The Nominations Committee oversees the election of AMSA’s national officers. This Committee is composed of active AMSA members who are not candidates for any national office. They present all identified national candidates to the HOD, chaperone them during candidate debates and carry out other aspects of the election process. Members of the Nominations Committee will also oversee the process of all other national leadership elections.
Committee members must participate in a training session for the annual HOD meeting. The Vice President for Internal Affairs and Secretary will review Committee roles and responsibilities. During elections, Committee members will then be the only members of the HOD to communicate with candidates. After supervising voting, the Committee counts ballots and announces election results. The Committee is further responsible for assuring throughout the meeting that AMSA’s election guidelines are respected and that there are no election irregularities. Members of the Nominations Committee will rotate shifts to help oversee all other elections during the meeting and to ensure fairness and accuracy of the voting process.
Members applying to serve on a Credentials or Nominations Committee may also apply to serve on a Reference Committee.
APPLY
The Credentials Committee maintains the official role of AMSA members entitled to vote in the business sessions of the HOD. Participation on the Credentials Committee is open to any active AMSA member. Serving a “sergeant-at-arms” function, the Committee also certifies that a quorum is present while the House is in session and checks the credentials of those who request admission into the House during business sessions. Committee members must be available to meet with the Vice President for Internal Affairs and Secretary for training before the annual HOD meeting and to assist with the HOD during the meeting. Generally, Credentials Committee members split up shifts in the HOD so each member works for approximately six hours.
Members applying to serve on a Credentials or Nominations Committee may also apply to serve on a Reference Committee.
APPLY
Members who want to gain in-depth exposure to AMSA’s policy-making process can volunteer to serve on a Reference Committee (“RefCom”). Each Reference Committee is responsible for collecting the testimony of AMSA’s membership on HOD resolutions and making a formal recommendation to the HOD to accept or reject each resolution. This process entails hard work but offers a unique opportunity to be involved in AMSA policy-making. Members of past Reference Committees have had the chance to examine a number of important issues of interest to medical students, including changes to medical education, international health concerns and pharmaceutical marketing to physicians.
Each Reference Committee is composed of a chairperson and at least one other member. There are usually several Committees, each of which focuses on a different type of resolution. In January, Committee members will receive a resolutions packet and are asked to read these resolutions before the meeting.
Prior to the annual meeting, each Committee holds an open and closed session to hear the testimony of the membership regarding the resolutions and to write a formal report with recommendations to the HOD. These recommendations are the most important part of the job as the Committees must combine the testimony of members with current AMSA policy and synthesize an appropriate recommendation to present to the HOD. This job is accomplished with the help of the Vice President for Internal Affairs and Secretary, as well as the Second Vice Chair of the HOD. The Reference Committee’s final responsibility is to attend the HOD session when their assigned resolutions are being considered in order to present their reports and address any questions from the delegates. Reference Committee members may not participate in the debate for any resolution considered by their respective Reference Committee.
Members applying to serve on a Reference Committee may also apply to serve on the Credentials and Nominations committees.
APPLY
