Dear members and friends of ICSPAH,

ICSPAH welcome you to be part of our organization and participate the General Assembly：March 16（Friday）, 5:30 - 7:00PM, Room - Provincetown in Marriott Copley Place.

To prepare for the meeting, I would like to call your attention to our upcoming election, welcome your comments for potential revisions of the Bylaw, and invite you to comment on the tentative agenda. We also have a dinner gathering scheduled after the meeting, please join us for dinner, see details at the end of this message.

First, according to the Bylaw, we should elect a new president-elect at the meeting. Presidency of ICSPAH is a three year term. First year - president-elect, second year - president and third year - past-president.  Leadership is very important to the health of this organization. Please nominate any member of ICSPAH of your choice, your colleague, or yourself, for a chance to serve our organization. Deadline for nomination：Midnight, March 9, 2012.

I have attached a copy of our current Bylaw with this message. One of the most important functions of the General Assembly is to discuss potential revisions of the Bylaw. Please read the file carefully and send me your comments and suggestions. Do track your changes if you would like to edit the document and send me your suggestions in the edited file. Please send me your comments and suggestions by midnight, March 9, 2012, so we can prepare the file for discussion during the assembly.

Here is the tentative agenda, not necessarily in this order. Send me you comments and suggestions before midnight, March 9, 2012, so we can put them on the agenda.   
• Welcome the CSSS（中国体育科学学会）delegation;
• President's annual report concerning activities of the past year;
• Treasure's annual report concerning our budget;
• Election：president-elect;
• Discussion of potential By-law revision;
• Honoring Executive committee members who are at the end of their term;
• Transition of presidency;
• Speech by the new president;
• Group picture;
• Meeting adjourn;
• Proceed to the dinner gathering;
Our dinner is reserved at the Victoria Seafood Restaurant（click here for more details of the restaurants）. It will be free to our members who has registered with me before midnight, March 9, $15 for none members and member who does not have early registration. The restaurant is about 2.3 miles（3700m）west of the Convention Center, along the Commonwealth Avenue（price of the good restaurant near the convention center are prohibitive）. We will finish our meeting at 7pm, start our dinner at 8pm. You will have plenty of time to get there. You can take a taxi, wouldn't cost you too much, especially shared by a few people. Or, take the subway, "T" as Bostonian calls it, as an even more economical alternative. Or, weather permit, walking is a good option too. Stroll along the Commonwealth Ave in the famous Back Bay area, you will pass the Commonwealth Ave Mall and the campus of Boston University.

Respectfully submitted,

Li Li, president, ICSPAH

On behave of all members of the Executive Committee,

Ping Xiang, past-president,
Yuanlong Liu, President-elect
Tao Zhang, treasure
Wei Bian, secretary
Yang Gao, member-at-large

BYLAWS

OF THE INTERNATIONAL CHINESE SOCIETY

FOR PHYSICAL ACTIVITIES AND HEALTH

ARTICLE I：NAME

 Section 1       This society shall be called the International Chinese Society for Physical Activities and Health（ICSPAH）

 ARTICLE II：A NON-FOR-PROFIT ORGANIZATION

 Section 1       This organization shall not engage in any activity by which profit may or shall accrue to any officer or member thereof, and the best interest of the Society shall only embrace the means necessary to carry out the Society ends.

 Section 2       Tax Exempt Contributions：The nature and purpose of the activities in which the Society will engage in relation to charitable, educational, and scientific work are consistent with the tax exempt provisions of the Internal Revenue Department.

 ARTICLE III：PURPOSE

 Section 1       The mission of this Society is to facilitate professional growth and development among its members to promote healthy and physically active lifestyle through strengthening research and education in Chinese communities throughout the world.

 Section 2       The purposes for which the Society is formed are：                 

A. Research and Dissemination: To employ the necessary means to foster, advance, advocate, and promote the kind of research and studies necessary to advance health, physical activity, and allied areas in educational systems and mainly the Chinese communities throughout the world.                         

B. Education and Training：To hold meetings and disseminate information; to prepare and issue newsletters and other printed literature; to engage speakers well qualified to give addresses before the Society; and to encourage training for the facilitation of members’ professional growth and development in the relevant areas.                          

C. Recognition：                         

1. Grants: To provide grants to professionals to support high quality of scientific research and scholarly activities in the field.       

ARTICLE IV：MEMBERSHIP AND DUES

Section 1       The organizational structure of the Society shall include members, the Executive Committee, and the General Assembly.

Section 2       Anyone committed to promoting the above-stated mission shall be eligible for membership. Individual member shall have all rights in and claim upon the Society and its property. Every member has the right to vote and the right to be voted on.  

Section 3       Types of Members: Members in the Society shall be regular including regular lifetime, student, and honorary members.

Section 4       Regular Members：Regular members shall be those individuals professionally engaged in health, physical activity, and/or allied areas. Regular members who chose to pay for life time membership will be termed as life time member.  

Section 5       Student Members：Student members shall be students attending institutions of higher education preparing for work in the field of health, physical activity, and/or allied areas.

Section 6       Honorary Members：Honorary members shall include those who have provided exceptional service to the Society or have made notable contributions to the field of health, physical activity, and/or allied areas.  

Section 7       Dues: Dues for membership shall be paid to the Treasure of the society. Honorary members are exempted from the dues. Membership shall become effective when the membership due is received by the Treasurer.

Section 8       The amount of membership fee shall be proposed by the Executive Committee and be voted for approval by the General Assembly.  

ARTICLE V：EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Section 1       Executive Committee: As of otherwise provided by these By-laws, the management of the affairs of the Society shall be vested in the Executive Committee.  

Section 2       Each member of the Executive Committee shall be elected at the General Assembly. The term of the committee member is three years from the General Assembly. An Executive Committee member only serves for one term then must wait for at least one year before being re-nominated and re-elected to the committee.

Section 3       Quorum：Three members of the Executive Committee constitute a quorum for the transaction of business at a meeting（maybe online format）of the Executive Committee.  

Section 4       The Executive Committee shall have the authority to appoint any member of the Society, upon his/her acceptance, to fill any vacancy of the Executive Committee occurring between two member elections of the Executive Committee. The term of the appointee（s）will expire at the next Executive Committee election.

Section 5       Every member of the Society may nominate any member of the organization, including themselves, for candidacy of membership for the Executive Committee. The nomination shall be submitted 30 days prior to the scheduled General Assembly's annual meeting.  

Section 6       The Secretary shall circulate the name（s）of the nominee（s）for the Executive Committee to all members no later than 20 days prior to the General Assembly. At the General Assembly, the member（s）of the Executive Committee shall be elected from such nominee（s）for the said respective posts by the majority of the members presenting at the meeting.

ARTICLE VI：OFFICERS

Section 1       The Executive Committee consists of five（5）members. These members are：Past-President, President, President-elect, Secretary, and Member-at-Large. The Executive Committee may appoint the Standing Committee, the Special Committee, and other needed officers.  

Section 2       The President shall act as chairperson of the Executive Committee and preside at all business meetings. The President is the primary spokesperson and representative for the Society. Questions arising at any Executive Committee meeting shall be decided by the majority of the Committee votes.

Section 3       The President-elect shall be elected yearly, as a new Executive Committee member, by the presented members directly during the General Assembly.  

Section 4       The positions of the Treasurer shall be decided by the Executive Committee after the election of the General Assembly.

Section 5       The Budget Manager, Treasurer, and the Web Master may be appointed on a five-year renewable term by the President. The Budget Manager, Treasurer, and the Web Master serve at the pleasure of the President and may be invited to attend the meetings of the Executive Committee in a none-voting capacity. If being elected to serve on the Executive Committee, the appointed Budget Manager, Treasure, or Web Master shall have the same voting privilege as a member of the Executive Committee.  

Section 6       The Standing Committee：The Standing Committees shall be recommended by the President and approved by the Executive Committee. The standing committee is charged by and reports to the President. The term of standing committee members is two years, and may be re-nominated and re-appointed one more year after their prior term expires. After each term, one third members shall rotate off each standing committee. Types of the standing committee：（1）the General Assembly Committee, which shall be chaired by the President;（2）the Publication Committee;（3）the Membership Committee;（4）the Summer Lecture Scholarship Committee, and other committees to further the interests of the Society.

Section 7       The Special Committee: The Special Committees may be established by the President with approval of the Executive Committee. Special committees will normally be dissolved when the current Presidency expires.  

ARTICLE VII：GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Section 1       The General Assembly: There shall be one General Assembly of the members in the Society. The location and dates for the meeting shall be decided by the Executive Committee.  

Section 2       The General Assembly is the highest society authority. Its responsibilities include：            

A. Revise the By-laws                

B. Elect a President-elect   

C. Consider and approve the budget of the organization

D. Determine and subsequently approve any change to the membership due                          

E. Approve the annual report by the President                      

Section 3       The President shall send a call-for meeting agenda via e-mail to each member no less than 60 days prior to the scheduled meeting. The President shall then send a notification in a subsequent e-mail to all members 7 days prior to the scheduled meeting. Such notification shall state the time, place, and agenda of the meeting.

Section 4       The President and each standing committee shall present a report at the General Assembly to outline what has been accomplished during the term and what need to be addressed in the future. The report（s）shall be approved by the General Assembly.  

ARTICLE VIII：RULES

Section 1       No member of the Society, except the President, shall be allowed to express opinions or take actions on behalf of the Society without the authorization of the Executive Committee.  

ARTICLE IX：AMENDMENTS

Section 1       Amendments: These Bylaws may be amended by starting a motion to be signed by 30% or more members and approved by a majority vote of more than two-third of the General Assembly.  

Section 2       Proposed amendments to the Bylaws must be submitted in written to the Executive Committee for pre-review at least 30 days prior to the General Assembly for an all-member vote. The Executive Committee shall submit proposals to all members at least 15 days prior to the General Assembly at which they are to be considered.

Section 3       Such a vote may be supervised and counted by a special committee consisting of two members of the Executive Committee and three of those who originally made the motion.  

Section 4       Any action can be approved by a simple majority vote（more than 50%）of those present at the General Assembly, other than the amendment of the Bylaw, which requires a two-third majority.