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Institute Bylaws

By Laws of the CUNY Institute for Health Equity

Article I: Purposes

Section 1 - Authorization: The CUNY Institute for Health Equity has been established at Lehman College by the Board of Trustees of the City University of New York, in accordance with the Board’s Policy Guidelines on Research Centers and Institutes (Board’s Policy Guidelines), for the following purposes:

Section 2 - Mission: The CUNY Institute for Health Equity is to serve as a CUNY-wide locus of scholarly and applied work that contributes to the preparation of a cadre of faculty, students and community leaders that understand the social determinants of health and disease and encourage their collaboration to achieve health equity.

Section 3 - Focus: The focus is on the social determinants that affect the physical and mental health of New York City’s poor, underserved ethnic/racial populations. This mission is achieved through applied research, community capacity building, training, and the translation of research for application. The Institute is committed to assuring the participation of faculty and students from across the CUNY campuses and programs in public health and other disciplines, and to collaboration with non-profit/community-based organizations.

The Institute collaborates with the CUNY School of Public Health and public health programs at Brooklyn, Hunter and Lehman Colleges, and Doctorate of Public Health at the Graduate Center, as well as other graduate and undergraduate offerings throughout CUNY. Faculty and students from across CUNY will be active participants in the research and programs of the Institute.

Section 4 - Core Functions: The CUNY Institute for Health Equity consists of three cores: Research Core (RC), Community Capacity Building Core (CCBC), and Knowledge Transfer Core (KTC).

Each of the core areas is incorporated to assure:

  • an integration of the work to maximize opportunities for achieving health equity;
  • meaningful improvements in strategies for the prevention or reduction of health inequity within New York City communities; and,
  • the fulfillment of the Institute’s mission.

Additionally, communication with faculty, students, the community and beyond is an important aspect of the Institute’s work. As such, a user-friendly website assures ongoing communication and dissemination of information and research to a broad range of constituencies, and a communications capacity that assures effective dissemination of information to the media.

Section 5 - Governance: The governance structure of the CUNY Institute for Health Equity consists of an Executive Committee, a Director and an Associate Director. It will seek the guidance and input of a panel of scientific advisors that will be composed of prominent scholars and professionals working within the broad areas of health equity and community capacity building.

Article II: Executive Committee

Section 1 - Composition: The work of the Institute shall be governed by the Board’s Policy Guidelines. The Executive Committee will consist of no fewer than 10 and no more than 15 members, including the officers of the Executive Committee. The Provost of Lehman College as well as the Director and Associate Director of the Institute shall serve as additional members (ex-officio) of the Executive Committee, with vote. The Executive Committee will comprise of representatives from at least three of the CUNY campuses.

Section 2 - Election: Executive Committee members will be elected by the Executive Committee, assuring the appropriate representation of CUNY colleges and disciplines. The Lehman College Provost, in consultation with the leadership of the other colleges and the Director and Associate Director of the Institute, will receive or otherwise identify candidates for membership on the Executive Committee.

Section 3 - Term: Executive Committee members shall serve for a term of 3 years and are eligible for re-election.

Section 4 - Duties: The Executive Committee shall direct the policy of the Institute and assure its fiscal viability. The Executive Committee shall only act when duly convened by its chairperson after due notice to all members of such meeting.

Section 5 - Quorum/voting: A majority of the members of the Executive Committee (including ex-officio members) shall constitute a quorum. There will be no proxy voting.
Decisions of the Executive Committee will be made by consensus. If this cannot be achieved then each member will have one vote.

The Executive Committee may make such rules and regulations covering its meetings as it may determine necessary.

Section 6 - Vacancies: Vacancies on the Executive Committee shall be filled for the balance of the unexpired term, by agreement of the majority of the remaining members of the Board of Directors, in the same manner as set forth in Section 2 of this Article.

The Section 7 - Resignation, Removal: Resignation from the Executive Committee must be in writing and received by the secretary of the Executive Committee. An elected member of the Executive Committee may be removed when sufficient cause exists for such removal. One such cause is absence from 3 consecutive meetings or lack of participation or conduct that is not in the best interests of the Institute. Removal shall be by a three-fourths vote of the remaining members of the Executive Committee.

Article III: Meetings

Section 1 - Meetings/Annual Meeting: The Executive Committee will meet three times a year. The annual meeting will be held on the 1st Thursday day of June each and every year except if such day is a legal holiday, then and in that event, the Board of Directors shall fix the day but it shall not be more than two weeks from the date stated above in this section. The agenda of the annual meeting will include, but not be limited to, the election of Board members and Officers; review of the fiscal status of the Institute; and review of the annual resource development plan, and the annual report to be presented to the president of Lehman College for submission to the CUNY Office of Academic Affairs, as required by Section IV.B. of the Board’s Policy Guidelines.

Section 2 - Special Meetings: Special meetings will be called upon the request of the chair or five members of the Executive Committee.

Notice of the annual meeting and of any special meeting shall be provided to any person entitled to vote by mail service at least 10 business days prior to such meeting. Unless such notice is waived by the person entitled thereto.

Section 3 - Participation via Conference Call: A member of the Executive Committee may participate in a meeting via conference call.

Article IV: Officers

The officers of the Executive Committee shall be as follows:

  • Chair: The host College Provost shall serve as Chair of the Executive Committee.
  • Vice Chair: To be elected from among the members of the Executive Committee.
  • Secretary: To be elected from among the members of the Executive Committee.
  • Treasurer: To be elected from among the members of the Executive Committee.

Section 1 - Election: The Vice Chair, Secretary and Treasurer will be elected by majority vote of members of the Executive Committee.

Article V: Salaries

The Members of the Executive Committee shall serve without compensation.

Article VI: Committees

Section 1 - Appointment: The Executive Committee shall establish all subcommittees and their membership. Non-members of the Executive Committee may be appointed to subcommittees. The chairs of all subcommittees shall be members of the Executive Committee.

Section 2 - Committee Recommendations: Recommendations of committees shall be approved by the Executive Committee.

Article VII: Director and Associate Director

Section 1 - Director: The Institute Director will be responsible for the overall leadership of the Institute, including, but not limited to, oversight of day-to-day operations, programs, related activities and external relations of the Institute.

Section 2 - Associate Director: The Associate Director will serve as the acting director in the absence of the Director.

Article VIII: Panel of Scientific Advisors

The scientific advisors to the Institute will provide input and guidance on the research and programsof the Institute.

Article VIII Amendments

These by-laws may be amended by an affirmative vote of not less than two-thirds of the then current membership of the Executive Committee.