Academy Committees

Among the many volunteer leadership opportunities for Academy members are committees, which offer participation in activities that benefit members and, by extension, the public.

Academy Committees are defined as groups of individuals elected or selected from the Academy membership to do some assigned work collectively to address issues of importance to the organization. The Board of Directors, which provides general oversight to committees, may establish a new committee as needed and may disband a committee that has completed its charge or no longer meets the overall needs of the Academy. Individual committees are evaluated every three years by the Board to confirm the need to continue, be modified or disband.

All committee members are appointed except for three committees, which are elected: the Board of Directors Executive Committee, the House of Delegates Leadership Team and the Nominating Committee. The Academy President-elect and Speaker-elect, in collaboration with staff, appoint committee members annually utilizing the results of the Opportunities to Serve survey conducted in December/January. Appointments are made in February/March and the membership is notified of these appointments in May. Members are chosen according to expertise, skills and needs of the committee to address its charge.

All committees establish goals for each program year. The goals are designed to support the Academy's strategic plan and are shared with the Board of Directors on a yearly basis.

A sub-committee is a smaller deliberative group of members appointed by a committee through an inclusive, objective process and assigned a specific set of functions of the actual committee. Sub-committees are ongoing with defined functions written and approved by the committee. Creation of subcommittees requires CEO approval, and any Academy member may be appointed by the committee, Board or House. A liaison from the committee should be included on the sub-committee along with any other necessary links to committees. Committee is responsible for establishing an inclusive and objective process for making appointments.

A task force is a temporary group of members and non-members established to work on a single defined task or activity at the request of a committee, Board of Directors or House of Delegates. Task forces are appointed by committees and comprised of two or more members or non-members (if an RDN or NDTR, he or she must be an Academy member) who are engaged in completing one specific task). The duration of a task force is determined on a case-by-case basis depending on complexity of the task and the task force is dissolved after the task is completed.