Committee Guidelines

The AASV Board of Directors adopted the following guidelines (1999; revised fall 2019).

AASV committee structure

New committees are established by the Board of Directors
Initial committee appointments are made by or at the direction of the Board of Directors
All appointments are for a 3-year period.
Members may be nominated or volunteer for a subsequent 3-year term.
Each committee will have a multiple of 3 appointed members (3, 6, 9, 12, 15 etc.); the total will be determined by committee needs.
Each year 1/3 of the committee members’ terms will expire.

Established committees will determine recommended committee size.
Committees will decide if term limits are applicable to committee members.
o Committees should attempt to ladder terms according to the structure outlined above.
If a member misses two consecutive meetings he/she may be asked to resign at the discretion of the Chair and will be replaced by an AASV member who will fulfill that person’s term, as necessary.

The Board of Directors and Executive Committee have oversight over all committee membership.

Committee members must serve at least one year on the committee before becoming eligible to serve as the Chair of the committee.
Committees will elect a Chairperson annually through an internal process of accepting nominations and voting by secret ballot.
Chairpersons may serve up to two sequential 1-year terms.
Chairpersons are eligible to serve as regular members of other committees but may chair only one committee at a time

Regular membership is available to any active AASV member.
Nominations and volunteers for AASV committees will be received by the Director of Communications or the Committee Chair.

Ex officio membership is available to those AASV members with expertise in the subject matter of the committee.
Any AASV member may request to be appointed by the Committee Chair or Director of Communications as an ex officio member on any committee.
Ex officio members will have 1-year appointments but may request to be re-appointed.
Ex officio members do not have term-limits.
There is no limit to the number of ex officio members for any committee.
An ex officio member is not eligible to serve as Committee Chair.
Ex officio members shall not vote on committee matters.
Ex officio members are not eligible to receive reimbursement for committee-related expenses except by express direction of the Committee Chair.

Affiliate membership is available to non-veterinarian members of AASV. Associate membership is available to veterinarians from outside the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
Affiliate and Associate members are not eligible to serve as Committee Chair.
Affiliate and Associate members shall not vote on committee matters.
Affiliate and Associate members are not eligible to receive reimbursement for committee-related expenses except by express direction of the Committee Chair

Student membership is available to student members of AASV.
A student member is not eligible to serve as Committee Chair.
Student members shall not vote on committee matters.
Student members are not eligible to receive reimbursement for committee-related expenses except by express direction of the Committee Chair.

Committee members should declare any potential conflicts of interest at the beginning of each committee meeting or at any point in which a conflict of interest might arise.
Members should recuse themselves from voting on or deciding any matter where a personal or professional conflict of interests or the appearance of one exists.
o The Committee Chair will have discretion to allow the conflicted member to participate in the discussion to ensure that all pertinent information is gathered but will make every effort to limit undue influence.
At the beginning of each meeting, the Committee Chair should announce these conflict of interest guidelines.