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Constitution and By-Laws

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CONSTITUTION & BY-LAWS
Healthcare Leadership Coalition at
Texas State University
Updated: 9 September 2013

ARTICLE I

Name:

The name of this organization shall be Healthcare Leadership Coalition at Texas State University.

ARTICLE II

Objectives:

HLC shall serve as an official organization of the School of Health Administration (School) in appropriate matters as prescribed by the School and shall be subject to the guidelines of the School. HLC is the professional student organization of the BHA, MHA and MS-HR degrees of Texas State University-San Marcos.

Section 1: Objectives

The objectives upon which HLC is organized are as follows:

A. To promote an environment conducive to the educational and ethical development of personal and social skills in a manner that will enhance the attainment of effective leadership in healthcare organizations.

B. To provide a vehicle for constructive student involvement, recognition, and representation in the profession of healthcare administration.

C. To develop an association with local and regional healthcare executive groups to enhance academic and career opportunities.

D. To establish congruence between student and professional continuing educational activities to foster a skillful and sensitive approach to healthcare administration.

E. To inform members, potential members, and others in the community of the purposes of the HLC, its goals, programs, benefits, and reasons for advancing in status within the School-HLC thereby will be a mechanism to exemplify and encourage pride in the profession of healthcare administration.

F. To provide faculty and students in healthcare administration with a forum for professional and educational dialogue.

Section 2: Program

The objective of this organization shall be furthered through seminars, projects, community service, and other healthcare related activities. HLC shall have a minimum of six meetings during the academic year. The President may schedule officer and/or regular meetings as he/she deems necessary.

ARTICLE III

Membership/Dues:

Section 1: Eligibility

Any Texas State University student with an interest in healthcare administration shall be eligible for full membership in HLC, which is to include the following:

  • School of Health Administration full and part-time graduate/undergraduate students
  • Any other Texas State University student with an interest in healthcare administration

In addition, all HLC members are strongly encouraged to join, participate and assume student membership leadership positions in local, state and/or national healthcare leadership organizations.  Examples of such organizations are:

  • American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE national, state and local chapters)
  • Medical Group Management Association ( MGMA national, state and local chapters)
  • Healthcare Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS national, state and local chapters)
  • American Public Health Association (APHA)

There are no dues charged to students meeting the membership criteria above.

Section 2: Termination of Membership

Membership in the Chapter shall be terminated automatically if:

A. The member does not meet criteria established in Article III, Section 1.

B. The member's actions or behavior is that which does not support the HLC mission, vision, values and goals as outlined in the document.  Termination of membership will be determined by a blind majority vote conducted by the HLC officers.

ARTICLE IV

Meetings:

The Chapter shall have a minimum of six meetings during the academic year. Other meetings shall be called as required by the President.

ARTICLE V

Service:

The Chapter shall be involved in a minimum of one community service opportunity during the academic year. Additional service opportunities may be introduced by the President.

ARTICLE VI

Officers:

Section 1: Composition, Qualifications, Election, and Removal from Office

HLC officers shall be a President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, Volunteer Coordinator and a Professional Events Coordinator. The President position should be filled by a graduate student unless no graduate student is interested in holding the position. Furthermore, if no graduate student is elected as an officer, a HLC Graduate Student Liaison shall be identified as a non-officer position and attend HLC officer meetings. Regardless of classification, candidates must have served at least one semester as a member in an approved healthcare organization, and be approved by the faculty advisor and Past President prior to running for office. The Vice-President position should be filled by an undergraduate student, unless no undergraduate student is interested in holding the position. All other officer positions may be filled by either graduate or undergraduate students, except for the position of Volunteer Coordinator, which must be filled by an undergraduate student.

Officers must be current students who are enrolled and attending classes on the Texas State campus and must serve a term of two consecutive long semesters.

All undergraduate officers must have and maintain an undergraduate GPA of at least 2.75 and all Graduate officers must have and maintain a GPA of at least 3.0. All potential HLC officer candidates must be approved prior to running for an officer position by the faculty advisor.

Officers shall be elected by a majority of the membership during the last regularly scheduled meeting in the Spring Semester or as officer vacancies occur.

Officers who disrupt the cohesiveness of the team of officers or who have a negative impact on HLC or its membership will be given a written warning by the President or Vice-President. If the negative behavior continues, the remaining officers will vote to remove the offending officer from their position, under the advisement of the faculty advisor.

Section 2: Officer Duties

In addition to the duties described below, all officers are responsible for promotion and recruitment of new members to HLC. All officers are required to attend HLC Officer meetings, HLC regularly scheduled meetings, service opportunities, and events unless excused by the President.

A. President: The President shall call and preside over all meetings, appoint all committees, serve as ex-officio members of all committees, ensure accurate historical information for HLC is being kept, and designate duties not provided for in the By-laws.

Furthermore, the President is the primary student contact for the student organization and the “external spokesperson” of the group who regularly interacts with other student organizations and University officials. He or she is the liaison between the student organization and the advisor and other University or community contacts. The duties for this position should be tailored as the student organization deems necessary. The responsibilities of this position tend to include but are not limited to:

  • supervising all student organization meetings;
  • overseeing the process of student organization event planning;
  • completing all student organization purchase requests;
  • maintaining a current list of residences, email addresses, student ID numbers and phone numbers of the student organization officers, advisor and members;
  • submitting all required paperwork for student organization renewal;
  • submitting a semester and annual report of student organization activities.

The HLC President is also charged with ensuring an accurate, tasteful, and informative HLC website.

B. Vice-President: The Vice-President shall assume all duties of the President in the event of absence and carry out other duties as assigned by the President. The Vice-President shall coordinate and recruit guest speakers for HLC meetings and will be responsible for the preparation of the HLC Newsletter.

The Vice President should be the President’s “right hand person” and should maintain continuous contact with the President. The Vice President must be up-to-date on all student organization communication and events. The responsibilities of the Vice President include but are not limited to:

  • supervising student organization meetings in the absence of the President;
  • assisting the President with the oversight of the student organization including fundraising, event planning, etc.;
  • working with the student organization’s Treasurer to prepare an annual budget;
  • maintaining a current accounting of the student organization’s financial status including income and expenses;
  • scheduling locations for meetings and events; and
  • coordinating student organization fundraising efforts with the Treasurer.

C. Secretary: The Secretary shall handle all correspondence between the members, newsletter preparation, and prepare reports as designated by the President.

Furthermore, the responsibilities of the student organization secretary include but are not limited to:

  • taking minutes at every student organization meeting;
  • maintaining the student organization history for that academic year;
  • verifying all student organization purchase requests;
  • assisting with student organization projects where needed; and
  • maintaining communication between the student organization president and individual participants (this may include emails, letters, and phone calls).

D. Treasurer: The Treasurer shall be responsible for all monies received and spent by HLC, which includes dues and HLC expenditures. Expenditures shall require the authorization of the Treasurer and the President, which shall be maintained in a ledger.

  • preparing the annual student organization budget;
  • monitoring the student organization’s budget;
  • completing an annual financial report for the student organization;
  • tending to the status of all purchase requests;
  • collecting funds and depositing to the student organization’s account;
  • paying bills;
  • and keeping a record of all transactions, i.e. deposits, checks and adjusting entries

F. Volunteer Coordinator: The volunteer coordinator primarily acts as the liaison between the organization members and the community on volunteer opportunities. The volunteer coordinator will, with the support of other HLC officers, make arrangements for HLC members to participate in community events that will support other organizations in the healthcare arena. The primary fundraising responsibility of the HLC is to raise money to assist members in attending a national conference on healthcare. The volunteer coordinator is expected to attend all meetings and events as a representative of the HLC and will conduct herself/himself in a professional manner.

G. Professional Events Coordinator: The Professional Events Coordinator is solely responsible for ensuring all known professional activities (continuing education, meetings, conferences, guest speakers, etc) are all accurately posted on the SOHA Student TRACS site calendar and all SOHA students are properly notified of the event by an email from Julie Carroll using the SOHA Student TRACS site. Additionally, the Professional Event Coordinator is responsible for assisting with the HLC website.

Section 3: Terms of Office

HLC officers shall be elected for a period of one year. Vacancies shall be filled at the next regularly scheduled meeting. For those officers who are elected in the course of an academic year (resulting in a mid-year end of term), they may choose to remain in their position until the end of the academic year, resulting in a term of one and one-half years.

ARTICLE VII

Advisor Selection and Replacement Procedure:

Section 1: Advisor

The advisor of the organization will be an instructor, as appointed by the SOHA Director.

Section 2: Advisor Replacement

If the above advisor resigns, the recruitment for a new advisor will be conducted by the President and Vice-President and voted on by all current HLC members, while an ultimate decision authority will remain with the SOHA Director who will consider faculty workloads.

ARTICLE VIII

By-Laws:

Section 1: By-Law Adoption Procedure

New by-laws may be proposed to any student officer by any member of HLC. Members will vote on the proposed by-laws at the following meeting.

Section 2: Amendments to the By-Laws

Amendments to the HLC by-laws shall be proposed in writing to the officers. Notice of the proposed amendments shall be available to members and then voted on for approval at the next scheduled meeting.