Ethics Committee

The Ethics Committee reports to the Board of Directors and is responsible for assisting the Board in upholding AAA’s commitment to the highest ethical professional standards. Ethics Committee members will act with confidentiality, in good faith, and exercise honest judgment, free from conflicts of interest.

Responsibilities

Ethics Awareness: Upon joining the Ethics Committee, each member will participate in an orientation to learn about AAA’s Code of Conduct, how to use and communicate in the third party reporting software system, attend crisis response skills training and training on other related legal and organizational standards. Staff will support awareness effort through education and outreach to the membership and as part of the membership or event registration process.
Evaluation of Ethical Allegations: AAA members and awardees are expected to adhere to the AAA Code of Conduct. In cases in which AAA members are alleged to have violated the Code of Conduct, the Ethics Committee will review the allegations by receiving input from the complainant and respondent and make a recommendation to the Board regarding potential AAA action. Potential AAA actions include but are not limited to: no action, formal reprimand, suspension of meeting attendance privileges, revocation of award or honorary status, and/or removal from membership in accordance with AAA’s Bylaws, Article III, Section 5, d.

Roster

Chair

Name	Company	Thru Date
Maria Serrat	Marshall University	3/31/2025

Members

Name	Company	Thru Date
Thomas Champney	University of Miami	3/31/2026
Darren Hoffmann	University of Iowa	3/31/2025
Madeleine Norris	University of California - San Francisco	3/31/2025
Titus Reaves	Medical University of South Carolina	3/31/2025

Schedule

The Ethics Committee is not a standing committee and will meet only as needed.

Reporting

The Ethics Committee, with AAA staff support, will submit a written report to the Board once per year to help the Board monitor the effectiveness of AAA’s ethics policies and procedures. The written report will include two parts:
Summary of the Ethics Committee’s actions
Anonymized log of ethical allegations handled pursuant to AAA’s Code of Conduct.

In addition to these required components of the report, the Board encourages the Ethics Committee to recommend any changes that would strengthen AAA’s commitment to ethics.

Composition

The Ethics Committee is composed of five members, including the Ethics Committee Chair (typically a past president or past board member) and four other members who represent AAA foundational and ethical values. They could include AAA’s past Presidents, Fellows, past Board members, or exemplary leaders. AAA’s Under the advisement of the board of directors, the Executive Committee, will have the discretion to select the five Ethics Committee members, for approval by the Board. In doing so, they may recruit any qualified members from among the above, except current Board members.