shall be open to college and university students who are enrolled as students at the time of paying their dues. Student members shall be considered active members with full privileges and responsibilities of membership.

Section 3. Patron membership shall be open to all those eligible for active membership.

Section 4. Any institution or organization shall be eligible for an institutional membership. Institutional members shall receive the Journal and shall be listed in the convention program.

Section 5. The membership year will be one calendar year upon payment of annual dues..

ARTICLE IV — OFFICERS

Section 1. The voting officers of this Association shall be a president, a vice president, an immediate past president, a membership coordinator, an executive treasurer, a recording secretary, a journal editor, an education liaison, and an external association liaison.

Section 2. The President shall not cast an initial vote on any voting issue. If a vote results in an even split, the President shall cast the deciding vote.

Section 3. The ex-officio, no vote officers of this Association shall be a journal assistant editor, a newsletter editor, a marketing coordinator, and a web editor.

Section 4. All officers regardless of voting privileges shall be required to attend all officer meetings.

Section 5. Immediately following the convention, all newly elected individuals will assume officer-elect positions. Newly elected officers shall begin their full duties on January 1 following their selection.

Section 6. The President, Vice-President, Immediate Past President, Membership Coordinator, Web Editor, and Marketing Coordinator shall serve for one year, or until their successors are elected at the meeting specified in Article VIII, Section 6.

Section 7. The Newsletter Editor, the Education Liaison, the External Association Liaison, and the Recording Secretary shall serve for two years or until a successor is elected. The Newsletter Editor and the Recording Secretary will be elected in even years, and the Educational Liaison and the External Association Liaison will be elected in odd years.

Section 8. The Executive Treasurer shall be appointed by the Executive Board after the Board has received the report from the special Executive Treasurer search committee appointed by the President. This appointment shall be reported to the membership. The Executive Treasurer shall serve for three years or until a successor is selected.

Section 9. The Journal Editor shall be appointed by the Executive Board after the Board has received the report from a special Journal Editor search committee appointed by the President. This appointment shall be reported to the membership. The Journal Editor shall serve for two years. A Journal Assistant Editor shall be appointed by the Executive Board no later than one year into the Journal Editor’s term after the Board has received the report from a special search committee appointed by the President. This appointment shall be reported to the membership. A year later the Assistant Editor shall begin the Editor’s two year term. 

Section 10. Any officer serving on the Executive Board may serve no longer than two consecutive terms in the same office. In the event of a vacancy in any of the offices, the President, with the approval of at least three of the elected officers, shall name a successor to fill the unexpired term.

Section 11. The President, with the advice and consent of the Executive Board, may appoint an Archivist for a one-year term renewable indefinitely. The President may also appoint for each membership meeting a Parliamentarian to advise on procedural matters. While members of the Executive Board may be appointed to these offices, these offices by themselves do not carry the right of membership on the Executive Board.

ARTICLE V — DUTIES OF OFFICERS

Section 1. The President shall

  1. Preside at all business meetings of the Association and of the Executive Board;
  2. Approve policies, projects, and expenditures of the Association;
  3. Perform any other duties prescribed by this Constitution and by the parliamentary authority adopted by the Association.
  4. Coordinate all student awards for the annual convention.
  5. Serve as coordinator of all committees formed in the Business meetings to ensure that they are meeting and submitting reports to the board.
  6. Appoint positions as specified by this constitution.
  7.  Coordinate the President’s reception at the annual convention.
  8.  Encourage all board members to complete their responsibilities in a timely and professional manner.
  9. Shall host at least one officer-transition meeting following the convention which must take place before the end of the year.

Section 2. The Vice-President shall

  1. Serve as Coordinator for the fall convention;
  2. Be responsible for negotiating the convention site contract;
  3. Assume all duties of the President in case of the President’s absence or resignation.

Section 3. The Recording Secretary shall

  1. Keep the minutes of all business meetings of the Association and the Executive Board;
  2. Assist the Web editor in the maintenance and upkeep of the Association’s records.
  3. Assume all duties of the President and the First Vice-President in the absence or incapacity of the President and First Vice-President.

Section 4. The Executive Treasurer shall

  1. Keep a record of all financial transactions of this Association;
  2. Prepare and submit an Association budget which shall be voted on by the executive board and then presented at the fall convention;
  3. Prepare and submit a financial report to an auditing committee appointed by the President as necessary;
  4. Manage all accounts receivable and payable;
  5. Chair the Scholarship Committee.

Section 5. The Membership Coordinator shall

  1. Be responsible for recruiting new members for the association;
  2. Keep an up-to-date membership roll;
  3. Work with the External Association Liaison to build and maintain relationships with other communication associations and industry organizations;
  4. Be responsible for organizing projects related to membership retention;
  5. Coordinate new member activities at the annual convention.

Section 6. The Newsletter Editor shall

  1. Publish an Association newsletter at least four times a year beginning after the fall convention;
  2. Gather newsletter content from other Association officers;
  3. Work with the incoming newsletter editor on a convention recap which shall be sent out before the end of the year following the convention;

Section 7. The Journal Editor shall

  1. Publish two issues of the Florida Communication Journal per year;
  2. Appoint an editorial board of at least six members, with at least two representing the university level, and with at least two representing the community college level.
  3. The Journal Editor, with the advice and consent of the Executive Board, shall appoint an Assistant Journal Editor to aid with the production of the Florida Communication Journal, in tandem with the term of the Journal Editor. This office does not carry a right of membership on the Executive Board.

Section 8. The Journal Assistant Editor shall

  1. Aid the journal editor in the creation and subsequent maintenance of journal portal software to help with submission, review, and decision on articles
  2. Help grow the reach and respect of the journal
  3. Any other duties the assistant sees appropriate and has time for to assist the journal editor and health of the journal

Section 9. The Education Liaison shall

  1. Act as director of the campus contacts program;
  2. Represent and promote the association to K-12 schools in the state;
  3. Coordinate the poster session at the fall convention;
  4. Represent the Association on other statewide education-related issues;
  5. Serve on the Scholarship Committee.

Section 10. The Immediate Past President shall

  1. Chair the Honors and Awards Committee; ;
  2. Communicate to all members and solicit input for nominations;
  3. Coordinate presenters for awards at annual convention;
  4. Purchase and prepare awards to be presented at the fall convention;
  5. Helps the President plan the Thursday night reception at the annual convention;
  6. Facilitate the nomination and election process at the fall convention. 

Section 11. The Web Editor shall

  1. Be in charge of website design and coordination;
  2. Post information to the website as sent by the Board officers;
  3. Resolve website problems or bring issues forward.

Section 12. The Marketing Coordinator shall

  1. Work with the Executive Board to identify marketing needs and opportunities;
  2. Assist with the development and distribution of marketing materials and communications to promote the Association and its activities;
  3. Procure sponsors and advertisers for the fall convention, newsletter, and/or journal;
  4. Work with the marketing assistant, if one has been appointed, on all marketing endeavors.

Section 13. The External Association Liaison shall

  1. Work with the Membership Coordinator build and maintain relationships with other communication associations and industry organizations;
  2. Keep updated records of state, regional, national, and international communication associations’ contact information, important dates, and events;
  3. Attend state, regional, national, and international communication associations’ conventions as possible, or recruit other officers to assist as needed, and create a report of the convention to be included on the Association website and in the Association newsletter;
  4. Assist other executive board officers with external outreach and relationship building.

ARTICLE VI- EXECUTIVE BOARD

Section 1. The officers of the Association whose duties are discussed in Article V shall constitute the Executive Board.

Section 2. The Executive Board shall

  1. Have general supervision of the affairs of the Association between its regular business meetings;
  2. Fix the time and place of the Association meetings;
  3. Perform any other duties specified by the Constitution.

ARTICLE VII— MEETINGS

Section 1. This Association shall hold a fall convention on the third Friday and Saturday of October, or as near thereto as possible. Proposals for a January and/or June workshop/seminar are invited from any institution or Association member.

Section 2. Regular business sessions of this Association shall be held on each day of the fall convention.

Section 3. The Executive Board shall meet prior to each regular business session at the fall convention.

Section 4. The Executive Board should also meet at least two times during the year preceding the annual convention. The first meeting should take place by Jan. 31st. The second meeting should take place by July 31st. The meeting day and time can be selected by them.

ARTICLE VIII - NOMINATIONS AND ELECTIONS

Section 1. If persons are interested in an officer position, they should submit a nomination to the immediate past president prior to the fall convention. This nomination can be a self-nomination or a nomination of another association member.

Section 2. At the first business meeting of the fall convention, the immediate past president shall facilitate the nomination process.

Section 3. The nomination process will go as follows: The immediate past president will announce all nominations received prior to the fall convention for each officer position. They will then open the floor for any additional nominations. After the first business meeting, the immediate past president will construct the ballot based on all nominations gathered during the meeting. At the concluding business meeting of the fall convention, the ballot will be read and voted on by members of the Association.

Section 4. In the event of two or more nominations for an office, the voting shall be by secret ballot; but if one person only is nominated for an office, a motion for unanimous election shall be in order and may be voted on by acclamation or by a show of hands.

Section 5. The officers of the Association shall be elected at the final business meeting held during the fall convention. The current Executive Board and the newly elected Executive Board shall meet immediately after the close of the convention.

ARTICLE IX — DUES

Section 1. All annual dues shall be set by the second business meeting of the fall convention at the recommendation of the Executive Board and shall be reported by the Executive Treasurer at that business meeting. In the absence of any recommendation from the Executive Board, dues shall remain at levels previously established.

Section 2. As stated in Article III, Section 5: The membership year will be one calendar year upon payment of dues.

ARTICLE X - COMMITTEES

Section 1. The President of the Association with the approval of a majority of the Executive Board will appoint at the first Executive Board meeting after his or her election the following Standing Committees which shall serve for one year:

  1. The Auditing Committee, composed of three active members of this Association, will be appointed every three years with the election of a new Executive Treasurer. This committee will meet with the current Executive Treasurer and the newly elected Executive Treasurer immediately following the fall convention in which a new Executive Treasurer was elected. The committee will review the accounts of the Executive Treasurer immediately following the end of the fiscal year. The Auditing Committee shall report in writing to the Executive Board. The report shall be provided to the membership in the next issue of the Newsletter following its submission to the Board.
  2. The Honors and Awards Committee will be composed of the Immediate Past President who shall chair the Committee and at least two other active members of this Association. The Honors and Awards Committee will collect information for and make recommendations to the Executive Board for the establishment of and presentation of honors and awards by this Association. The Executive Board shall make recommendations to the general membership for a vote of confirmation before any new awards or presentations are created.
  3. The Scholarship Committee shall be composed of five active members of this Association. Two members will be officers from the Executive Board, one of which is the Executive Treasurer and one of which is the Education Liaison. The other three members shall be appointed by the President with the approval of the Executive Board. Members of this committee are able to be appointed for up to three terms. The Executive Treasurer will be the Chair of the committee. The Scholarship Committee will raise money to support the scholarship fund. The Scholarship Committee will also be responsible for the selection and awarding of each year’s scholarship(s), and for the selection and awarding of each year’s FCA Grant.

Section 2. With the advice and consent of the Executive Board, the President may appoint such special (ad hoc) committees as seem necessary and desirable, such as but not limited to:

  1. The Site Selection Committee will be composed of three active members of this Association who will collect information and visit potential convention accommodations in accordance with guidelines established by this Association and the Executive Board.
  2. The Constitutional Convention Committee will be composed of up to five active members of this Association, one of which shall be the President of this Association. The President will be the Chair of the committee. The Constitutional Convention Committee will review the constitution of this Association and will make amendment suggestions. Their suggestions shall be presented to the Executive Board before the fall convention and to the membership at the first business meeting of the fall convention. All amendments shall be voted on by the membership at the last business meeting of the convention.

ARTICLE XI- QUORUM

Section 1. For the business meetings conducted at the annual convention of this Association, the number of members present shall constitute quorum.

Section 2. For Executive Board meetings, the majority of voting members shall constitute quorum.

Section 3. In the event a quorum is not reached at a Executive Board meeting, all business shall either be tabled or recessed until a quorum can be reached or until a new meeting date is set.

ARTICLE XII - AMENDMENTS

Proposed amendments to this Constitution must be submitted either in writing or electronically to the Recording Secretary prior to the first day of the annual convention. Any amendments presented at the first business meeting shall be voted upon during the second business meeting of the annual convention. A two-thirds vote of those present and voting will be required to adopt an amendment to this Constitution.

Last updated October 2022

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