Roles of NPMTI Committees and the Administrative Office

1.    Membership – will be open to all interested parties and stakeholders of a specific crop, including but not limited to academicians, Extension personnel, USDA-ARS researchers, staff of crop/commodity groups and associations, industry representatives, crop consultants and farmers. Those interested in being an RAC member will submit an application to the RAC chair and the NFO 30 days before the Annual Meeting. Said membership is reviewed by the RAC and SC and, if ratified, added to the RAC roles on an annual calendar basis.

a)       Committee Positions – the positions of Chair and Co-Chair of the RAC will be limited to university researchers (with emphasis on Extension researchers) and representatives of the commodity/crop group or association.

b)      Length of Term – Terms begin January 1 and end December 31:

(1)     Chair – Two (2) years; position may be held for up to three (3) consecutive terms.

(2)     Co-Chair – same terms as Chair; Co-Chair may become Chair.

c)       Committee positions (Chair/Co-Chair) shall be elected by a simple majority of ratified RAC members at the Annual Meeting. The Chair (and potentially Co-Chair) shall serve on the SC.

d)       Other members of the RAC (if any) shall be elected to the SC by a simple majority of ratified RAC members at the Annual Meeting per the provisions set forth in IX.A.1e.

(1)      If the RAC qualifies, RAC members shall elect by simple majority a member(s) of the EC as spelled out in section IX.C.1a.

e)       An RAC must have secured some funding through the RFP process to have a seat on the SC. Funded RACs shall have one (1) seat on the SC. A second seat will be awarded when $200,000 of research funding is allocated. Thereafter, each additional $100,000 in funding will earn an additional seat on the SC, up to a maximum of eight (8) seats total for a RAC.

2.    RAC Responsibilities

a)    RAC Members shall draft individual 5-Year Action Plans (called Program Descriptions & Research Priorities, or PD&RP) that include a one-, two- and five-year forecast for what the goals and expected outcomes of the RACs actions are. All RAC PD&RPs together with the plans for CO’s (see VIII.A) shall help guide the 5-Year Action Plan (AP) for NPMTI, which in turn will aid the Request for Proposal (RFP) process. The PD&RPs of RAC’s and CO’s in aggregate will also help define the annual, overall NPMTI Research Plan & Budget (RPB).

b)    RAC Chair, with the assistance of the Co-Chair shall:

(1)  Act as liaison between the EC and/or the NFO and their respective committee;

(2)  Serve as members of the SC and EC as outlined in sections IX.A.1e and IX.C.1a;

(3)  Work with RAC members to draft annual Research Area PD&RP; and

(1)    Draft and submit RAC proposals to the SC for consideration:

(a)    Facilitate the review of proposals submitted to the RAC;

(b)    Develop recommendations for funding for consideration by the SC; and

(c)     Provide comments/suggestions for proposed recipients and non-recipients to be included in the notification of funding.

3.    Meetings, Conferences, and Key Dates

a)    RAC members should confer as needed to accomplish the responsibilities of the RAC.

b)    RAC Chair and/or Co-chair can call meetings via conference call given 48-hour notice.

c)    All RAC members will be invited to the Annual Meeting, which will coordinate with annual and/or divisional meetings of the American Phytopathological Society (APS), when possible.

d)    Quorum – shall consist of more than 50% of the current members.  This also pertains to voting by e-mail or other electronic means.

4.    Pooling of Interests – the RAC’s of smaller crops and specialty crops may aggregate funding of similar crop types (e.g., pulse crops, cucurbits, brassicas/cole crops) to earn SC seats as defined in sections IX.A.1c, IX.A.1d and IX.A.1e; as well as seats on the EC, as explained in section IX.C.1a.