Maryland Association of Nursing Students

Running for Office: The Maryland Association of Nursing Students 2020-2021 Elections

What is MANS?

The Maryland Association of Nursing Students (MANS) is a constituent of the National Student Nurses’ Association (NSNA). MANS is a pre-professional organization for nursing students across the state. The goal of MANS is to promote the development of the skills that students will need as responsible and accountable members of the nursing profession. MANS works to promote and encourage students’ participation in community affairs and activities aimed at improving health care. MANS maintains collaborative relationships with the American Nurses Association (ANA), the Maryland Nurses Association (MNA), the National Leagues for Nursing (NLN), the International Council of Nurses (ICN), and other health related organizations in order to influence health care, nursing education and practice through legislative activities.

What Does Being a Board Member Mean?

MANS officers and board members are current nursing student who work together to ensure that MANS functions to meet the needs of its constituents. Officers are elected at the annual convention and serve from June 1st to May 31st of the following year. Candidates for office must be active members of NSNA and MANS throughout their term of office. Candidates cannot graduate before December of their term in office. Candidates for the office of President must have been a past officer in their local, state or national NSNA chapter. The newly elected board will be responsible for attending monthly meetings to enact a smooth transition from the current board to the “board elect”, but will not have a vote.

   

 

Position Description and Duties

Officers:

1. The President shall:

a) preside at all meetings of the Association and the Executive Board;

b) be responsible for seeing that lines of direction given by the House of Delegates and the actions of the Board are carried into effect and for reporting to the membership and the Board of Directors on the conduct of the affairs of the association;

c) appoint special committees with the approval of the Executive Board;

d) serve as ex-officio member of all committees, except the elections/nominating committee;

e) represent MANS in the matters relating to the Association and perform all other duties pertaining to the office;

f) be authorized to co-sign checks with the Secretary/Treasurer; and

g) be authorized to sign contracts. These contracts will be kept on file and made available to all members of the MANS state board and constituents.

2. The Vice President shall:

a) assume the duties of the President in the absence, or disability of the President;

b) accede to the office of President in case of vacancy in the office;

c) be responsible for the planning of the annual convention;

d) be responsible for review and recommendations for changes in Bylaws and Policies;

e) be responsible for the legislative Chair, sit as ex-officio member on their committees;

and

f) perform such duties as assigned by the President in accordance with the priorities and

needs of the association.

3. The Secretary shall:

a) prepare the minutes of all business meetings of the Association and the Executive

Board meetings;

b) keep a record of attendance of each Board Member. Notify the Board of those

individuals who exceed the absentee quota;

c) establish a quorum at all business meetings of the Association; and

d) perform such duties as assigned by the President in accordance with the priorities and

needs of the association.

4. The Treasurer shall:

a) act as custodian of organization’s funds and see that an annual fiscal report is

prepared;

b) co-sign checks with the President of monetary disbursement as the Bylaws provide;

c) present a monthly Treasurer’s report at the business meetings;

d) be responsible for having the year end statement reviewed and presented to the

Executive Board;

e) chair the scholarship committee; and

f) perform such duties as assigned by the President in accordance with the priorities and

needs of the association.

Board of Directors:

5. The Newsletter Editor shall:

a) be responsible for planning and setting the focus of quarterly publications;

b) approve new articles for publication;

c) prepare an editorial for each publication;

d) seek advertisers for each publication;

e) be responsible for the layout and proofreading of the publication;

f) secure a printer with Executive board approval;

g) distribute the quarterly publication to members; and

h) perform such duties as assigned by the President in accordance with the priorities and

needs of the association.

6. The Community Health Chair shall:

a) organize and monitor statewide health projects as deemed appropriate by the

Executive Board;

b) distribute Community Health projects information to all schools;

c) prepare an appropriate Community Health project, in conjunction with the Vice

President, for Annual Convention;

d) assist schools with organizing health fairs and projects;

e) maintain accurate files, information, and supplies to future chair; and

f) perform such duties as assigned by the President in accordance with the priorities and

needs of the association.

7. The Membership Chair shall:

a) chair the Nominations Committee;

b) prepare a convention nominations slate and have all biographical information

available to the membership at the annual meeting;

c) be responsible for screening the selection of nominees for office;

d) send biographical information and officer description to all schools;

e) work to fill positions on the Board in the event of resignation;

f) work in conjunction with the Secretary to compile an accurate mailing list of each

school;

g) communicate monthly with all Board Members to maintain communication with

schools;

h) assist schools, as needed to develop a membership recruitment period;

i) prepare membership incentive programs with the approval of the Executive Board;

j) be responsible for calculation of the number of delegates for each nursing program for

the state convention in collaboration with the Executive Board;

k) contact, in writing, all constituency schools with the number of delegates, as identified

by NSNA, that they will be allowed to have as representatives at the National

Convention; and

l) perform such duties as assigned by the President in accordance with the priorities and

needs of the association.

8. The Public Relations Chair shall:

a) work closely with the Executive Board;

b) make contacts with the medical and news media to promote all workshops,

conventions, health projects, and the Annual Convention to assure good attendance;

c) maintain an active MANS webpage, and maintain and update all MANS social media

sites;

d) organize initiatives geared toward the acquisition of vendors and sponsors for the

Annual Convention, and delegating tasks as appropriate; and

e) perform such duties as assigned by the President in accordance with the priorities and

needs of the association.

9. The Legislative Chair shall:

a) be responsible for attending legislative meetings, e.g., Maryland Nurses Association

legislative committee meetings;

b) keep all Board Members and the statewide membership informed of all important

legislation;

c) send letters to legislators when needed to inform them of Association’s view on a bill;

d) write legislative alerts when needed;

e) chair the MANS legislative committee;

f) be responsible for producing changes to the Bylaws at the Annual MANS state

convention, and for submitting the changes to NSNA as stated in Article XII; and

g) perform such duties as assigned by the President in accordance with the priorities and

needs of the association.

10. The Breakthrough to Nursing Chair shall:

a) implement the current NSNA Breakthrough to Nursing program in Maryland; and

b) perform such duties as assigned by the president in accordance with the priorities and

needs of the association.

11. The Resolutions Chair shall:

a) submit a resolution on behalf of MANS at the Annual NSNA Convention. This

resolution may be submitted in conjunction with another NSNA member organization;

b) submit a resolution at the state level on behalf of MANS at the Annual MANS

Convention; and

c) perform such duties as assigned by the president in accordance with the priorities and

needs of the association.

12. The Image of Nursing Chair shall:

a) promote to the public and Maryland Nursing School Chapters, activities of MANS

which enhance the image of nursing and to create new ways for MANS to promote a

professional, positive and realistic image of nursing among the nursing community in

Maryland; and

b) perform such duties as assigned by the President in accordance with the priorities and

needs of the association.

PLEASE REFER TO MANS BYLAWS FOR COMPLETE DESCRIPTION OF ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES!

Running for State Office:

Officer and board member positions are elected by the House of Delegates at the Annual Convention. For the next term elections will be held on February 22, 2020. Candidates can preregister until February 1st, 2020 by completing the application (link at the top of this page) and emailing it along with a professional resume to MANSmembership@gmail.com. Applicants hoping to apply after this date may still submit applications, but will not receive approval to campaign in advance of the convention.                                    

The Nominations & Elections Committee will verify the eligibility of all candidates.

The elections will be decided by votes cast by state delegates. In the case of a tie, the Executive Board will vote collectively, with this vote being cast by the President of MANS. Election results are announced after the Endnote Speaker on the day of convention.

Pre-Slated Candidates whose application is received by the deadline prior to annual convention will be permitted to campaign for their position. This includes posting flyers and talking to members at convention.

Running for Office

Want to get involved on a national level? Consider running for a position on the NSNA Board of Directors! For more information, visit  http://www.nsna.org/how-to-run-for-national-office.html

House of Delegates

The House of Delegates is the governing and voting body of the Association. It is composed of delegates from member schools. Delegates are responsible for voting for the new Board of Directors, and voting for any proposed amendments to the MANS bylaws. Each school chapter that is a recognized constituency (10 NSNA members in good standing) is entitled to one voting delegate and alternate, and in addition, is entitled to one voting delegate and alternate for every additional 25 members. The school chapter delegate(s) must be a member(s) in good standing in the chapter and is selected and /or elected by the members of the school chapter according to chapter bylaws. Delegates are computed on the basis of the number of members in each constituent as evidenced by the S-2 Report provided by NSNA to MANS on a date specified annually by NSNA.

For more information on how to become a member of NSNA and MANS or on the election process, please contact the Membership & Nominations Chair at MANSmembership@gmail.com.