A. Name.

The name of this organization is the OHSU Postdoctoral Association (OPDA) The official email address of the OPDA is postdocinfo@ohsu.edu. The group represents the Postdoctoral Association (PDA) of Oregon Health &Science University (OHSU).

B. Mission Statement

The mission of the OPDA is to enhance the academic, professional, and social experience for all postdoctoral scholars at OHSU. The OPDA fosters a postdoctoral community through scientific collaboration, networking opportunities, and career and professional development seminars. The four fundamental aims of OPDA are:

1. Facilitate communication and collaboration among postdocs and between postdocs and faculty.
2. Promote the education and exposure of postdoctoral fellows to the multitude of Ph.D. career prospects.
3. Support the professional development of OHSU postdocs,
4. Foster the development of a social environment conducive towards an optimal research training experience.

A.   General Members

OHSU postdoctoral scholars are welcome to join the OPDA as general members. All general members have voting privileges.

B.   OPDA Council Members

All OPDA general members are eligible to become a member of the OPDA Council (Article IV).

A.   Members of the OHSU PDA Council supervise the OHSU PDA. The Council consists of:

1. President
2. Vice President
3. Treasurer
4. Secretary
5. Social Officer
6. Career Development Officer
7. RIPSS Officer
8. Communications Officer

B.   All OPDA Council member terms are for one (1) year.

C.   Except for the President & Vice President, officer positions may have co-officers (Article IV).

D.   Graduate students are excluded from becoming Council members.

E.   Council members, including co-officers, are elected once a year in September (Article VI).

F.    If, for any reason, a Council member leaves his/her position before his/her term ends, a general member shall be elected to the Council to temporarily take over the duties of the vacated position.

G.   A Council member may be discharged from his/her position based on misconduct or misrepresentation of OPDA if all other Council members vote (2/3 majority vote of a quorum) to do so.

H.   Council member status shall be rescinded (to General Member) if a Council member is absent from three consecutive monthly meetings without notice and does not participate in the organization of any events during said time.

A.   President

1. Responsible for upholding the OPDA Bylaws
2. Responsible for calling, organizing and presiding over all OPDA meetings
3. Official liaison between OPDA and OHSU administration and faculty
4. Ensures, together with the Vice President, that an annual report of OPDA activities is prepared for OHSU Administration
5. May call special OHSU PDA meetings to discuss internal OHSU PDA-related issues
6. Prohibited from being the Treasurer or Treasurer Co-Officer

B.   Vice President

1. Ensures, together with the Chair, that an annual report of OPDA activities is prepared for OHSU Administration
2. May call special OPDA meetings to discuss internal OPDA-related issues
3. Functions as President if and when necessary.
4. Assist/replace President in any other responsibilities
5. Prohibited from being the Treasurer or Treasurer Co-Officer

C.   Treasurer

1. Responsible for organizing, advertising, and overseeing OPDA fundraising activities.
2. Shall be aware of instituted practices associated with the fundraising events and activities
   
3. Shall maintain OPDA financial accounting practices
   
4. Responsible for presenting an annual financial report at the OPDA Annual Meeting
   
5. Responsible for maintaining financial transactions involving OPDA money awards
   
6. May have an elected Co-Officer.

D.   Secretary

1. Responsible for taking the minutes at OPDA meetings
2. Responsible for distributing electronic copies of the minutes from OPDA meetings for approval by the OPDA Council.
3. Responsible for posting approved meeting minutes on the OPDA website.
4. Maintains a record of all OPDA events.
5. Manages and maintains OPDA Facebook and LinkedIn groups.
6. May have an elected Co-Officer.

E.   Career Development Officer

1. Responsible for maintaining the OPDA Mentoring Program.
2. Responsible for co-organizing career development programs in collaboration with the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs.
3. May have an elected Co-Officer.

F.    RIPSS Officer

1. Responsible for calling, organizing, and presiding over the Research in Progress Seminar Series (RIPSS) and special meetings, including recruitment of speakers.
2. Responsible for organizing special speaking events for postdocs (practice job talks, conference talks, etc.), upon request
3. Responsible for coordinating with the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs to organize catering and collect appropriate receipts
4. May have an elected Co-Officer.

G.   Communications Officer

1. Responsible for writing and/or distributing OPDA announcements.
2. Responsible for writing and/or coordinating the OPDA monthly newsletter
3. Assist other leadership members for communicating with speakers for OPDA events
4. May have an elected Co-Officer

H.   Non-elected Liaison positions.

1. Postdoctoral Affairs Liaison (preferably held by someone from OHSU Office of Postdoctoral Affairs): liaison to the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs, which represents the Postdoctoral Office (PDO) at OHSU
2. International Employee Resource group liaison (iERG): attend iERG meeting, liaison with the postdoctoral community

A.   Meetings are held once a month, usually the third Wednesday of each month. Monthly meetings are to be called by the President (or the Vice President) the week prior to the scheduled meeting.

B.   Meetings shall be led by the President. If the President is absent, the Vice President shall lead the meetings. If both the President and Vice President are absent, either may ask a member of the OPDA Council to lead the meeting.

C.   The agenda shall be distributed to the council and general members at least 48 hours prior to the meeting with all matters to be discussed listed, as well as any upcoming votes.

D.   Meetings are open to all members of the OHSU community.

E.   The agenda at OPDA monthly meetings shall include, but is not limited to:

1. Call to order
2. Review and approval of prior meeting minutes
3. Review of past OPDA-sponsored events
4. Announcement of upcoming OPDA-sponsored events
5. Announcements from other groups (Postdoc Affairs, iERG, etc.)
6. Voting, if necessary
7. Research in Progress Seminar
8. Adjournment

A. Meeting Voting Protocol

1. All postdoctoral scholars are eligible to vote.
2. At least 10% of the current OHSU postdoctoral population constitutes a quorum, five (5) of which must be an OPDA Council member.
3. Any planned votes must be announced via email to all members of the OPDA at least 24 hours before the vote is to occur.
4. Any postdoctoral scholar may vote by proxy in writing (e.g. email) to the President or Vice President before the meeting. Proxy votes count toward the quorum.
5. A simple majority is required for non-financial measures to be passed.
6. Decisions involving financial payouts or budgets must have a 2/3 majority to pass.
7. Decisions of rewards or gifts (financial or otherwise) for any OPDA members must have a 2/3 majority of the quorum to pass.
8. The Bylaws of the OPDA may be amended or modified by a 2/3 majority of the quorum at two (2) consecutive monthly OPDA meetings.

B. Online Voting Protocol

1. In the event that a proposal with a deadline prior to the next in-person OPDA meeting requires a vote, an online vote of the voting members may be held.
2. Online voting on a proposal may only be introduced to the members by the President or, in his/her absence, the Vice Chair or Treasurer.
3. Online voting protocol may be used for OPDA Council Member Elections (Article VI.C)
4. All online proposal voting will be held on a voting website that preferably displays each member's votes, and the votes will be collected for at least five business days
5. A voting quorum as defined in Article VII must be met before a proposal is passed.
6. A simple majority is required for non-financial measures to be passed.
7. Decisions involving financial payouts, budgets, or rewards or gifts (financial or otherwise) for OPDA members must have a 2/3 majority of the quorum to pass.
8. The Chair will read results of the online vote into the next monthly meeting minutes.

C. Elections Voting Protocol

1. Elections shall be called and organized by the President.
2. The elections for the Officers of the OPDA Council are to be announced at least two weeks before voting begins to allow for Officer nominations.
3. If more than one person is nominated for the same position, candidates shall submit a platform statement describing their interest and plans for the position.
4. Candidates who are not elected for a given position may become Co-Chairs (Article IV)
5. All OPDA general members may participate in the vote.

A.   General Meetings

1. The RIPSS occurs during OPDA general meetings as part of the monthly agenda.
2. The RIPSS is a 20-minute research talk by OHSU postdoctoral scholars, on a volunteer basis, or recruited by the RIPSS Officer and/or Co-Officer.

B.   Special Meetings

1. Special meetings are organized by request only by a speaker requiring an audience for a specialized talk, such as a chalk talk
2. Special meetings requests must be made in writing (e.g. by email) at least one month in advance of the requested speaking date.
3. Special meetings are to be made available as a service of the OPDA, advertised on the OPDA website.

A.   All functions and events sponsored or co-sponsored by the OPDA shall recognize the OPDA as sponsor, and include when appropriate:

1. The statement, "The OHSU Postdoctoral Association is an organization whose goal is to enhance the social, academic, and professional lives of training scientists during their experience at OHSU."
2. A reference to the OPDA website.

B.   The Office of Postdoctoral Affairs shall distribute announcements to the relevant OHSU personnel.

A.   How-to documents shall be written or amended if deemed necessary by any member of the OPDA who organizes an OPDA function.

B.   The How-to documents shall include all relevant information, such as step-by-step procedures, pertinent information of contacts, budgets, timelines, etc., for the same event to be easily organized again in the future.

C.   The OPDA Webmaster shall keep electronic copies of How-to documents, undisclosed to the public, on an OPDA-accessible server, such as an OHSU Box account.