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By-Laws

RULES OF AWARD

1. The Hoover Medal shall be awarded to recognize exceptional humanitarian or civic contributions of an engineer who has personally been responsible

  • for initiating, organizing, or significantly furthering a humanitarian or civic activity that has brought benefit or good to humanity,
  • that is the result of the nominee’s own personal commitment to bring about such an end, and
  • that does not represent either an expected or incidental beneficial result or outcome of the nominee executing the required duties of his or her engineering position and career. The recipient must be living at the time of the selection.

There shall be no restrictions on account of nationality.

2. The Medal is accompanied by a certificate setting forth the reason for the award, signed by the Chairman, Vice-Chairman and Secretary of the Hoover Medal Board of Award. On the reverse of the Medal is the name of the medalist, the year of the award, and the words “Awarded by Engineers to a Fellow-Engineer for Distinguished Public Service.”

3. The certificate shall in addition have engraved on it the names of the members of the Board as an indication of the representative professional character of the award.

4. The Board shall place in its records a brief biography and photograph of each medalist, approved by the medalist, and may print them for distribution to engineering societies, libraries, other organizations, and individuals if that provision be made. In these biographies, prominence shall be given to those activities of the medalist and elements of his or her character on which the award was predicated.

HOOVER MEDAL BOARD OF AWARD

5. The Hoover Medal Board of Award shall consist of fifteen members and fifteen alternates, three of each to be appointed by each of the five Societies.

MEMBERS

6. The term of service shall be six years. ASME and IEEE shall each appoint one member and one alternate each odd-numbered year; AIME, ASCE, and AIChE shall each appoint one member and one alternate each even-numbered year.

7. Members and alternates shall hold office until their successors qualify, and shall be eligible for reappointment by each Society. Terms shall begin immediately after the presentation of the Medal. In a year that no award is made, these terms shall begin October first.

8. Each appointee shall be notified by an officer of the appointing Society, and shall confirm acceptance of the appointment to the Secretary of the Hoover Medal Board of Award. Resignation shall be by letter to the Society and to the Secretary. Vacant unexpired terms shall be filled by the Society which made the previous appointment.

MEETINGS

9. A member unable to attend a meeting shall be replaced by the member’s designated alternate, except that where both are unable to attend, another alternate may be assigned to attend.

10. All members are expected, and all alternates permitted, to attend Board meetings. Attendance may be in person or by conference telephone or similar communications equipment allowing all persons participating in the meeting to hear each other at the same time. Each Society shall be limited to three votes at Board meetings. A quorum for transaction of any and all business shall be eight voting representatives.

11. The Hoover Medal Board of Award shall meet annually no later than the month of May in the offices of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers or elsewhere as the Board may decide. Special meetings may be called on sufficient notice by any officer or by three members of the Board, the notice to state the purpose of the meeting.

12. Notices for all Board meetings shall be mailed in time to reach each member and alternate not less than thirty days in advance of the meeting date.

13. A meeting agenda shall be sent to all members and alternates not less than fifteen days prior to the meeting. Those who confirm to the Secretary that they will attend shall receive copies of the nominations to be considered at the meeting.

14. All proceedings of the Board shall be considered confidential and shall not be divulged to anyone by any member, alternate or officer of the Board.

OFFICERS

15. The officers of the Hoover Medal Board of Award shall be a Chairman and a Vice-Chairman, both of whom shall be members of the Board, and a Secretary, who need not be a member. Each officer shall have the responsibilities assigned to that office including any special assignments made by the Board. Officers shall be elected at each annual meeting.

EXPENSES

16. The cost of producing the medal, certificate, copies of Hoover Medalist brochures and other publications, together with expenses of the award presentation and operating expenses of the Hoover Medal Board of Award shall be defrayed from the income of the Hoover Medal Fund.

17. The Board shall not incur obligations in excess of available income unless specific provision is made. For authorized expenditures, vouchers shall be presented to the Executive Director of ASME for payment.

MEDALIST NOMINATIONS

18. Three months prior to the scheduled annual meeting, the Secretary shall send to each member of the Board a blank nomination form requesting names of persons considered suitable candidates for the Medal for that year.

19. The completed nomination forms shall be returned to the Secretary no later than forty-five days following the mailing. The Secretary shall prepare from the returned forms a list of all candidates so nominated and mail to each member and alternate this list together with the nomination packages.

20. In the same notice the date of the annual meeting shall be announced, as fixed by the Chairman.

SELECTION OF MEDALIST

21. At the annual meeting the Board shall consider the merits of each candidate and select from among them one deemed qualified as medalist for that year. Selection requires the positive vote for one nominee of ten to twelve of the representatives present, in accordance with the following. When fifteen voting representatives are present, twelve positive votes for one nominee are required. When fourteen voting representatives are present, eleven positive votes for one nominee are required. When thirteen or fewer voting representatives are present, ten positive votes for one nominee are required.

22. The Chairman shall thereupon immediately inform the recipient of the Board's action. This selection shall be confidential and not final until accepted in writing, including an agreement to accept the award in person by the medalist. Otherwise there shall be no award for that year. After receiving a letter of acceptance from the medalist, the Chairman shall notify the members and alternates of the Board and may make a public announcement.

AWARD PRESENTATION

23. The award shall be presented at a meeting determined by the Board after consultation with the medalist. The venue for the award shall be a national meeting of an engineering or other appropriate organization. If the venue requires more than 800 km of travel then, at the discretion of the chair, the Board may, if requested by the medalist and funds are available, defray some of the costs of that travel up to a suggested maximum of 2000 USD, keeping flexibility so that total expenditures of the year for the medal do not exceed five percent of the assets. If a change in time or method of the award presentation is desirable, the Chairman, Vice-Chairman or Secretary may make the decision.

AMENDMENTS

24. These By-laws have been adopted by the Board of Governors of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and may be amended on recommendation of the Board of Award.

Last revision 9/9/11

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