Councilor's Corner
 

Candidates for President-Elect and Board of Directors

· The candidates for the fall 2009 ACS national election were

announced as follows:

President-Elect 2010

Nancy B. Jackson, International Chemical Threat Reduction Department

Manager, Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM

Cheryl A. Martin, Currently on sabbatical; former Corporate Vice President

and

General Manager, Rohm and Haas Company, Philadelphia, PA

Mary Virginia Orna, Professor of Chemistry, College of New Rochelle,

New Rochelle, NY

Directors-at-Large - 2010-2012

Dennis Chamot, Associate Executive Director, Division of Engineering and

Physical

Sciences, National Research Council, Washington, DC

H. N. Cheng, Research Chemist, US Department of Agriculture, New Orleans, LA

Ray A. Dickie, Retired, Ford Motor Company, Efland, NC

Valerie J. Kuck, Retired, Lucent Technologies, Montclair, NJ

Howard M. Peters, Retired, Peters, Verny, LLP, Palo Alto, CA

Director, District I - 2010-2012

D. Richard Cobb, Senior Research Associate, Eastman Kodak Company,

Rochester, NY

Neil D. Jespersen, Professor of Chemistry, St. Johns University, Jamaica, NY

Director, District V - 2010-2012

Judith L. Benham, Retired, 3M Company, St. Paul, MN

Peter K. Dorhout, Vice Provost, Colorado State University, Fort

Collins, CO

Petitions

(For Action)

· The Council received two amendments to the ACS Constitution and

Bylaws for action: The Petition on Candidate Selection by Member Petition -

(to be considered for Urgent Action) and the Petition on Election Timelines

and Procedures 2009.

o The Petition on Candidate Selection by Member Petition proposes to

permit candidates to be selected by a petition process from members. To be

considered for urgent action, the petition required a ¾ affirmative vote.

After considerable discussion, a vote to consider the petition at the 2009

fall meeting FAILED. Absent urgent action, the Petition on Candidate

Selection by Member Petition will now be up for action at the 2010 spring

meeting of the Council.

o Next, the Council discussed in great detail the Petition on Election

Timelines and Procedures 2009. This petition proposes to shorten certain

election timelines and change petition candidates (who go straight on the

ballot if they obtain enough signatures) to petition nominees (who need to

be screened by Council along with other nominees chosen by the Committee on

Nominations and Elections). After rejecting a request to have a recorded

vote, the Council VOTED to recommit the petition to the Committee on

Nominations and Elections with instructions. Following this action, N&E

sought input through a nonbinding survey to help guide their revisions. A

revised petition will likely be up for action at the 2010 spring Council

meeting.

(For Consideration)

· The Council received one petition for consideration: the Petition

on Admissions Committee. This petition removes the Admissions Committee

from the Bylaws and transfers its functions to the Council Committee on

Membership Affairs. Action is expected on the petition at the 2010 spring

meeting.

Committee Review

· As part of a regular performance review, the Council VOTED to

continue the Committees on Chemical Safety, Minority Affairs, Chemical

Abstracts Service, Technician Affairs, and Analytical Reagents. Continuing

the first three committees requires Board of Directors concurrence.

Registration Report and 2010 National Meeting Registration Fee

· As of August 19, 2009, the ACS fall national meeting had attracted

14,319 registrants. This was the largest Washington meeting in history.

Totals in select categories are as follows: Regular attendees 8,575;

Students 3,159; Guests 462; Exhibit Only 676; and Exhibitors 1,447. In

keeping with the objective of the National Meeting Long Range Financial

Plan, previously approved by the Board of Directors and Council, the

Meetings and Expositions Committee recommended to the Board an increase of

$10 for the 2010 national meeting registration fee. The Board will act on

this recommendation shortly.

Membership Activity

· The provisions of the Petition on Membership Categories and

Requirements were fully implemented this past June with the transfer of

former Student Affiliates to Student Member status, and Associate Members to

regular Member status. As of July 31, the Society had 9,732 Student

Members - 6,500 of them former Student Affiliates and more than 3,000 of

them new Student Members.

Dissolution of the Division of Chemical Technicians

Changes to Charter Bylaws for New Local Sections and International Chemical

Sciences Chapters and Bylaws for Divisions in Probationary Status

Board Committees and Task Force Actions

· The Board of Directors VOTED to approve nominees for the 2010

Perkin Medal and the Alan T. Waterman Award. The Perkin Medal, awarded by

the American section of the Society of Chemical Industry to a scientist

residing in the US, recognizes innovation in applied chemistry resulting in

outstanding commercial development. The Alan T. Waterman Award, presented by

the National Science Foundation, recognizes an outstanding young researcher

in any field of science or engineering.

· The Committee on Public Affairs and Public Relations announced the

designation of "Dip-and-read Tests for Blood and Urine Glucose" (work of Al

and Helen Free) as a National Historic Chemical Landmark. The committee

also reported on its approval of a new healthcare policy statement, received

from the Committee on Economic and Professional Affairs.

· The Board VOTED to approve an action recommended by the Committee

on Professional & Member Relations to accept with minor revisions the key

terms contained in a draft Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between ACS and

the Royal Society of Chemistry. The MOU: a) offers an opportunity for the

ACS and RSC to develop and distribute a "primer," both in hard-copy and

electronic format, to provide the wider population with a basic

understanding of the chemistry underlying issues related to sustainability;

b) provides a series of joint seminars in the UK, US and elsewhere with

participation by scientists, media and decision-makers to focus on

sustainability; and c) supports collaboration on activities that train

scientists to address issues relating to sustainability and other global

challenges in non-technical, readily understandable communications.

· On the recommendation of the Committee on Budget and Finance, the

Board VOTED to fund a new program (Science Coaches) and to reauthorize an

existing program (ACS Green Chemistry Institute ®) in the 2010 budget.

· The Board of Directors received a report from the

Board-Presidential Task Force on Education This task force is charged

with 1) reviewing recommendations contained in national STEM (Science,

Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education reports released during

the past five years; 2) identifying specific actions that the Society could

undertake in response to these recommendations; and 3) creating a priority

list of actionable items where the Society can have a unique impact on STEM

education. The new Science Coaches initiative was one of the task force's

recommendations.

The Society's Finances

· In view of the ongoing global recession and its impact of the

Society's finances, the Board received an update on the Society's current

financial position and the projected financial performance for 2009. The

Society is projected to end the year with a net contribution from operations

of $11.2 million, or $528,000 favorable to the 2009 approved budget. The

favorable projection is largely the result of Contingency Plan actions and

expense management initiatives implemented in early 2009, which are expected

to fully offset revenue shortfalls in the Approved Budget across several

categories.

Strategic Issues

· At its retreat held earlier this year, the Board developed a

"dashboard," i.e. a list of possible Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

related to ACS strategic progress. At this meeting, a Board task force

presented a draft dashboard for review. The Board agreed to continue this

discussion at its December meeting.

The Executive Director/CEO Report

· The Executive Director/CEO, along with several of her direct

reports, updated the Board on the activities of the Publications Division,

Chemical Abstracts Service, and the Society's General Counsel (including the

Leadscope litigation). As a part of the Publications report, the Board

VOTED to approve the re-appointment of three journal editors.

Compensation of Society Executive Staff

· The Board received a report from its Committee on Executive

Compensation and voted to approve several actions relative to compensation

for the Society's Executive staff. The compensation of the Society's

executive staff receives regular review from the Board.

Other Society Issues

· With the creation of the ACS Leadership Development System, the

Society is now better positioned to create the skilled leadership needed to

advance as the world's largest scientific society and to achieve its

mission. In recognition of this achievement, the Board awarded plaques to

its Oversight Group on Leadership Development for outstanding work on this

major initiative.

The Board received a briefing on a new program to equip ACS members to be

more effective spokespersons for chemistry. It is called the Chemistry

Ambassadors program, and information may be found at