Bylaws of the

University of Colorado Retired Faculty Association

approved at April 25,2007 meeting

ARTICLE I: NAME and UNIVERSITY AFFILIATION

The name of this association shall be the University of Colorado Retired Faculty Association (CURFA). As an all-University Association, it functions with the cooperation and support of the Office of the President of the University of Colorado.

ARTICLE II: PURPOSES

CURFA shall act to promote the welfare and interest of all individuals eligible for membership, on all campuses of the University. It shall work with the system and campus administrations to promote the individual and collective interests of its members, to promote continued service of its members to the university, community, the state and nation, and to cooperate with other organizations with like purposes. It shall promote the establishment and strengthening of autonomous retiree groups on all campuses.

ARTICLE III: MEMBERSHIP:

A. Membership will be open to all retired faculty members and professional exempt administrators of the University of Colorado, their spouses/partners and to spouses/partners of deceased members. Also eligible are spouses/partners of those persons who were deceased prior to attaining retired status; such membership may commence at the time at which the employee would have been eligible for retirement.

B. Prior to the opening of the fall semester, the Membership Secretary shall notify all eligible personnel who have retired from university appointments during the preceding year that they are eligible for complimentary membership in CURFA for one year. The letter of notification should emphasize the benefits of membership.

C. A retired faculty member of another accredited college or university is eligible for membership upon recommendation of a CURFA member.

D. Membership shall be continuous, subject to the payment of dues.

ARTICLE IV: GOVERNANCE

A. Administrative Structure:

1. The elected officers of the Association shall be a President, a Vice-President, a General Secretary, a Membership Secretary, a Treasurer, an Ombudsperson, and the immediate Past President.

2. The elected officers together shall comprise the Executive Committee, which has general oversight of the activities of the Association and is authorized to transact the Association’s business in the intervals between general meetings of the membership. The Executive Committee shall meet at the call of the President or the Vice-President, and may transact business by electronic communications. Upon majority vote, the Executive Committee may refer actions or policies for a vote by the membership at a general meeting, with or without a recommendation by the Executive Board.

3. The Executive Board shall consist of the members of the Executive Committee, the chairs of standing committees, representatives of CURFA to University and Boulder campus bodies and liaison members from each campus, all of whom shall have full voting privileges. The Executive Board meetings provide the venue for discussions of policy and action issues by representatives of all CURFA constituencies. The Board votes on various appointments and issues as called for in these bylaws. The Board shall meet on the call of the President, who shall prepare the agenda. The President may invite to Board meetings all persons whose attendance would be beneficial to CURFA goals, including the webmaster, the newsletter editor and appointed assistants to the elected officers.

B. Duties and Responsibilities of Officers:

1. The President shall call, oversee the arrangements for, set the agenda for, and chair meetings of the Executive Committee, Executive Board, and the membership. The President shall, with the advice and approval of the Executive Board, appoint committee chairs and members, except as otherwise provided for in these bylaws. The President shall be the spokesperson for CURFA in its relations with the system and campus administrations, the faculty, and the public.

2. The Vice President shall chair the Nominations and Program Committees, assist the President in executing the functions of that office, and serve as President in the absence or inability to serve of the President.

3. The Treasurer shall receive, deposit, and disperse the revenues of CURFA, and maintain complete and accurate records of all receipts and expenditures. The Treasurer shall provide reports on the finances of the Association to the Executive Board and membership, and prepare a budget for the following year for approval of the membership at the spring meeting.

4. The General Secretary shall maintain the archives of the Association, a list of current members as provided by the Membership Secretary, with postal and email addresses, and prepare and archive minutes of general membership meetings and Executive Committee and Board meetings. The Secretary shall transmit to the membership by email messages required by Association business.

5. The Membership Secretary shall compile a current mailing list of Association members, prepare the annual dues statement, communicate to newly retiring persons eligible for membership the offer of a one-year complimentary membership, and receive and transmit to the Treasurer dues and luncheon payments. This officer shall prepare the contents of the annual CURFA directory and arrange for its printing, distribution, and posting on the Association website.

6. The Ombudsperson shall provide to retired faculty as requested confidential assistance and information on university policy and practices related to their status as former university employees.

C. Nominations, Elections, and Appointments.

1. Election of Officers:

a. The President and the Vice-President shall be elected for two-year terms. The Vice-President ascends to the presidency for the following two years. The General Secretary, Membership Secretary, Treasurer, and Ombudsperson shall be elected for two-year terms and may succeed themselves. The current President becomes the immediate Past President for the following two years. Officers are elected by majority vote of those attending the fall meeting of the Association and take office on the first day of the next calendar year.

b. The Nominating Committee. At least three months prior to each fall general meeting of the Association, the President, in consultation with the Executive Committee, shall appoint a three-person Nominating Committee to provide nominees for vacancies and pending vacancies resulting from term expirations or inability to continue service among the officers and representatives. The Vice-President shall serve as chairperson of the Nominating Committee. The Nominating Committee shall make nominations for all existing or imminent vacancies. Nominees must be or become members of CURFA.

c. Election and appointment. The Executive Board approves the report of the Nominating Committee for election of officers for presentation to the general meeting for voting. The approved nominations for officers will be presented, one at a time, to the membership at a fall meeting, along with a request for nominations from the floor. Voting follows.

In the event of an officer vacancy resulting from resignation or the inability of an elected officer to complete the term of office, the President, in consultation with the Executive Committee, shall appoint a replacement to serve until the next election. If the presidency is vacated, the Vice President shall serve as President for the remaining term of that office. This partial term is not to be counted against the two years the Vice-President would normally serve as president.

2. Selection of CURFA representatives and campus liaison representatives.

a. The Board provides advice on the appointments of representatives of CURFA to University councils and committees and Boulder Campus Committees. Nominations for Association representatives will be presented to the Executive Board by the Nominating Committee for approval by the Board. The number of such representatives and the length of term are prescribed by the rules of those organizations. As of the time of adoption of these bylaws, one representative shall be appointed to the Faculty Council for a three year period and one to the Faculty Council Personnel Committee for a three year period. Two representatives to the Boulder Faculty Assembly shall be appointed, for overlapping two-year periods, as authorized by the policies of that organization.

b. Upon request of the system or a campus administration, the President, with the concurrence of the Executive Board, may appoint members to serve on other committees. All such representatives shall take office immediately upon appointment for the period specified in the appointment and may succeed themselves.

c. Campus liaison representatives. Each campus retiree group other than Boulder may elect a representative to be a liaison member of the CURFA Executive Board. In default of the existence of an organized group or of such election, an appropriate campus administrator shall be asked to make the appointment. Liaison representatives must be CURFA members. For the purpose of broad representation of faculty interests, the Health Sciences Center and the Downtown Denver Campus shall be considered separate entities. The CURFA representatives to the Boulder Faculty Assembly shall act as the Boulder campus liaisons.

D. Standing & Ad Hoc Committees.

1. Standing or ad hoc committees may be created by the Executive Board as needed to meet new programmatic needs.

2. As of the time of adoption of these bylaws, the standing committees shall be:

a. Program Committee, chaired by the Vice President and charged with organizing the programs other than the business meeting agenda for Association meetings;

b. a Nominating Committee, chaired by the Vice-President, with responsibilities as prescribed in the election and appointment processes above;

c. a Graduate Student Awards Committee, charged with working with the CU Foundation to acquire funds for the CURFA endowment and to administer the awards procedures as prescribed in the Endowment Fund Agreement;

d. an Audit Committee, charged with preparing and reporting at least every two years and in cooperation with the Treasurer, an independent audit of the Association’s financial status and bookkeeping procedures .

3. The members of the standing & ad hoc committees (including the chairs) shall be appointed by the President with the concurrence of the Executive Committee and shall serve during the term of office of the President who appointed them and may succeed themselves. Chairs of standing committees must be CURFA members and are automatically members of the Board

ARTICLE V: MEETINGS

Regular general business meetings of the Association membership shall be held in the spring and fall of each year, at a time and place to be arranged by the President with the concurrence of the Executive Committee. A special meeting of the membership shall be called by the President on petition of fifteen (15) per cent of the active members of the Association. Other meetings designed to promote fellowship and social interactions may be organized by the Program Committee, following approval by the Executive Board.

ARITICLE VI: DUES.

The amount of the annual dues shall be proposed by the Treasurer, and, after consideration and approval by the Executive Committee, shall be presented for acceptance by a majority vote of those members attending a business meeting of the membership. Once a dues schedule has been accepted by the membership, it stays in effect until a new proposal is presented and accepted. Payment for the following year is due by the date of the fall general meeting.

ARTICLE VII: AMENDMENTS

These rules governing the organization and management of CURFA may be amended at any regular or special meeting of the membership by a two-thirds vote of the members present and voting, provided that written notice of the proposed amendments shall have been submitted to the membership of the Association at least ten days before the date of the meeting. Notice may be given by e-mail, but shall be given by postal mail to all members who have not submitted an e-mail address. Completely new bylaws require a majority vote of the membership in attendance & voting.

ARTICLE VIII: Removal of Officers.

Any officer may be removed for cause, consisting of serious neglect of duties or personal conduct detrimental to CURFA. The procedure for removal shall be the same as that for amendments of these bylaws.

ARTICLE IX: Dissolution.

CURFA may be dissolved by an amendment to these bylaws. In the event of such dissolution, any remaining financial assets and the archives of the organization shall be transferred to the successor organization. In the absence of a successor organization, the financial assets shall be transferred to the C.U. Retired Faculty Association Graduate Student Award Fund at the University of Colorado Foundation and shall thereafter be administered by the Fund Administrator, i.e. the Vice President for Academic Affairs and Research or his/her designee as specified in the C.U. Foundation Endowment Fund Agreement of 2006. The archives shall be deposited in Norlin Library.