Minutes of the March 9, 2016 meeting

The meeting opened with a letter from Wal Wallis, current President of the ICA, read by Spyros Magliveras, in which Dr. Wallis resigned his position and proposed Douglas Stinson as new President.

A report from the Registrar, Ernest Ruet D'Auteuil.  

He reminded the assemblage that there were two bodies, a Learned Society of the The ICA and the corporate body ICA, incorporated.

As in past years, the ICA published three issues of The Bulletin and supported several international conferences, as given by the mandate from the membership.

Motion was made and seconded to intentionally thank Dr. Wallis for his time as President.

Conference Support and Advertising:
The ICA maintains a web presence through FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/The-Institute-of-Combinatorics-and-Its-Applications-152566884784106/?fref=nf

Work is underway to create user forms.

News of members:
Professor Mirka Miller has passed away.
Professor Henda Swart has passed away.

A moment of silence was observed in their memory.

Professor Cheryl Praeger was honored with an honorary doctorate.

With regards to BICA:
A major source of news, with reports of past conference and announcements of upcoming conferences.
Specifically: three conferences are announced here Bali    Istanbul   Italy

Motion to accept and second - this, the addition to the report of the President.

The report of the Registrar.
What is the ICA? It seems to me that we should put our activities in perspective as we begin a new year, in short the learned society known as the ICA is a non profit voluntary association of professionals engaged in academic research in combinatorial mathematics and related areas.  Historically, the ICA was the brainchild of Professor Ralph Stanton, he talked about the need to help promote combinatorics.  The incorporated body may not be registered any more.  Membership had reached over 800 members.  The medals were offered as rewards to meritorious members.  The medals have not been awarded for several years.  Certificates of membership are available, and additional can be printed for around $35 each.   Last year, someone suggested that the ICA could have swag items, although that is not a high priority.  Perhaps once the organization is in better shape, we could add this to the website, along with Bulletin article guidelines and specifications.

At this point the report ends, and new business is brought by Drs. Froncek and Magliveras.

The motion was made and seconded to accept the following slate of council members for three and two-year terms, as indicated below:

Three-year term:

D. Stinson (President)
M. Buratti
D. Bryant
G. Chartrand
D. Froncek
S. Holliday
F. Hoffman
W.L. Kocay
D. Pike
K.B. Reid

Two-year term:

D. Jungnickel
D.L. Kreher
G. MacGillivray
S. Magliveras
O.R. Oellermann
D.G. Sarvate
I. Schiermeyer
J.R. Seberry
P. Zhang
E.A. Ruet d'Auteuil (Registrar)

The membership present took a voice vote and the slate was accepted.

Learned society had no constitution, however the ICA incorporated did, and Dr Froncek proposed a new constitution.  This document is available here: Constitution 3-9-16

Questions on the constitution: is absentee the same as online voting?

Action item to Council: This should be specified in the bylaws. 

Voice vote taken, there will be an ad-hoc committee to create voting schema.  Membership of this committee should talk to Professor Hogben.

Question: can anyone serve as an officer, or must they be on Council?  Well, should be anyone.  We’ll update the constitution.

Action item to Council: Define Quorum in the constitution or bylaws.

Reminder: this is only a first draft.

Motion: accept this constitution for the period of one year (until March of 2017), and the council is charged to update and edit the constitution and bylaws and prepare a report in one year time.  Approved by voice vote of present membership.

Idea: add a fourth medal in the memory of Ralph Stanton that will be for lifetime service to Combinatorics.  
Approved by acclamation.

Multiple medals per year is acceptable according to the old constitution.

Old nominations should be reactivated and awarded in the current year.

Question: should the medal conditions be revisited?  Possibly in the future…

Doug Stinson's term as President?  3-year term.

Action item to Council:  Add term limits to the constitution, specifically for the President and the Registrar positions.  And indicate that the President is on the Council.

The Registrar has prepared a financial statement for the last year, and it will be posted in the Bulletin.

Action item to Council: start medal nomination receipt ad-hoc committee.

Action item to Council: start website ad-hoc committee.