The Biomedical Graduate Student Association (BGSA) is an organization which represents the graduate students of the School of Medicine, and includes the Training Programs in Cell Biology and Physiology, Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, Neurobiology, Cellular and Molecular Pathology, Pharmacology, Molecular Virology and Microbiology, Immunology, Molecular Toxicology and Human Genetics. Its purpose is to foster academic and social interactions among graduate students within these training programs and with other members of the University community. We shall function as a support network for all biomedical graduate students, and facilitate communication between students, faculty, and administration.

A portion of the activity fee charged of all biomedical graduate students is placed into a University account managed by the BGSA. Any student whose activities fee contributes to this account is automatically considered a member of the BGSA.

The BGSA is a recognized Graduate Student Organization (GSO) and Assembly member¹ of the Graduate and Professional Students’ Association (GPSA). The GPSA is the governing body for all graduate students at the University of Pittsburgh.

The BGSA is governed by a Board of Representatives composed of one representative for every 20 graduate students in each training program and the first year class of that year. Any eligible BGSA member may nominate themself or any other eligible BGSA member. The representative shall then be elected from the nominees in their training program by BGSA members from their own training program by a simple majority vote, or by mutual agreement in the event that a training program has two or less BGSA members.

The election of all but the first-year representatives shall be held by the last week in September of each year. A representative’s term of office shall be one year officially beginning in October of that year. Two first-year representatives shall be elected by the last week of October. The first-year representatives will being their term at the November meeting of that year. Officers shall be elected at the October meeting, the attendance of which is mandatory for both the incoming and outgoing representatives. It is the responsibility of every representative to attend all BGSA meetings. Should a representative fail to attend 3 consecutive meetings, the President of the BGSA will notify that representative’s program in order that they may select a new representative. In addition, representatives should convey pertinent information from all meetings to their constituents.

The Board of Representatives shall be governed by a panel of officers consisting of a President, Vice-President, Secretary, and Treasurer. The officers will be elected from the group of incoming representatives by the incoming and outgoing representatives by a majority vote (provided that a quorum² is present) at the September meeting of the Board. All officer’s terms will also begin in September of that year, with a term of one year.

President: The President is responsible for the administrative duties of the organization, including chairing of the Board and its meetings, and preparation of the Board’s meeting agenda. The President shall also be delegated to serve as the representative to the Graduate Studies Council of the School of Medicine.

Vice President: The duties of the Vice-President include support to the President and assuming all responsibilities in the absence of the President. In addition, the Vice-President shall be delegated to serve as the webmaster for the BGSA website.

Secretary: The Secretary’s duties include recording the minutes of each meeting. In addition, the Secretary shall be delegated to serve as the representative to the Graduate and Professional Student Association (GPSA).

Treasurer: The Treasurer will handle all financial transactions and record keeping of funds. It is mandatory that the treasurer present a detailed Event/Expense Report at the first meeting following any event at which the BGSA incurs any expense. In addition, the Treasurer will provide the Board with an update of the balance in all BGSA accounts at each meeting, and a detailed budget at the end of each year (to be presented to the incoming and outgoing Board in September). The Treasurer shall be delegated to head the BGSA’s efforts in fund-raising.

GPSA Representative: The duties of the GPSA Representative include attending all GPSA meetings and reporting back to the BGSA the important highlights of the meeting, as well as notifying the graduate students of up-coming GPSA-sponored events.

Publicity Officer: The duties of the Publicity Officer include the creation and distribution of posters/flyers/etc for up-coming BGSA-sponsored events.

The Board shall meet at least once per month. All Board meetings are open to any BGSA member, which occur on the first monday of every month at 12:00 pm in 1295. Any BGSA member may submit a concern for meeting discussion at a Board meeting provided it is submitted to any representative at least two days prior to the scheduled meeting. All Board members have one vote. Any BGSA member attending a minimum of three consecutive Board meetings shall also have one vote. The Board may call a meeting of the membership as it deems necessary.

When necessary, committees may be formed by the Board. Any member of the BGSA may volunteer to chair or serve on a committee. All committees must function on behalf of all the members. All members must have the opportunity to participate in any committee’s activities. Any BGSA member may serve as the BGSA’s representative to University Organizations or Committees provided the Board approves the appointment.

The BGSA faculty advisor will serve to guide the Board of Representatives when necessary, to conduct hearings for removal of officers, to hold records of the organization, and to assist in dealing with the University administration.

1. Any BGSA member may request a hearing to remove a Board member by notifying at least one other Board member, in writing. The name of the representative, the name of the complaint, and the reasons for removal should be stated in the document.
2. The President shall convene a hearing with the following in attendance: the Board, the complainant, the training program BGSA members of the accused representative, and the BGSA faculty advisor. Copies of pertinent documents will be distributed to those involved at least one week prior to the hearing date.
3. The BGSA faculty advisor shall conduct the hearing. The complainant shall state his/her reasons for desiring the removal of the representative and present any evidence he/she feels necessary. Likewise, the accused representative will have the opportunity to respond to the charges. The Board shall insure that the organization’s rules are adhered to.
4. Questions may be asked by any member present at the hearing with the understanding that both parties may have the opportunity to respond.
5. The BGSA faculty advisor may call an end to the questioning when he/she feels enough evidence has been presented to reach a decision.
6. The members of the accused representative’s training program shall decide by a majority vote whether to retain or remove the representative.
7. The hearing request and a written summary of the hearing will be kept of file by the BGSA faculty advisor.
8. An officer of the Board may be removed from office by a majority vote of the Board. The officer cannot vote in this situation. Removal of the officer from the Board will proceed according to the process stated above. The officer’s position will then be filled by a subsequent election by the Board.

In the event a representative is removed from the Board, a special election will be held by the members of that training program to fill the vacancy.

In the event a representative graduates or leaves school before the end of his/her term, it is the responsibility of that representative to call a meeting of his/her training program to elect a new representative to complete his/her term. This should be done at least 1 month prior to their departure. If the departing representative is an officer of the Board, a new officer shall be elected by the original members of the Board to fill the vacancy.

Each graduate and professional student pays a student activities fee with his/her registration at the beginning of each term. A fraction of this fee is allocated to GPSA. The GPSA then allocates funds to the BGSA based upon the biomedical graduate student population. Since we are funded by biomedical graduate students’ activities fees, individual training programs are not eligible for BGSA funds unless all BGSA members may participate in the sponsored event. In addition, adequate notice must be made to all BGSA members of BGSA sponsored events.

No more than 10% of the University allocation may be directed toward operational expenses of the Board.

The Budget and Financial Record are open for inspection by any BGSA member. These documents are kept in the possession of the Treasurer.

1. Any member may communicate a written amendment proposal to the Board through his/her training program representative.
2. The Board will distribute copies of the proposed amendment to the entire membership and call a meeting of the membership for discussion and voting.
3. A two-thirds (2/3) majority vote of the membership present at that meeting will be necessary to pass an amendment.
4. The approved amendment will then be kept of file with this constitution.