Every RSO is required to have at least five officers, who are current UW Tacoma students. Each RSO writes its own constitution and bylaws, which should outline the basic role of each organization officer. It is solely up to the members of the organization to assign responsibilities to a specific officer.
Although an organization's constitution lists specific position responsibilities, each officer should have the freedom to personalize their office. Furthermore, traditional titles, such as President and Vice President, are not required. If you have a Film Club, perhaps you would like for your leadership titles to reflect your interest (i.e. Director, Producer, Editor). Individual interest areas and skills often dictate the amount of time an officer spends on a particular responsibility. However, a good officer never forgets what the basic responsibilities are!
Below are some possible responsibilities for each officer role:
- Presides at all meetings of the organization
- Calls special meetings of the organization
- Obtains appropriate facilities for activities
- Prepares and files any report required
- Appoints committee Chair
- Represents organization at official functions
- Maintains contact with organization adviser, alumni, affiliated department, national organization, etc.
- Remains fair and impartial during organization decision-making process
- Assumes the duties of the President, as needed
- Serve as an ex-officio member of standing committees
- Plans officer’s orientation and organizational retreats
- Represents organizational at official functions
- Coordinates organization elections
- Keeps a record of all members and activities of the organization
- Keeps and distributes minutes of each meeting of the organization
- Creates and distributes agendas for each meeting
- Prepares organization’s calendar of events
- Handles all official correspondence of the organization
- Keeps all financial records of the organization
- Pays organization bills
- Collects organization dues
- Prepares and submits financial reports to members
- Prepares annual budget and budget requests for funds
- Advises members on financial matters (vendors, ticket sales, etc.)
The RSOs fifth officer is determined by the RSO. It can be designed to be a position that would best suit your organization. For example, you could have an "Events Coordinator" or "Social Media & Outreach Chair." The options are endless!
Changing an Officer / Advisor
At times, an RSO may have need to change an officer or their advisor. This could happen for a variety of reasons, including an officer leaves the RSO, an officer graduates, the advisor is no longer able to commit to advising or leaves UW Tacoma, etc. In this case, the RSO should follow the process outlined by their Constitution/By-Laws to replace the position.
Once a new officer/advisor has been confirmed, the RSO will need to request to have the position changed on DawgDen. This is required for all RSOs whenever an officer/advisor position changes. RSOs do not have direct access to change this information in DawgDen, instead they will need to complete an RSO Officer Change Request form on DawgDen.
