Communications policies and procedures 

Email policy

Website policy

Email Policy (approved 9/2000; modified 9/2002)

1. The College maintains a list of email addresses for all members of the College.

2. The email list is for the exclusive use of the College, and will not be sold or given out to other organizations or businesses.

3. The email list may be used at the discretion of the Executive Committee or Executive Director to notify the membership of business and issues relevant to the college and its mission.

4. The email list may be used to notify the membership of upcoming professional events sponsored by other organizations only with the approval of the Executive Committee.

5. The College should limit the number of emails to approximately 12 per year. The 12 emails would likely consist of 1 update per quarter (with link to newsletter), 2 about elections, and 6 miscellaneous (e.g., to specifically promote attendance at Annual Meeting, to announce important policy issues).

6. Members may elect to have their name removed from the email list if they do not wish to be contacted in this way.

7. In collaboration with Executive Director, the Communications Committee chair will provide a tally during each Board meeting about number and type of emails sent since the last Board meeting. At the Annual Meeting, the Communications Committee chair will present a brief report about all emails sent during the preceding year.

Website Policy (approved 9/2002)

1. The College maintains a website as a method of communication with both members and non-members of the College.

2. The primary objective of the website is to advance the College and its mission.

3. Members of the College may use the website to advance individual activities directly related to epidemiology and of potential interest to other members.

4. To that end, the website has an "Epidemiology Events" section in which members can post time-limited information. With rare exception, items should be limited to the following: name of event, date(s), location (facility, city, state, country), one-sentence description of event, and contact information for more details (i.e., full name, telephone #, fax #, email, URL).

5. All submissions for the "Epidemiology Events" section will be screened by at least two people: the Executive Director and/or Communications Committee chair -- and then the Webmaster when he/she actually posts the event. Without actually posting member's name on website, the Webmaster will keep track of the member who submitted each event for posting.

6. Before posting any potentially "controversial" listings -- per judgment of Executive Director, Communications Committee chair, or Webmaster -- the item would be discussed within the Communications Committee. A summary of this discussion would be distributed to the College President and Board of Directors for further discussion and recommendation.

7. In collaboration with the Executive Director, the Communications Committee chair will provide a tally during each Board meeting about events submitted and posted since the last Board meeting. At the Annual Meeting, the Communications Committee chair will present a brief report about all events submitted and posted during the preceding year.