Classification of membership in the Supreme Chapter shall be divided into two classes: active and honorary

ACTIVE MEMBERS. The active members of the Supreme Chapter shall consist of its officers and one active member delegate, or alternate, from and selected by each component chapter.  Active members shall be voting members.

HONORARY MEMBERS.  The voting members of the Supreme Chapter may elect to honorary membership any member of the dental profession who has made an outstanding contribution to the art, science, or literature of dentistry, and others not members of the dental profession who have made similar outstanding contribution to the advancement of dentistry.  At any annual meeting, one person may be elected to honorary membership by a two-thirds vote of the delegates in attendance. Component chapters and individual members should submit names and curriculum vitae prior to December 1, to the Secretary of the Supreme Chapter.

The Board of Directors of the Supreme Chapter shall study the qualifications of all such candidates and determine those eligible pursuant to the Bylaws. Of those eligible, only one may be nominated by the Executive Committee at the next officially convened annual business meeting. Honorary members of the Supreme Chapter shall not be voting members thereof.

The terms art, science or literature of dentistry wherever appearing in the Bylaws of the Supreme Chapter or of component chapters of this society shall be interpreted as follows:

The "art of dentistry" shall imply skill in performance, acquired by experience, study and observation and may be manifested by presentation, before graduate, post-graduate, refresher courses or dental meetings not sponsored or financed by a business firm or commercial enterprise, of a method of performing an operation or the development of an instrument, appliance, machine or equipment to facilitate dental operations with no purpose of self-profit.

The "science of dentistry" shall be interpreted as the introduction of a new theory or suggestion and based upon facts which have been established by study, observation and research, as distinguished from skill in performance.

The "literature of dentistry" shall imply the publication of a book or the publication in a professionally controlled journal on dentistry or its allied sciences, of an essay, treatise or thesis.

There have been nine persons elected to honorary membership in the Supreme Chapter.  They are: Lloyd E. Blauch (1934), Harlan H. Homer (1948), Shailer Peterson (1956), Reginald H. Sullens (1962), Grace Parkin (1970), John W. Stanford (1980), Harry Bruce (1983), Henry J. Sazima (1985) and Janet K. John (1999).

Classification of membership in Component Chapter shall be divided into five classes: charter, alumni, faculty, honorary and life.

CHARTER MEMBERS are members of the faculty whose names appear on the charter as founders of the chapter.  They shall have all privileges of active members while remaining a member of the dental school faculty.

ALUMNI MEMBERS shall be elected as follows:

(a) Graduating students.  A list containing the names of at least the upper 20% of the graduating class (class: a group that generally began studies together) who rank highest in scholarship for the entire period that they have been in attendance at a dental school shall be submitted or secured from the Dean.  From any on this list, a number constituting not more than 12% of the entire class, who, in addition to scholarship, have demonstrated exemplary traits of character and potential qualities of future professional growth and attainments, may be elected to alumni membership by the active members of the component chapter.  The election of such members may be held at the discretion of the active members at any time after the beginning of the last term (quarter or semester) by which at least 80% of the class has the potential to graduate.  The method of balloting shall be determined by the component chapters.  A two-thirds affirmative vote of the active members of the component chapter who participate in the voting shall be necessary to elect a student or an alumnus to alumni membership.  If 12% of the class shall be less than three, a maximum of three students may be elected.

(b) Graduating international students.  A list containing the names of at least the upper 20% of the graduating international students  (a student with a foreign dental degree who has completed all of the requirements necessary to be awarded the D.D.S. or D.M.D. degree) who rank highest in scholarship for the entire period that they have been in attendance at a dental school shall be submitted by or secured from the Dean.  From any on this list, a number constituting not more than 12% of this group of students, who, in addition to scholarship, have demonstrated exemplary traits of character, and potential qualities of future professional growth and attainments, may be elected to alumni membership by the active members of the component chapter.  The election of graduating international students may be held at the discretion of the active members and must occur at the time of the election of graduating students as described above.   The method of balloting shall be determined by the component chapters.  A two-thirds affirmative vote of the active members of the component chapter who participate in the voting shall be necessary to elect a graduating international student  to alumni membership.  If 12% of the graduating international students shall be less than one, a maximum of one student may be elected.

(c) Alumni of any dental school, in which since their graduation a component chapter has been established may be elected to alumni membership, providing their standing as students would have made them eligible to membership.  Such eligibility, however, shall be conditional upon an ethical and unblemished record since graduation.

(d) Alumni members who become members of a dental school faculty are eligible for all the privileges of active members.

FACULTY MEMBERS are the dentists in a dental school faculty who have been elected to membership after service as a full-time teacher for three years or a part-time teacher for six years at the school where he/she is being nominated.  Full-time and part-time shall be defined by the administration of each school of dentistry.  Two part-time years will be the equivalent of one full-time year. To be eligible for election, a member of a faculty shall have made outstanding contribution to the art, science, or literature of dentistry in addition to the minimum period of service, described above. The maximum number of faculty members elected by a component chapter at an annual meeting may not exceed 20% of the total number of graduating members [as defined in Article III, Section 3a, (2a) of the bylaws] elected by that component chapter.  If 20% of the graduating members shall be less than one, a maximum of one faculty member may be elected.  A two-thirds (2/3) affirmative vote of the active members of the component chapter who participate in the voting shall be necessary to elect to faculty membership. They are eligible for all the privileges of active members.

HONORARY MEMBERS.  A component chapter may elect to honorary membership any dentist (who is not a faculty member of a dental school) who has outstanding contribution to the art, science or literature of dentistry, and others who have made similar contribution to the advancement of dentistry.  At any annual meeting only one (1) person may be elected to such honorary membership.  A two-thirds affirmative vote of the active members of the component chapter who participate in the voting will be necessary to elect. 

An honorary member of the Supreme Chapter or of a component chapter is entitled to the privileges of active membership.  An honorary member of the Supreme Chapter may attend the meetings of any component chapter.

LIFE MEMBERS. To be granted life membership by a component chapter, one must have been an active or an associate member for thirty (30) years and have reached the age of sixty (60).  Life members retain all privileges of active members while remaining a member of a dental school faculty, and are exempt from paying dues.

CLASSES OF MEMBERSHIP ACTIVITY-COMPONENT CHAPTERS

ACTIVE MEMBERS. All charter members are active members while remaining a member of the dental school faculty.  All alumni, faculty and honorary members who are members of a dental school faculty and have been approved by the component chapter are active members.  Only active members may vote or be elected to office.

ASSOCIATE MEMBERS are all those members of a component chapter who are not active members, but do support the component chapter by payment of dues with a regularity satisfactory to the Executive Committee of the component chapter.

INACTIVE MEMBERS are those members of a component chapter who are not active or associate members and do not pay dues.  Inactive members may be reinstated as associate or active members upon the payment of unpaid dues and the approval of the Executive Committee of the component chapter.

All classes of membership may receive regular communication from their component chapter and may attend all convocations and award ceremonies.

In the event a dental school closes, active, associate or inactive members of the closed school's component chapter may petition any active OKU chapter for associate membership.  A two-thirds affirmative vote of the active members of the component chapter who participate in the voting shall be necessary to elect these individuals to membership.

TRANSFER OF MEMBERSHIP BETWEEN COMPONENT CHAPTERS

Transfer of membership between component chapter is covered in Article XII of our bylaws-

Article XII

Section 1. Notification of Transfer

Active, associate or inactive members desiring to transfer from one component chapter to another will signify his/her wish to the secretary-treasurer of the component chapter to which he/she wishes to transfer.

Section 2. Processing the Transfer

The secretary-treasurer of the component chapter receiving such a request will verify the individual's membership in OKU and will write to the secretary-treasurer of the component chapter from which the member wishes to transfer stating the members desire to transfer his/her membership. For inactive chapters the membership transfer petition shall be made directly to the secretary-treasurer of the Supreme Chapter.

Unless the secretary-treasurer of the component chapter from which the member is transferring has an objection to the request or has information concerning the membership status of the member making the transfer request, no further action is necessary of this component chapter secretary-treasurer.

Section 3. Acting on the Transfer

The secretary-treasurer who receives the member's request for transfer will then present the information to his/her chapter's active membership for appropriate action, as determined by the component chapter.

Section 4. Finalizing the Transfer

Upon completion of the transfer, the secretary-treasurer of the Supreme Chapter will be notified. The transfer will then be recorded in the membership files of the Supreme Chapter.