Michigan State University
Student Chapter

SHPE was founded as a non-profit organization in 1974 by a small group of Hispanic engineers. They saw the need for an organization to assist and encourage Hispanics to pursue careers in science, engineering, and mathematics.

1. Meetings. Meetings are open to anyone interested in engineering, mathematics, or science related fields, regardless of their ethnicity or educational discipline. Meetings are held once or twice a month. Meetings begin by addressing old and new business, typically followed by a technical presentation given by current students, corporate representatives and experienced engineers. Presentations will be immediately followed by a question and answer session and concluded with a networking session.

2. Membership. There will be a two-tiered membership system, with members described as follows:

a. Voting Members. A voting member is any person who is present to at least two meetings per semester. Each voting member shall pay a membership fee of $10 per calendar year.

b. Non-voting Members. A non-voting member is any person who has interest in our goals and issues, but does not wish to pay membership fees.

3. Officers. There will be eight officers, each serving a term of one year. All officers must be voting members. The positions are as described as follows:

a. President. The president shall be responsible for the execution of the MSU/SHPE constitution. The president shall be responsible for all matters pertaining to MSU/SHPE. The president shall preside over general meetings: be responsible for the structure of the organization, have the authority to appoint committees and nominate chairpersons to those committees, and shall be a liaison to the MSU/SHPE National Chapter.

b. First Vice-President. The first vice-president shall assist the president in his/her duties; shall assume the duties of the president in his/her absence; shall be responsible for overseeing all special committees, report the progress of the aforementioned to the president; shall ensure election guidelines are met.

c. Second Vice-President. The second vice-president shall assist the president and the first vice-president with their duties; shall be responsible for the administration of public-relations issues including but not limited to: activity announcements, advertising, general publicity directed toward the enhancement of club recognition.

d. Corresponding secretary. The corresponding secretary shall take accurate minutes at all meetings and shall maintain a file of all correspondence sent to the organization.

e. Recording Secretary. The recording secretary shall take accurate minutes at all meetings and shall read the minutes of the previous meeting at all general meetings.

f. Treasurer. The treasurer shall report the financial status of MSU/SHPE at all general meetings; shall record all financial transactions and be responsible for maintaining financial records; shall be a member of the fund-raising committee.

g. SEC Representative. The SEC Representative shall represent MSU/SHPE in the Student Engineering Council and report upcoming events at all general meetings.

h. CRU Representative. The CRU Representative shall represent MSU/SHPE in the Cultura de las Razas Unidas council and report upcoming events at all general meetings.

i. Communications. The communications officer shall maintain all MSU/SHPE members informed on upcoming events through means other than general meetings

4. Elections. Elections are held once every calendar year. Candidates receiving a simple majority shall be deemed to have won the election.

5. Quorum. A quorum shall consist of 1/3 of the total voting members. A simple majority is defined as one more than a half of the voting members present or one more than half of the votes cast.

6. Amending the Bylaws. These Bylaws may be amended by a simple majority vote of voting members present at a meeting provided a quorum is present. Amendments cannot be proposed and passed at the same meeting; two separate meetings are required so that voting members have ample opportunity to learn of the proposed amendment.

7. Interpreting the Bylaws. In the case of any latent ambiguities that may appear in these Bylaws, the officers are responsible for interpreting these Bylaws. In the event the officers cannot agree as to a particular interpretation, the Secretary shall decide upon an interpretation.

Revised on 29OCT97