Dear members of the EMA,
First of all, I would like to thank all of you who respond to our messages and voted for the Constitution of the European Mycological Association. Sorry, sometimes it is not possible to reply on all messages and to acknowledge the receipt. All received propositions have been passed to the President and will be considered in the activity of the EMA. As you know, the results of the voting will be presented in June 2004.
It is possible to announce now that the first Association's web-site started to function. It will assist in the EMA news and promotion, it might be helpful in a search for various mycological information. You may find it by the address: http://www.euromould.org/index.htm. Please, send propositions and views to the President (Dr David Minter).
The European Mycological Association will start next stage of its activity from June 2004. Successful functioning of the Association requires the full set of its Officers according to the EMA Constitution. Dr Minter, The President of the EMA, asked me to address you inviting to fill the posts of the vacant positions of the Association's Officers.
All of you have received the text of the EMA Constitution in April 2004. The EMA Constitution names the Officers: the President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, Membership Secretary, Meetings Secretary, Executive Editor and Conservation Officer [Article 5.1]. The President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer were already elected at the XIV CEM. There are still vacant positions of the Membership Secretary, Meetings Secretary, and Executive Editor. We ask you to study the possibilities and to send your proposals via e-mail. It is necessary to remember that only Members of the EMA are eligible to serve as Officers [Article 8.1]. Below you will find the anticipated tasks for each vacant position.
The Membership Secretary. The responsibility of the Membership Secretary is to maintain lists of Members and Associates of the EMA [Article 4.5]. Maintenance of the EMA Membership Electronic Database and renovation of its data are under the auspices of this Officer. The Membership Secretary have to keep an eye on the current names, electronic and mail addresses, titles, names of institutions, etc. of the Members and Associates, stay in contact with them, supply with current database information the President and all other Officers on their request. Other Officers hand over to the Membership Secretary new and current information for the EMA Membership Electronic Database. This post needs a communicative person.
The Meetings Secretary. The EMA Constitution states that apart from Congresses, other EMA events may be organized at any time through the Meetings Secretary with the agreement of the Officers [Article 11.4]. This Officer is responsible for an event preparation by arranging an appropriate venue, promotion of attributes of the EMA, contacting local organizers. The Meetings Secretary works in contact with other Officers and is the member of the EMA event organizing committee. Most appropriate is an initiative person.
The Executive Editor. Article 9 of the EMA Constitution gives brief definition of this Officer's job. The Executive Editor is responsible for production of printed and electronic publications of the EMA. This Officer is the member of the Editorial Board that deals with publication of mycological information and representation (reflection) of the EMA activity in printed (i.e. paper) and electronic formats. Working load of the Officer is in accordance with the basic distribution of the Association's printed publication at least once a year and up-to-date functioning of the web-site.
These three Association's remaining Officers need to be appointed. We are inviting volunteers and proposals from the Founder Members to fill these posts for the first period.
With kind regards,
Tetiana Andrianova, EMA Secretary