Institute of Mathematical Statistics Handbook
Current Officials Handbook Past Officials IMS Awards & Honors Minutes (1968 to present)
1

Formal Structure
> Constitution
> By-laws
 
2 Officers
> Executive Committee
> President
> Executive Secretary
> Treasurer
> Program Secretary
> Editors
> Managing Editors
 
3 IMS Committees
> Terms of IMS Committees
> Committee for the Carver Medal
> Committee on Electronic Issues
> Committee on Fellows
   
> Committee on Memorials
> Committee on New Researchers
> Committee on Nominations
> Committee on Publications
>

Committee to Select Administrative Officers
> Committee to Select Editors
> Committee on Special Lectures
   
4 Meetings
> Associate Program Secretary for Probability and Its Applications
> Program Chairs
> Local Chairs
  > Contributed Papers Chair
>

Nonsegregation Policy
> Resolution on Freedom of Access to Participation in Institute of Mathematical Statistics Meetings
>

Numbered Meetings of the IMS
 
5 Activities with Other Societies
> Terms of Committees with Other Societies
> COPSS (Committee of Presidents of Statistical Societies)
   
> Conference Board of the Mathematical Sciences (CBMS)
> National Institute of Statistical Sciences (NISS)
> American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
> American Mathematical Society (AMS)
   
> American Statistical Association (ASA)
   
> Bernoulli Society
   
> The National Research Center for Statistics and the Environment (NCES)
> Electronic Journal of Probability/Electronic Communications in Probability (EJP/ECP)

 

 

 

2

 Officers

>

 Executive Committee
The Executive Committee consists of the President-Elect, President, Past-President, Executive Secretary, Treasurer, and Program Secretary. The Executive Committee, under the Chairship of the President, conducts all the affairs of the Institute between Council Meetings following the general policies established by the Council. The Executive Committee meets at least twice a year, and attends all Council Meetings. The Committee may create temporary committees with assigned tasks coming within the scope and purposes of the Institute.
 

>

 President

The President is the highest officer of IMS and, together with the President-Elect and Past President, sets the directions for IMS during his or her term of office. The formal duties are as follows:

1. Preside at Council and Business Meetings and Chair the Executive and Officers Committees.

2. In consultation with the Past President and President-Elect, make appointments to fill all committee vacancies. In particular, appoint a Nominating Committee before the annual meeting and announce the committee members at the Business Meeting. All appointments should be reported to the Executive Secretary and Executive Director.

3. Represent IMS to other bodies, such as COPSS and CBMS.

4. Submit an annual report to Council, as required by Section 1.8 Article 1 of the By-Laws.

5. Receives the report from the Committee on Fellows, and sends ballot to Council members. Signs the fellow certificates which are prepared by the IMS Business Office for distribution at the Annual Meetings.

6. Receives annual reports from each committee chair, officer and editor before the annual meetings.

7. The IMS President is an ex officio member of the corporation of the National Institute for Statistical Sciences (NISS). The President is also responsible for appointing another member of the corporation and a member of the NISS Board of Trustees.
 
> Executive Secretary

The Executive Secretary is responsible for maintaining the records of the Institute. Under the IMS Constitution, the Executive Secretary is a member of the Council and a member of the Executive and Officers Committees. Responsibilities are as follows.

1. In consultation with the President and the Executive Director, prepares agendas for meetings of the IMS Council, the Executive Committee and the Officers' Committee and for the IMS Business Meeting. Sees that the agendas for the Annual Meetings are sent by the IMS Business Office to all officers and Council members.

2. Asks for and records proxies for the Annual Meetings.

3. Serves as recording secretary at the above meetings and email discussions, and prepares minutes for publication in the IMS Bulletin. Counts the number of people at the Business Meeting.

4. Gives the President the numbers of appointments needed for each standing and ad hoc committee.  Prepares and maintains lists of committee members.

5. In May, ensures that the IMS Business Office requests each committee chair to prepare a report that summarizes the committee's activities. Also ensures that the annual reports from each officer and editor are sent to the President and to the IMS Business Office for distribution to Council members.

6. Receives the report of the Nominating Committee on candidates for President-Elect and for membership on the IMS Council. Proofreads the ballots prepared by the IMS Business Office, and ensures that the candidates are listed in random order. Ensures that the IMS Business Office mails ballots and short biographies of each nominee to the IMS membership for the annual election. Certifies the election, and apprises the President of the outcome. Article III, Section 1.1 of the By-Laws requires that the Executive Secretary receive the report from the Nominating Committee at least four months before the next Business Meeting.

7. Reports on the results of the election at the Annual Business Meeting.

8. When needed, ensures that the IMS Business Office prepares or emails ballots for voting by IMS Council members, certifies elections, and apprises the President of the outcome.

9. Supervises maintenance and updates the Handbook for IMS Officers, Editors, and Elected Council Members.

10. Prepares material for submission to the Iowa State Library for inclusion in the IMS Archives maintained there since 1985. This usually consists of the IMS handbook.

11. With the IMS Business Office, polls Council members as necessary on issues referred to them by officers or committee chairs, and keeps the Council apprised of important events or issues.

12. With the IMS Web Editor, posts handbook on the World Wide Web.

13. Serves as IMS representative on joint committees as appointed.
 
> Treasurer

Article I, Section 1.3 of the IMS By-Laws states that

The Treasurer shall receive and disburse all funds of the IMS, shall keep proper accounts of all financial transactions, shall make investments as authorized by the Council, and shall make an annual financial report to the Council. This financial report shall be audited by a Certified Public Accountant and presented to the Council within three months of the close of the fiscal year being reported upon.

The Treasurer shall be the agent for the Council in fiscal contracts on behalf of the Institute. The Treasurer in collaboration with the Managing Editor(s) shall negotiate the costs of publication of the official journals of the Institute.

Article VI, Section 3 requires that

Each year approximately 90 days before the beginning of the Annual Meeting for the year, but in no case earlier than the first day of March or later than the first day of July, it shall be the duty of the Treasurer to notify by mail anyone whose dues are in arrears.

The Treasurer also supervises the activities and performance of the IMS Executive Director and Business Office Staff which duties include:

1. Maintain membership and subscription records.

2. Invoice membership dues and subscriptions to IMS journals annually; invoice orders for other publications, advertising, page charges, and reprint permissions as necessary.

3. Make collection reports on unpaid membership dues, journal subscriptions, and other unpaid invoices.

4. Receive all payments, prepare cash reports, and make bank deposits.

5. As a service to IMS members, collect and forward subscription payments from IMS members to journals published outside North America as authorized by the Council; e.g., Biometrika and Scandinavian Journal of Statistics.

6. Invest the Institute's surplus funds in interest-earning accounts and certificates of deposit.

7. Pay all bills incurred by the Institute.

8. Prepare quarterly IRS tax returns.

9. Maintain accurate financial records. Prepare financial records for audit. Consult with accountants on all financial matters. Examine office procedures and financial record keeping systems for efficiency and accuracy.

10. Prepare an annual financial report for the Council. Maintain and report timely information on membership and subscription data to the Council.

11. Participate in all negotiations of fiscal contracts to which IMS is a party; e.g., composition and printing contracts, reprint permission agreements, USPS second-class mailing permits, microform contracts.

12. Determine and monitor press runs for all IMS journals.

13. Prepare and send mailing lists for each IMS journal to the press.

14. Mail current-year journals from the IMS Business Office after initial mailing from the press.

15. Investigate and respond to member and subscriber claims for missing journal issues and other publications.

16. Maintain back-issue inventory of all Institute publications.

17. Prepare, publish and distribute an IMS membership directory.

18. Perform additional mailings to members and subscribers. Prepare membership mailing lists on behalf of Program and Executive Secretary for news announcements, regular and special meeting programs, and election ballots.

19. Send appropriate information on members and membership to the Bulletin for publication.

20. Prepare and distribute membership and subscription publicity materials.

21. Represent the Institute in the financial aspects of joint ventures with other organizations, such as the Current Index to Statistics and the Journal of Computational and Graphical Statistics.

22. Manage the production of the Lecture Notes/Monograph Series and the NSF/CBMS Series.

23. Monitor the sale of the Institute's mailing lists to interested parties.

24. Such additional tasks as are required to conduct the operations and financial affairs of the Institute.
 
> Program Secretary
The main function of such a coordinator would be to serve as an information center for the IMS and to prevent conflict of meetings, etc. The Program Secretary arranges for and informs the Council of plans for meetings and coordinates the activities of all officers and committees of the Institute concerned with the meetings. At Council meetings, the Program Secretary proposes places, dates, etc. of future annual, regional and special topics meetings, and nominates program chairs when vacancies occur. The Program Secretary is required to obtain detailed information regarding the costs and arrangements of meetings before asking for Council approval. It is Council policy that the IMS should not accept joint sponsorship of any meeting in which it had not played a principal role in the planning and organization from the outset. Finally, the Program Secretary prepares an annual report for the Council meetings.

See also Meetings
 
> Editors
The Editors of the IMS include the editors of IMS journals  (Annals of Applied Probability, Annals of Probability, Annals of Statistics, Statistical Science), The IMS Bulletin, the IMS Lecture Notes-Monograph Series, the IMS Web Page and both Managing Editors (probability and statistics).

By Article VI Section 4 of the Constitution, the editors of the IMS publications are officers of IMS. Section 1.5 of the By-Laws states that “The Editor of each scientific journal exercises general supervision over all editorial affairs of the journal. The Editor may appoint a sufficient number and variety of Associate Editors, and with their collaboration shall appoint referees. All appointments as Associate Editor terminate with the appointment of a new Editor." The editor of the IMS Bulletin supervises the editorial affairs of that journal.

All editors serve on the Officers' Committee, which meets at least once a year to formulate recommendations for action by the Council. The Officers committee usually meets at the Annual Meeting. Officers are also members of the Council and ex-officio members of the Special Lectures Committee and the Publications Committee. Finally, each editor must prepare an annual report for Council.
 
> Managing Editors
The Managing Editors are responsible for the redaction and printing of the IMS journals. They jointly supervise the work of the Production Editor, who handles production details for all the journals. For each issue of each journal, the Editor of that journal makes up a lineup of the papers to appear in that issue, with each issue comprising about 25% (one-sixth for the Annals of Statistics) of the pages allotted for that year by the IMS Council. The Managing Editor and the Production Editor advise the Editor how many manuscript pages are represented by 25% (one-sixth for the Annals of Statistics) of the total allocation. Manuscripts of these papers are sent to the typographer, who prepares galley proofs. The Managing Editor, working with the Production Editor, examines and corrects page proofs, which are examined and corrected. As part of this process the Managing Editors and the Production Editor often deal directly with authors regarding last-minute changes, references, and other such matters. After final corrections the typographer sends the pages to the printer, who prepares the final copy of the journals, then binds and mails the journals to the subscribers.

The Managing Editors, together with the Treasurer and Executive Director, are responsible for negotiating the agreements entered into between the IMS and the typographers and printers. In consultation with the Executive Director, they also decide on the advertising material to be included in each issue of the journals.
 
   

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