Constitution (BYLAWS) of CUFSAA – Ratified 2016

Here are the Bylaws of CUFSAA that had been finalized and approved by the membership during the Inaugural Annual Meeting of CUFSAA on September 04, 2016 at Akbar Banquet Hall, 21 Cortlandt Street, Edison NJ 08837.


BYLAWS
OF
THE COLOMBO UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF SCIENCE ALUMNI ASSOCIATION – NORTH AMERICA
(CUFSAA, CUFSAA­-NA)


PREAMBLE
THE COLOMBO UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF SCIENCE ALUMNI ASSOCIATION – NORTH AMERICA (hereinafter abbreviated as CUFSAA or CUFSAA-NA wherever appropriate) is constituted to bring together the past students and academic staff of the Science Faculty of the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka who are presently living in the USA or Canada.

ARTICLE I
NAME AND OFFICE
The legal name of the Association is “THE COLOMBO UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF SCIENCE ALUMNI ASSOCIATION – NORTH AMERICA”, abbreviated as CUFSAA and CUFSAA­-NA, and will be hereinafter referred to as “The Association.” The official Association website is http://www.cufsaa.org. The Association will conduct its business using electronic means such as email and internet. The physical business office and the official Association web domains will be listed in the FIRST SCHEDULE to these bylaws and will be updated as needed.

ARTICLE II
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
The Association will be a Non-Profit organization. The purpose of the association shall be to create a social forum for the former students and academic staff of the science faculty of the University of Colombo to meet and foster fellowship among themselves, and to do charitable community work including promoting science education and scientific scholarship. The Association will further the said objectives in particular by supporting the science faculty of the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka and similar educational institutions by providing assistance to current and former students and staff at the science faculty of the University of Colombo for educational projects and developmental schemes, and by giving support to scientific and educational endeavors in Sri Lanka and the USA irrespective of the recipient’s race, sex, disability, political affiliation, retaliation for protected anti-­discrimination activity, national origin, skin color, marital status, genetic information, religion, age, sexual orientation, and parental status.

ARTICLE III
MEMBERSHIP
Membership Eligibility: Any past student or academic staff member of the science faculty of the University of Colombo may apply for membership in the Association using the prescribed form more fully described in the THIRD SCHEDULE to these bylaws. There will be no membership dues to become a member of the Association. Members are expected to update the information provided in the said application, as and when necessary by contacting the association secretary via email or postal mail or by updating the membership form posted on the Association website.

Termination of Membership: If the Executive Committee of the Association determines by a majority vote that a member has engaged in conduct that brings the organization in to disrepute then that person’s membership shall cease to exist. Members whose memberships were so terminated by the Executive Committee may appeal to reinstate their membership at the Annual General meeting by majority vote. Members are free to withdraw or terminate their membership of the association by writing to the Association Secretary at any time.

ARTICLE IV
THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
An Executive Committee, elected as stipulated below shall be responsible for the management of the Association. Members of the association who have contributed volunteer services to the association are eligible to hold office in the association.

Section: IV-A
Composition
The Executive Committee shall consist of twenty-five (25) members including: The President, The President Elect, The Immediate Past President, Three (03) Vice Presidents, Two Joint Secretaries, The Treasurer, and Sixteen (16) Ordinary Members. An ordinary member will be elected in place of the Immediate Past President for the first Executive Committee.

Section: IV-­B
The Election and Terms of Office
The first Executive Committee will be nominated by the interim committee of the Association which is fully described in the SECOND SCHEDULE and will be ratified at the inaugural meeting of the Association to be held on September 4th in New Jersey, USA. Thereafter, the outgoing Executive Committee by majority vote shall nominate members of the new Executive Committee to be ratified at the annual general meeting, at least 30 days before the expiration of its term of office. In the event that the ratification of an Executive Committee Member is failed at the Annual General Meeting by a two-third majority vote of the membership, the vacancies to the Executive Committee so created will be filled according to the Section IV-H below.

The term of the Executive Committee shall be two years.

Section: IV­-C
Quorum
A majority of Executive Committee shall constitute a quorum.

Section: IV-D
The Annual General Meeting
The Annual General Meeting shall be held each year either physically (on even numbered years) or electronically (on odd numbered years) on or before the last Sunday of the month of September.

Section: IV-E
Committee Meetings
The Executive Committee shall have regular meetings to accomplish the business of the organization. Meetings may be called for to occur through conference calls or by circulating items for vote by e­mail.

Section: IV­-F
Special Meetings
Special meetings of the Executive Committee may be requested by the President, or by any five members of the Executive Committee by providing 10 days’ written notice by e­mail or ordinary mail. Special Meetings may be called for to occur through conference calls or by circulating items for vote by e­mail. Minutes of the meetings shall be sent to the members of the Executive Committee within two weeks after the meeting.

Section: IV­-G
Procedures
Robert’s rules shall be followed.

Section: IV­-H
Removal / Vacancies
An Executive committee member shall be subject to removal, with or without cause, at a special meeting called for that purpose approved by a two third (2/3) majority of the executive committee. Any vacancy that occurs on the Executive committee, whether by death, resignation, removal or any other cause, may be filled by the remaining committee members. An Executive committee member elected to fill a vacancy shall serve the remaining term of his or her predecessor, or until a successor has been elected and qualified.

Section: IV-I
Ad Hoc Committees
The President in consultation with the Executive committee may establish ad hoc committees consisting of members of the Association in addition to the standing committees of the association listed in FOURTH SCHEDULE.

Section: IV-J
Compensation
No Executive committee member shall be paid by the Association except for reasonable compensation for expenses incurred on behalf of The Association for which prior approval has been obtained.

ARTICLE V
POWERS AND DUTIES
President: S/he will preside at all meetings, appoint special (select or ad hoc) committees and generally perform the duties of the presiding officer.

Vice Presidents: In the absence of or in case of disability of the President, one of the Vice Presidents nominated by majority votes of the executive committee shall assume his/her duties and in the absence of or disability of the President and the Vice Presidents, the Secretaries and the Treasurer may elect one of them to perform temporarily all the duties of the President.

Secretaries: The Recording secretary is to handle committee affairs and minutes while the Communication Secretary is to handle newsletters, surveys, websites, emails and other communication matters. The Recording Secretary shall keep minutes of all meetings and shall sign them after they are duly adopted and s/he will also give due notice of motions and meetings to the members and maintain the membership register.

Treasurer: The Treasurer shall have full charge of the Association’s funds and the checkbook(s) and the treasurer or another authorized person shall sign checks on the Association’s bank account(s) and carryout other financial transactions as approved by the Executive Committee. The treasurer shall submit a statement on the funds at each regular meeting of the executive committee, and submit a professionally audited audit report and a financial statement for distribution among the members fifteen days before the Annual General Meeting.

ARTICLE VI
DISSOLUTION
In the event the membership is unable to support the Association the assets of the Association shall be sold and the remaining cash assets, after paying all outstanding debts, shall be donated to one or more exempted purpose organizations within the meaning of section 501c (3) of the Internal Revenue Code.

ARTICLE VII
AMENDING BYLAWS
These bylaws may be amended as needed at any Annual General meeting by a two-third majority. Proposals for such amendments should be sent to the Executive Committee at least 30 days prior to an Annual General Meeting, and the committee should inform the membership of such proposals received at least 28 days prior to the Annual General Meeting.

ARTICLE VIII
GOVERNING LAWS
All action pertaining to the affairs of the Association shall be governed by and be subjected to the Laws and Regulations of the State of New Jersey, and the United States of America.


FIRST SCHEDULE
OFFICIAL ADDRESS
The official address of the Association shall be Colombo University Faculty of Science Alumni Association, 393 Valley Road, River Edge NJ 07661.

The official web domains of the Association shall be cufsaa.org and cufsaa.com.


SECOND SCHEDULE
INTERIM EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
The Interim Executive Committee of the Association is the organizing committee of TAMASHA 2016 whose names are listed below.

  • Lakmal Boteju, Ph.D. NJ, USA
  • Saliya De Silva, Ph.D. NJ, USA
  • Reshan Fernando, Ph.D. NC, USA
  • Sampath Galappatty MA, USA
  • L.C. Goonetilleke, Ph.D. NJ, USA
  • Angelo Gunasekera, Ph.D. NY, USA
  • Asanthi Pieris Gunatilaka, M.S. NJ, USA
  • Chandrasiri Jayakody, Ph.D. MI, USA
  • Sumedha Jayasena, Ph.D. CA, USA
  • Harshani Munidasa, Ph.D. ON, Canada
  • Asoka Perera, Ph.D. ON, Canada
  • Lalith Perera, Ph.D. NC, USA
  • Vicumpriya Perera, Ph.D. OH, USA
  • Kirthi Premadasa, Ph.D. WI, USA
  • Oshadha K. Ranasingha, Ph.D. NH, USA
  • L.M.V. Tillekeratne, D.Phil. OH, USA
  • Gomika Udugamasooriya, Ph.D. TX, USA
  • Karl Uduman BC, Canada
  • Gajaka Weerasinghe, M.S.,M.Sc. PA, USA
  • Chandika Wijesundara, M.S. FL, USA

THIRD SCHEDULE
MEMBERSHIP FORM
1. Name
_____________________________________________________________________
2. Address
_____________________________________________________________________
3. Telephone Numbers
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
4. Email Address
_____________________________________________________________________
5. Nature of Association with the Faculty of Science of the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka. (Tell if you were a staff member, undergraduate student, graduate student, etc..)
_____________________________________________________________________
6. Duration of your association. Please let us know the beginning and ending year of your association.
_____________________________________________________________________
7. Additional Remarks (if any)
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________


FOURTH SCHEDULE
STANDING COMMITTEES
The following are the standing committees of the Association.

1. Project Evaluation Committee
This committee is charged with evaluating project proposals received by the Association and preparing a report to the Executive Committee who will take an appropriate action by majority votes.

This committee is also charged with evaluating and preparing reports of ongoing projects of the Association to the Executive Committee who will take appropriate action such as continue to fund or to terminate an ongoing project by majority votes.

2. Communications Committee

This committee is charged with creating contents for newsletters, website and other communication instruments.

3. Financial Committee

The committee is charged with fund raising and evaluating financial needs and requirements of the Association and cost estimation of projects.

4. Mentoring committee

This committee is charged with the coordination of mentoring current students and recent graduates of the science faculty of University of Colombo.