1.1  Networking: To facilitate connections between past, current, and future members of the scientific community by hosting seminars, creation, and maintenance of common resources, and better access to online tools.

1.2  Professional Development: To define practical approaches in order to effectively market and present scientific ideas abroad to the biomedical community, identify the skills needed to achieve a variety of careers.  Host seminars, webinars, and workshops based on the identified wants and needs of the biomedical graduate student population.   

1.3  Social Networking: To facilitate interdisciplinary collaboration and peer networking while unifying the graduate student population through social functions.

1.4  Community Outreach: To give back to the scientific and non-scientific community and increase scientific awareness by interacting with local schools and community organizations.

2.1  The BGSO shall consist of the executive board, the committee chairs, general membership.

2.2  Any member of the graduate student body that has an interest in biomedical science is eligible to become a member of the BGSO

3.1  Executive board will schedule meetings once per academic semester or as needed.

3.2  Meetings will be announced a minimum of one week in advance unless extenuating circumstances arise.

4.1  Membership: The board shall consist of a President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, Information Technology Director, and Director of Committees. Officers are elected for one term lasting from June 1st to May 31st. 

4.2  All members must be in good academic standing to serve on the Executive Board. 

4.3  In the event of vacancies during the standard term, interim appointments will be nominated and approved by the executive board until the next election term.

5.1   President

5.1.1        Plan and conduct all Executive Board and General Membership BGSO meetings.

5.1.2        Liaise with the faculty advisor, the Office of Biomedical Education and other University administrators. 

5.1.3        Prepare or oversee the preparation of reports when needed. 

5.1.4        Submit and give final approval of the annual budget.

5.1.5        Review documents created by all Executive Officers.

5.1.6        Assist all Executive Officers.

5.1.7        Coordinate the transitioning of the Executive Board following elections.

5.1.8        Represent the collective ideas and thoughts of the BGSO members.

5.1.9        Remain fair and unbiased during decisions of the BGSO 

5.1.10    Encourage and empower fellow officers and the BGSO members.  

5.2   Vice-President 

5.2.1        Execute the duties of the BGSO president in their absence or if assigned by the President or Executive Board.

5.2.2        Oversee/Direct Constitutional revisions.

5.2.3        Encourage/recruit members for event and committee participation.

5.2.4        Represent the BGSO at Official functions when needed.

5.2.5        Remain fair and unbiased during decisions of the BGSO.

5.2.6        Perform other duties as directed by the Executive Board.  

5.3   Secretary

5.3.1        Collect and distribute all meeting minutes within a timely manner.

5.3.2        Collect and maintain contact information for the BGSO Officers and Committee Chairs.   

5.3.3        Maintain an organization event calendar. 

5.3.4        Notify all members of upcoming meetings. 

5.3.5        Maintain and organize attendance from events and meetings. 

5.3.6        Facilitate the flow of information from the Executive Board.

5.4   Treasurer

5.4.1        Maintain the BGSO annual budget and provide monthly balance statements to the association.

5.4.2        Write and receive checks as needed. 

5.4.3        Oversee the financial aspects of events.

5.4.4        Maintain a financial history of the organization. 

5.4.5        Advise members on financial matters.

5.5   Information Technology Director

5.5.1        Maintain social media sites and OrgSync.

5.5.2        Help create and maintain the BGSO website.

5.5.3        Help create and maintain the BGSO ListServ.

5.5.4        Oversee systems enhancement and the integration of new systems. 

5.6   Director of Committees

5.6.1        Liaise with committee chairs about activities.

5.6.2        Facilitate inter-committee planning.

5.6.3        Facilitate appointment of committee chairs.

5.6.4        Finalize decisions on all proposed committee activities and communication.

5.6.5        Evaluate the success of committee events.

5.6.6        Participate in planning to project committee budget needs and work to coordinate with the Treasurer. 

5.7   Committee Chairs

5.7.1        Are responsible for planning, organizing and executing primary events put on by their committee.

5.7.2        Facilitate communication with other committee chairs to plan, organize, and execute events sponsored by multiple committees.

5.7.3        Serve as the spokesperson for their committee and work directly with the Director of Committees (DOC) to communicate the ideas of the committee members and planned events.

5.7.4        Communicate planned events to the DOC at least one month in advance so events can be coordinated with other BGSO committees and communicated to all BGSO members.

5.7.5        Send updates for the website/calendar to the Information Technology Director and secretary as needed. 

5.7.6        Work to uphold the goals of the BGSO, specifically focusing on the goal that defines their committee.

5.7.7        Chairs and their committee members are encouraged to attend events hosted by other committees to foster organization-wide support and unity. 

5.8   General

5.8.1        All officers retain the right to shift duties and responsibilities as the need arises with approval from the executive board.

6.1  The standing committees of the BGSO will be:

6.1.1        Networking Committee

6.1.2        Social Committee

6.1.3        Professional Development Committee

6.1.4        Community Outreach Committee

6.2  Executive Board will be in charge of appointing the chairs/ co-chairs of the committees under the guidance of the Director of the Committees. The Executive board also reserves the right to remove and replace committee chairs if a majority vote feels they are not fulfilling their responsibilities. 

6.3  Any member of the BGSO may serve on a committee.

6.4  Any member in good academic standing may serve as committee chair.

6.5  Other committees can be created ad hoc as determined by the Executive Board.

7.1  The election of the officers of the BGSO will be conducted in May and seated in June.

7.2  Any candidate for office must be a graduate student interested in biomedical science and in good academic standing.

7.3  The election process will be conducted via an online poll for a minimum of one week, to be overseen by the faculty advisor with the assistance of the IT Director.

7.4   Nominations

7.4.1        All members have the ability to nominate themselves or another person for a position.

7.4.2        Nominations will be conducted online for a minimum of one week, which requires a brief statement of qualification, with a 150-word limit, from the nominating person.   

7.4.3        Nominees must accept or decline a nomination prior to ballot distribution, and retain the ability to edit their statement of qualification. 

7.5   Vacancies

7.5.1        If a position receives no nominations, the unelected nominees will be pooled and the one with the highest number of votes will have the opportunity to accept the position.  Should they refuse the position, the person with the next highest votes will have the opportunity and so on. 

7.6  Ties will be determined by the flip of a coin for all elected positions. 

8.1  Any committee chair or officer may propose an amendment to this Constitution.

8.2  Any amendment of this Constitution shall require a majority approval at an Executive Board meeting.

8.3  Any amendment which receives the majority approval shall become effective immediately after adjournment of the meeting at which it is adopted unless a specified time is dictated at which the amendment shall take effect. 

8.4  Any amendments to the Constitution will be announced to the general membership.