Article I: Class Officers and Elections

University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy

Effective: March 14, 2016

Section A: Officers

Class officers shall be the elected President and two Class Representatives for their respective classes. A President and two Representatives are elected each year.

1. Responsibilities of the President.

The incumbent for each year has the responsibilities that include but are not limited to:

1. Participating in the planning the White Coat Ceremony P1 year and making a short presentation at the event; orchestrating the collection of individual biographies from classmates.
2. Working with Faculty & Representatives to plan and implement an all-class project P2 year
3. Planning the End-of-the-Year Celebration for the School of Pharmacy that is held in the spring of P3 year
4. Participating in the planning for the Hooding and Graduation Ceremony during P4 year
5. Sending weekly reports to their respective classes outlining the class schedule and important information for the following week
6. Serving as a liaison between their class and the Faculty and Staff to address concerns and suggestions of students relative to specific courses or schedules.
7. Attend monthly Dean’s Advisory Board meetings to discuss and brainstorm ideas with class officers from the School as part of continuous quality improvement process.
8. Regularly updating the calendar in the appropriate place for students to access (e.g, the PORxTAL)

2. Representatives: Responsibilities include but are not limited to:
   1. Participating as a team with the President in accomplishing the extensive above-listed responsibilities.
   2. Serving as a go-to person for questions from other classmates about academically related problems.
   3. Participating in the planning for the events pertinent to class year: White Coat Ceremony (P1), class project (P2), End-of-the-Year Celebration (P3), and the Hooding and Graduation Ceremony (P4).
   4. Attend monthly Dean’s Advisory Board meetings to discuss and brainstorm ideas with class officers from the School as part of continuous quality improvement process.

Section B: Eligibility

1. All student pharmacists are eligible to be officers of their respective classes.

 Section C: Nomination

1. Nominations for offices shall be made during the two weeks prior to the election.
2. Nominations, including self-nominations, must be made to the Election Coordinator no later than two business days prior to the election. Self-nominations are encouraged.
3. All candidates will be required to submit their campaign platforms by email to the Election Coordinator no later than two business days prior to the election.
4. No officer shall be required to resign their current elected position in order to be nominated or elected to any other office.
5. No student may serve in two or more elected class office positions simultaneously.
6. Candidates who run for the office of President shall be allowed to run for a Representative position if not elected to office during the election for President. In that case, the platform submitted for the position of President will be used for Representative.
7. Nominations are to be submitted to the Election Coordinator by email. The nomination will consist of the student’s page and the candidate’s platform, which is a paragraph of no more than 200 words that describes themselves and what they hope to accomplish in office.
8. The names of the candidates running for office and each candidate’s platform will be posted on the online ballot.

Section D: Elections

1. All officers of the P1 class shall be elected during the third week of the fall semester. Class officers will take office immediately.
2. P2 and P3 officers will be elected during the spring semester prior to the academic year during which they will serve. It is the responsibility of those running the election to fully explain the process. Officers from another class will describe the election process and conduct the elections. One individual will be named the Election Coordinator for that class.
3. The election process for each class will take place on two separate days of “Class Election Week” using CourseWeb.
   1. Candidates for President will make their campaign speeches on either the Monday or Tuesday of the specific week; the ballot for voting will be open on CourseWeb until midnight of that day.
      1. The ballot on CourseWeb will list all candidates and their campaign platforms.
      2. Voters will only be allowed to vote for their top choice and the candidate with the most votes will win the election.
4. The winner of the President election will then be informed the following day and all candidates who did not win will be offered the chance to run for the position of class Representative.
5. Candidates for class Representative will make their campaign speeches on Wednesday or Thursday of “Class Election Week;” the ballot for voting will be open on CourseWeb until midnight of that day.
   1. The ballot on CourseWeb will include all candidates and their campaign platforms.
   2. Voters will be able to vote for their top two candidates for class representative. The two candidates with the most votes will win the election.
   3. In the event of a tie, a runoff election will be held between the candidates. Students will vote between the candidates who tied using the online voting system.
6. Elections are mandatory for all members of the class.

Section E: Term

1. The term of office shall be for one (1) academic year.
2. Students holding an office can run for re-election each year they are in the PharmD Program of School of Pharmacy.
3. Newly elected officers shall take office at the conclusion of the spring term with the exception of officers of the P1 class, the elections for which are held in the fall.

Section F: Vacancies

1. In the event that a vacancy occurs in any of the aforementioned offices, the responsibilities of the vacated office will be assumed by the other two officers of that class until a new student is elected.
2. If an officer is unable to perform his/her duties during a semester the other two officers shall assume the responsibilities of the vacated office until the missing officer returns or is replaced in an election.

Section G: Removal

1. Charges against an officer for his/her removal must be accepted by a majority vote of the students in their respective class.
2. Acceptance of the charges shall constitute a notice of intent.
3. The removal hearing shall be convened at the next available meeting for the class.
4. Removal of any of the aforementioned officers shall require a three-fourths (3/4) majority vote of the class.
5. All written submissions for removal shall be submitted to the Dean of Students and will only be accepted from members of the respective class.

Approved by the Members of the 2015-2016 Dean’s Advisory Board

March 14, 2016