SITC Professional Interest Communities Manual

Each Professional Interest Community must meet yearly criteria: proposing, planning and facilitating one of the following outputs on a yearly basis:

• Opinion piece for The Sentinel (SITC’s blog)
  
  
• Annual Meeting education session proposal and organization
  • Each Professional Interest Community must submit an Annual Meeting session proposal form. The Annual Program Committee then reviews this form, applying the same criteria used for all society submissions. Activities submitted and selected in this manner are peer-reviewed Annual Meeting components and are included as regular entries in the body of the Annual Meeting program.
    
  • Annual Meeting Session Proposal Forms are accepted and reviewed 16 months prior to Annual Meeting program planning. Hot Topic Session Proposals are accepted and reviewed 6 months prior to Annual Meeting program planning. SITC keeps all session proposals for future consideration (for up three years).
    
    
• Webinar, Educational program or workshop
  • A Professional Interest Community initiative proposal is forwarded to the SITC office for review. The SITC Executive Committee must approved all initiatives. In each instance, the Professional Interest Community may not enter into any formal agreement or contract with any outside individual or organization using the name of SITC without the express written permission of the SITC Executive Committee.
    
    
• Networking meeting at Annual Meeting
  
  
• Other resources deemed necessary to fill gaps in the field
  
  
• Projects Assigned by the SITC Board of Directors
  
  • In aid to the scientific and educational programming of the society.

Year-end report

Each Professional Interest Community will submit a one page report to the SITC office at the end of the calendar year reporting on the group's accomplishments and its selected output. This document will also contain goals for the upcoming year.

The staff liaisons to the Professional Interest Communities will provide support to the community's efforts through:

Webpage Support

Each individual group must maintain an individual webpage. Each webpage will contain a statement of purpose and a listing of the current chairs.

Meeting Space

Interest in creating a new Professional Interest Community requires submission of a Proposal Form, for approval by the SITC Executive Committee. This proposal shall include the proposed name, specific area of interest, the scope and purpose of the proposed community and the names of 10 founding members with a designated chair. Any proposed community will not duplicate that of an existing group.

A Professional Interest Community can be dissolved if the number of dues paying members falls below the minimum required number (10) or if the community fails to meet the criteria outlined above.

Each Professional Interest Community will have a chair and co-chair with two-year terms. Each group is required to hold an election within their community to vote in a new co-chair, who will ascend to chair. Candidates for co-chair are self-nominated. Votes require a 10 percent vote of the community members.

Prior to distribution, the SITC Board of Directors must approve all items produced with SITC’s name attached. All materials and publications created by the Professional Interest Communities are a representation of SITC and are intellectual property of the society.