Constitution and Bylaws

Statement of Purpose

The Undergraduate Entrepreneurship Association (UEA) is a student run organization dedicated to promoting the entrepreneurial spirit at Carnegie Mellon through competitions, business development, and networking with community entrepreneurs. Activities are focused around facilitating the creation of small businesses. The UEA has hosted the annual Tepper Venture Challenge ever since its inception in 1998. This competition is national in scope, bringing together students from all fields to compete in a business plan competition

Article I: Name and Principles of the Undergraduate Entrepreneurship Association

1a. The name of this club shall be the Undergraduate Entrepreneurship Association, established under the guidance of Carnegie MellonUniversity as an official Student Senate-funded, student-run organization.

1b. The UEA has been founded with the following purposes in mind:

  • To develop entrepreneurial skills among CMU students and instill the entrepreneurial spirit
  • To offer opportunities to CMU students to be involved in entrepreneurship
  • To award out business ideas
  • To help undergraduate students formulate and develop their business plans and opportunities

1c. The UEA Executive Board shall meet at least once a week (except for exonerating circumstances) to discuss club agenda, develop club activities and facilitate communications between different projects. The preferable meeting day and time is Sunday afternoon.

Article II: Membership

2a. The UEA shall have open, non-discriminatory membership to give all students the opportunity to learn about entrepreneurship in a multitude of ways. Membership will be limited to undergraduates in accordance to the principles of the club, but graduate students may serve as advisors to the club.

2b. Dues for the UEA are $10 per academic year. For all returning the UEA members, dues must be paid by October 1st. In order to give new students enough time to determine whether or not to join the UEA , dues for first-years will not become out until two weeks after the beginning of the second semester of the academic year. The Treasurer will be responsible for dues, and in accordance with, will be authorized by the Executive Board to spend dues appropriately for non-Senate funded items such as food, competition fees, and other uses. Any money left from dues at the end of each academic year will be divided among all due-paying members and refunds will be issued. If any member has serious problems with dues, he/she must notify and talk to the Executive Board.

Article III: UEA Officers and the Executive Board

3a. Official, permanent UEA officer positions will consist of:

  • President
  • Vice President
  • Tepper Venture Challenge (TVC) Chair
  • Treasurer
  • Secretary

3b. The Executive Board shall consist of the following permanent officer positions: President, Vice President, TVC Chair, Treasurer, Secretary, and Webmaster. New permanent office positions may be added or removed from the Executive Board as necessary to ensure smooth functioning of the UEA.

3c. The Executive Board shall have the power to:

  1. Authorize all club projects.
  2. Enforce this Constitution and any Bylaws.
  3. Authorize expenditures, not to exceed a limit to be defined in the bylaws, between any two general body meetings.
  4. Appoint committees to handle special duties. The bylaws may specify committees that must be appointed.

3d. Meetings of the Executive Board may be called by the President or any two members of the Executive Board or or by any five members of the club. To transact business, at least two officers must be present. All action shall be taken by a simple majority.

Members may be removed from the club by the Executive Board for failure to comply with the Constitution or Bylaws. In this case, the Executive Board must notify the membership of this action and the reasons for it as soon as is practical, and in any case no later than the next general body meeting of the UEA.

3e. New officer positions can be created at the discretion of the Executive Board, including Fundraising Head, Tournament Coordinator, and others as needed. These offices are considered temporary. At the end of the semester during which an office was created, the Executive Board will determine whether to remove this position, extend the position to the following semester, or make the office permanent. Like other permanent officer position, any new officer position will be up for election at the end of each academic year.

3f. The roles of the official offices are as follows:

The President is responsible for day-to-day operation of the UEA. This includes the task of initially delegating committees, during which the President will consider factors such as ability, commitment, and desired roles of members. The President must consult with and seek the advice of the Executive Board before making any final decisions. The President is also primarily responsible for arranging details of competitions, and may delegate responsibilities as necessary. In addition, the President makes room reservations for meetings and may send e-mail reminders to the membership.

The Vice President shall assume all duties in the President’s absence. In addition, the Vice President will serve as publicity director, promoting awareness and participation in club activities. The Vice President is responsible for keeping track of attendance in both general and committee meetings. The Vice President is also in charge of obtaining supplies for competitions.

The Tepper Venture Challenge chair (TVC Chair) is primarily responsible for running the Tepper Venture Challenge, the main competition of the UEA. The creation and jurisdiction of a TVC Committee will be under the direction of the TVC Chair.

The Treasurer is responsible for the UEA’s budget and monetary activities. Duties include keeping track of the budget, collecting and keeping dues, processing receipts with Student Activities, attending necessary Student Senate and Joint Funding Committee meetings on behalf of the UEA, and keeping the Executive Board informed of the budget. At the first meeting of each month, the Treasurer is responsible for a monthly report of the current budget status, including dues money collected and spent.

The Secretary shall maintain a record of the UEA’s activities. The Secretary will also be in charge of informing members of meeting places and times via email. The Secretary will serve as the main liaison between the Executive Board and the club at large.

The Webmaster is responsible for updating and maintaining the UEA’s website, currently located at http://www.cmu-uea.com. This includes competition sites such as The 90-Second Challenge and the Tepper Venture Challenge, and other sections of the UEA. The Webmaster shall attend Executive Board meetings to learn what changes need to be made on the website, and shall make these changes in a timely manner. Other Executive Board members may also request site changes to the Webmaster.

3g. The requirements of running for offices are as follows: All candidates must presently be members of the UEA and have paid dues during the academic year when they run for office.

President: must have at least 2 full years of experience with the UEA; must be a member of the most senior or next to most senior class.
Vice President: must have at least one full year of experience with the UEA.
TVC Chairman: must have at least one full year of experience with the UEA and have worked at least one year in the TVC committee.
Treasurer: must be a member of the UEA.
Secretary: must be a member of the UEA.

Article IV: Selection of Officers and Referendum Voting

4a. At the end of each academic year, all offices of UEA are open for consideration by the Executive Board. Announcements of this meeting must be made two weeks prior to the meeting. Following an opening, the Executive Board will solicit nominations for replacement of that officer. The process will be determined by personal interviews culminating in a simple majority vote by the Board.

4b. The Executive Board can vote on referendums consisting of the following, in order: Any permanent offices may be removed by a 3/4 vote of the members present. Any temporary offices created during that semester come up for a vote on whether to make the office permanent. A simple majority vote is needed.

Recognizing that experience is crucial to performance, each office comes up for a referendum vote. Unless the current officer wishes to change offices or step down, a simple majority vote is taken on whether to hold an election for each office. If a simple majority believes that an election for an office is not needed, then the current officer remains in the position for the next year.

4d. Nominations consist of the following: Any member wishing to run for an office must nominate himself/herself. Members wishing to run for an office must submit to an interview by the Executive Board.

4e. Elections consist of the following, in order:

  • The President is in charge of running the election process.
  • Each candidate for the office currently being voted on leaves the room.
  • One at a time, the candidates come in and have an opportunity to address the remaining members, who also can also direct questions to candidates
  • After all candidates have delivered their speeches, all members can vote to elect a candidate to office.
  • Voting shall be done through paper ballots with numbers assigned to the candidates so that the votes of members shall not be obvious.
  • After the ballots are collected they are counted and candidate receiving the most votes is declared the winner. In cases of tie votes the President has the tiebreaking vote. This process is repeated for all offices up for election in the hierarchy order.

Article V: Project Leaders

5a. Project leaders will be selected by the Executive Board and given discretion in the creation and supervision of an approved project. Project Leaders will periodically be asked to attend an Executive Board meeting in order to update officers on the status of their projects. Project Leaders will be given the ability to pick their teams from the UEA membership body.

5b. Projects will be submitted to the Executive Board in the spring of the academic year. The Executive Board will vote on whether current projects will be continued, and if new projects will be implemented. If necessary, projects may be added and voted upon during the fall semester as well.