(Bylaws Fall 2006, page udpate 04/16/2007)

The corporation is a non-profit corporation organized under the laws of the District of Columbia and shall be known as the Mineralogical Society of America.

The object of the Society shall be the advancement of mineralogy, crystallography, geochemistry, and petrology, and the promotion of their use in other sciences, industry, education, and the arts.

Section 1. The general membership of the Society shall be classified as Honorary Fellows, Fellows, Senior Fellows, Sustaining Fellows, Members, Senior Members, Sustaining Members, and Student Members. All members shall be eligible to vote on matters to be decided by the membership.

Section 2. Members shall be those persons interested in mineralogy, crystallography, geochemistry, petrology, or allied sciences, who file the application prescribed by the Council, and who have paid the dues established by these By-Laws.

Section 3. Members who have contributed significantly to the advancement of mineralogy, crystallography, geochemistry, petrology, or allied sciences and whose scientific contribution utilized mineralogical studies or data, may be designated as Fellows upon proper accreditation by the Committee on Nomination for Fellows and election by the Council. Recipients of the Roebling Medal and Mineralogical Society of America Award automatically become Fellows.

Section 4. Nominations for Fellowship status shall be made by three members to the Committee on Nominations for Fellows. Two of the members must be acquainted personally with the nominee and the nominee's qualifications. Nominations will be filed with the Chairman of the Committee on Nominations for Fellows.

Section 5. Fellows and members who have reached the age of sixty-five, retired from active professional employment, and paid annual dues for thirty years shall become Senior Fellows or Senior Members if they so chose. They shall be exempt from further payment of dues but shall retain all rights and privileges of membership.

Section 6. Student Members shall be persons interested in mineralogy, crystallography, geochemistry, petrology, or related sciences, who are certified as bona fide students for the current year by a faculty member of the school of their enrollment and who have paid the dues established by the Council. They shall enjoy all privileges of membership except that they shall be ineligible to hold office in the Society.

Section 7. Annual dues for each membership category shall be established from time to time by the Council. Nonpayment of dues after notice shall be grounds for termination of membership.

Section 8. Any member may withdraw without prejudice on submitting a resignation in writing to either the Secretary or the Treasurer on or before January 1 of the year within which the resignation will be effective, provided that the member is not in arrears for any previous year(s). A member who does not indicate his intention to resign by January 1 shall be liable for dues for the ensuing year. If a member shall have previously resigned without prejudice, the member may be reinstated in any subsequent year on payment of dues for the year in which reinstatement is requested.

Section 9. A single prepayment of an amount equaling twenty-five times the annual dues of a Fellow or Member of the Society shall be accepted as commutation for life. Such individuals shall be designated as Life Fellows or Life Members and shall enjoy the benefits of each respective membership category without payment of further annual dues.

Section 10. Individuals who are highly distinguished for their attainments in mineralogy, crystallography, geochemistry, petrology, or allied sciences may be designated Honorary Life Fellows by the Council and shall be deemed members of the Life Fellow membership category for purposes of dues, rights, and voting.

Section 11. Sustaining Member and Sustaining Fellow membership are open to any new or continuing Member or Fellow. The cost of such a sustaining membership will be the cost of member dues plus an additional amount, to be determined by MSA Council. The additional amount will be a gift to the Society and will be placed in the Society's Endowment Fund to advance Society activities.

Section 1. The officers of the Society shall be a President, a Vice-President, a Secretary, and a Treasurer, all of whom must have been members of the Society for five consecutive years preceding nomination and who shall perform those duties assigned by the Council. These four officers, the immediate past President, and six Councilors shall constitute the Council. The President and the Vice-President each shall be elected annually for terms of one year. The Secretary and the Treasurer shall be elected biennially, in alternate years, for terms of two years. The six Councillors shall be Fellows or Members elected two each year for terms of three years each. The President, the Vice-President, and the elected Councillors shall be limited to one term in each office. The Secretary and the Treasurer shall be eligible for election to no more than two terms in either office.

Section 2. Nominations for office shall be made by the Council after consideration of the recommendations made by the Nominating Committee for Officers. These nominations shall be distributed to the membership no later than five months before the balloting. That announcement shall be made in either a Society publication or other communication sent to all members. Any ten voting members may forward to the Secretary other nominations for any elective office. For Councillors there shall be at least twice as many nominees as there are open positions, and there shall be two nominees for Vice-President.

Section 3. All nominations reaching the Secretary no later than two months after the announcement of Council-originated nominations shall be printed on the ballots to be mailed to the voting membership. Those nominees receiving the most votes cast for the number of offices to be filled shall be declared elected. The results shall be announced at the Annual Business Meeting, and the new officers shall enter upon duty at the adjournment of that meeting.

Section 4. A vacancy occurring in any office between annual elections shall be filled until the next regularly scheduled election by any eligible member of the Society appointed by a two-thirds vote of the Council.

Section 5. All membership categories, except Student Member, shall be eligible to hold office.

Section 6. The Council shall direct all affairs and activities of the Society.

Section 7. The President, the Secretary and the Treasurer shall constitute an Executive Committee and shall exercise the powers of the Council during intervals between its meetings, except as limited by the Council.

Section 8. The President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, and Editor(s) of the Society shall perform those duties assigned by the Council. The Secretary, the Treasurer, and the Editor(s) shall make formal reports to the Society at least once a year. These reports shall be published and distributed to the members of the Society.

Section 9. Officers, the Editor(s), and employees of the Society shall be covered by a fidelity bond in an amount determined by the Council.

Section 10. The Council shall be empowered to choose from time to time an honorary Counselor Emeritus of the Society persons of eminence in the field of mineralogy, crystallography, geochemistry, petrology, or allied sciences who shall serve for life.

Section 1. The Standing Committees of the Society shall be the Financial Advisory Committee, the Committee on Management, the Nominating Committee for Officers and Council, and the Nominating Committee for Fellows.

Section 2. The Standing Committees and such other committees as may be necessary shall be appointed by the President subject to approval by a majority of the Council. Each such committee shall report to the Council in writing as directed.

The Society shall hold an Annual Business Meeting of the Council and general membership, and such other additional meetings as may be called by the Council.

Section 1. The Society shall publish a journal, known as American Mineralogist, devoted to the advancement of mineralogy, crystallography, geochemistry, petrology, and allied sciences. The Society may publish such other works on subjects consistent with the purposes of the Society and in formats deemed appropriate by the Council.

Section 2. The Editor(s) of the journal and other Society publications shall be appointed by the President, subject to approval by a two-thirds vote of the entire Council, and shall serve terms set by the Council.

Section 3. The President shall appoint, with the approval of a majority of the Council, a Board of Associate Editors to consist of at least three Fellows or Members of the Society for the journal, and other publications as needed.

Section 4. The general membership, organizations or individuals who wish to receive the journal or other Society publications may subscribe at rates set by the Council.

Section 5. The Society shall own the copyright for the original and any renewal terms for any writing in collected works that are published by the Society. The author of any such writing shall have the right to make a nonprofit or noncommercial use of the work provided that the author affixes to each copy the copyright notice used by the Society when the writing was first published. The author shall have the right to make or authorize for profit or commercial use of any such writing only after first obtaining the written consent of the Society. Copyright ownership may be waived upon approval by the Council.

The Council shall have the authority to arrange for affiliation with other scientific organizations and, as the occasion may arise, to appoint members to represent the Society with respect to such organizations.

Sections of the Society based on location, interests, or any other such basis may be formed, or dissolved, by the vote of the Council. The internal affairs of such sections shall be conducted in accordance with these By-Laws.

In the event of the dissolution of the Society, the Council shall convey the assets of the Society only to another scientific organization closely allied to mineralogy, crystallography, geochemistry, or petrology, which shall at that time have tax exempt status under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954, as amended.

Section 1. Amendments of these By-Laws may be proposed either by majority vote of the Council or by any sixty or more voting members. If proposed by members, such amendment shall be submitted to the Secretary for transmission to the Council at least three months in advance of a Council meeting and shall be published and distributed to the membership at least one month before that Council meeting.

Section 2. All proposed amendments shall be placed on a mail ballot for vote by the general membership and shall be published and distributed to the general membership at least two months prior to the date of balloting. The Council may authorize two persons to prepare brief statements, not exceeding one page, representing the views of proponents and opponents, to accompany any such distribution or ballot.

Section 3. Any amendment shall become effective when approved by a simple majority of the members voting, except that any amendment of Article III, Membership, shall require a two-thirds affirmative vote of those voting.

All proceedings of the Society shall be governed by Robert's Rules of Order, Newly Revised, except where inconsistent with these By-Laws.