Executive Board Position Descriptions:

NASSP President

• Oversee all workings of the organization for a 4 year term
• Appoint members of the standing and ad hoc committees as needed
• Secure sites for conferences (3-4 years in advance)
• Initiate projects that secure the history and long-term existence of the society
• Communicate with all officers and committees throughout the year
• Participate in conference organization
  • Invite Keynote speakers
  • Invite Book Award winner
  • Secure plaque and related materials for meeting
• Run Executive Business meeting
  • Obtain committee reports prior to meeting
  • Determine agenda
• Run Society Business meeting
  • Determine agenda
  • Obtain volunteers for yearly committees

NASSP Vice President

• Consults on the Executive Committee (in email and in person)
• Serves on ad hoc subcommittees as appointed
• Attends Executive Committee Business Meeting
• Attends General Business meeting
• Often asked to introduce keynote speakers or award winners at conference (at the discretion of the program committee)

It is expected that the Vice President succeeds the President at the conclusion of the latter’s term.

NASSP Archivist

• Send out fall and spring newsletters to members via e-mail;
• Contact members for information to be included in newsletters;
• Forward information about professional opportunities (e.g., conferences, publications opportunities) from individual members to NASSP members;
• Take minutes at each AGM;
• Submit minutes from prior year’s AGM for approval at next year’s AGM
• Keep records of NASSP documents, e.g., yearly reports of officers; yearly reports of editors of Social Philosophy Today and The Journal of Social Philosophy; constitution; newsletters; grant applications; AGM minutes.  (This is now done electronically.)
• House archived materials (in hard copy).
• Keep records of NASSP members and their e-mail addresses (also kept by the Philosophy Documentation Center);
• Report on membership at Board and AGM meetings at annual conferences;
• Keep records of names and institutions of NASSP officers.

NASSP Treasurer

• Responsible for filing the 990N with the IRS Annually
• Philosophy Documentation Center. The North American Society for Social Philosophy (NASSP) has for some years contracted with the Philosophy Documentation Center (PDC) to handle its membership services and the publication of its annual peer-reviewed conference proceedings, Social Philosophy Today. The NASSP Treasurer is responsible for managing the financial relationship between NASSP and PDC. Pam Swope (pkswope@pdcnet.org) of Accounts Payable is the treasurer’s contact at PDC. The newly elected NASSP Treasurer should contact Ms. Swope as soon as possible to provide her or his contact information.
  1. Expenses. PDC bills NASSP a few times per year for typesetting Social Philosophy Today, printing Social Philosophy Today, and handling NASSP membership services. The treasurer is responsible for paying these annual bills as they arrive.
  2. Revenue. PDC disburses membership revenue to NASSP quarterly. The NASSP Treasurer is responsible for depositing these checks into the NASSP account.
• International Social Philosophy Conference. NASSP incurs expenses and takes in revenue as a result of the annual International Social Philosophy Conference. The NASSP Treasurer and the NASSP President are responsible to work with the local organizer to ensure that conference revenue at least covers, if not exceeds, conference expenses. Success in accomplishing this goal usually depends on the local organizer’s ability to avoid high room reservation fees and to secure funding from the host institution.  The PDC may be used as in order to process conference registration and banquet fees.
  1. Expenses. NASSP takes direct responsibility for several forms of conference-related expenses. Items not mentioned in the following list are the responsibility of the local organizer to cover with conference registration fees.
     1. Travel expenses for each of three plenary speakers, namely, two keynote speakers and one book award recipient. NASSP normally budgets a maximum of $1000 in travel expenses for each speaker. The NASSP President is responsible to let each plenary speaker know the maximum total travel expense that NASSP will cover. The NASSP Treasurer is responsible to request receipts for travel expenses from each plenary speaker and to reimburse for her or his expenses up to the maximum budgeted by NASSP once receipts have been obtained for the expenses.
     2. Honoraria for each keynote speaker, normally $700 (US) per keynote speaker. The book award recipient is not paid an honorarium.
     3. Graduate student essay prizes. The total amount available for graduate student essay prizes each year, normally around $600, is fixed by the preceding year’s budget. The graduate student essay prize committee normally decides how many students should receive awards and how to divide the budgeted money between the award recipients. The committee is responsible for requesting the necessary award checks from the treasurer in time to award the checks at the reception on the first night of the annual conference.
     4. International travel subsidies. The total amount available for international travel subsidies each year is fixed by the preceding year’s budget. The conference program committee is responsible for determining whether any subsidies will be given and, if so, who should receive subsidies and how much each recipient should receive. The treasurer is responsible to bring the subsidies to the conference in cash and to present the subsidies to the intended recipients.
     5. Book award plaque. The NASSP President is responsible to arrange for an engraved plaque to be prepared for presentation to the book award recipient at the book award session at the conference. The NASSP Treasurer is responsible to reimburse whoever arranges for the plaque to be engraved for the cost of the plaque.
     6. International memberships.  The NASSP Treasurer is responsible for maintaining any and all NASSP memberships in other organizations (e.g., FISP).
  2. Revenue. In the event that the conference revenue exceed conference expenses, the local organizer of the annual International Social Philosophy Conference is responsible to remit the surplus revenue to the NASSP Treasurer. The NASSP Treasurer is responsible to deposit the surplus revenue in the NASSP current account.  The NASSP Treasurer should also consult with the local conference host before the conference in order to determine whether conference fees should be adjusted from the previous year.
• Reporting and Planning. The NASSP Treasurer is responsible to report on the state of the NASSP treasury to the annual meeting of the NASSP Executive Committee and the annual NASSP Business Meeting, which take place at the annual International Social Philosophy Conference. The NASSP President and the NASSP Treasurer should work out what sort of report would most benefit the NASSP under its current circumstances. The Annual Report of the NASSP Treasurer should normally contain at least the following information.
  1. A summary of the status of the NASSP current account.
  2. A comparison of NASSP actual expenses and revenue for the past year to the expenses and revenue that were budgeted at the preceding year’s Business Meeting.
  3. A proposed budget for the expenses and revenue for the coming year.

Other Positions with NASSP

Eastern Division:  Arrange one or two NASSP sponsored sessions for the Eastern Division APA.  Deadline for submission of NASSP panel to the Eastern Division Secretary-Treasurer is May 31 each year.

Central Division:  Arrange one or two NASSP sponsored sessions for the Central Division APA.  Deadline for submission of NASSP panel to the Central Division Secretary-Treasurer is August 1 (with final details due October 1) each year.

Pacific Division: Arrange one or two NASSP sponsored sessions for the Pacific Division APA.  Deadline for submission of NASSP panel to the Pacific Division Secretary-Treasurer is early October of each year.

Canadian Philosophical Association: Arrange one or two NASSP sponsored sessions for the Canadian Philosophical Association each year.

Local Host: Arranges meeting space, possible campus housing, break refreshments, and other elements of hosting the annual conference. local-host-guide

Editors of Social Philosophy Today: Details regarding publication timeline can be found here: SPT Timeline (2022)

Committees

Committee on Accessibility and Inclusivity: The Committee on Accessibility and Inclusion develops and recommends NASSP policies and practices to enhance accessibility and inclusivity. It also works with Program Committees to foster accessibility and inclusivity at NASSP conferences, panels, and other events by providing a committee member to serve in an ex-officio non-voting capacity on the Program Committee. The chair of the Committee on Accessibility and Inclusion serves on and reports to the Executive Committee. 

Program Committee: Prepare program for annual conference. Notes for Program Committee UPDATE 2018

Book Award Committee: Solicits nominations and selects the award winning book.NASSP Book Award procedures 2019

Graduate Award Committee: Reviews and selects the winning paper submitted by a graduate student.Grad Award Procedure