NC SECTION – AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING                                                               5 JAN 2005

 

Attendees:  Eric Bigham, Jay Brown, Joan Bursey, Maurice Bursey, Darrell Coleman, Ken Cutler,  Ernest Eliel, Keith Levine, Sol Levine, Bob Morrison, Laura Sremaniak and  William Switzer.

 

Meeting called to order at 4:30 PM in the CIIT Conference Room by Chairman Sol Levine.

 

1.         Minutes of the December 1, 2004 meeting were approved.

 

2.         Councilor position.   Eric Bigham has been elected as District IV Director of the American Chemical Society.  Accordingly, Eric Bigham’s Councilor position is now vacant.

 

3.         NC Section Meeting: April 30, 2005 at Dabney Hall, NC State University.  Sol Levine will contact Charles Goss regarding the task of organizing this event.  A call for papers is needed, as well as nominations for the Marcus Hobbs Distinguished Lecturer award.

 

4.         SERM 2004 status report.  A total of 1,574 attendees were registered, which is less than for previous SERM conferences but is the highest attendance of any 2004 ACS regional meeting.  The total of 1,574 registrants included 231 complimentary attendees.  There were 425 ACS members and 302 graduate students in attendance.  There were also 306 undergraduates and 7 high school teachers in attendance.  Also, there were 25 Two Year College Chemistry Committee (2YC3) members.  Broadly dispersed colleges were represented; and 24 awards were presented to 19 different institutions for the best papers and posters in five different areas of chemistry.  A total of $125k is due from ACS/D.C.  Of that, $88k + $5600 have been received; the remainder will follow shortly.  All invited speaker expense reports have been paid.  A profit in the range of $8k-$10k remains.  This money will be put toward a sinking fund for future use.

 

ACS/D.C. had no particular comments on SERMACS 2004.  The books will be closed by about the end of March.  SERMACS 2004 was the first meeting run with LCD projectors in every seminar room; and in which the meeting abstracts were provided on a CD at no extra charge.  The $75k-$80k in sponsorships that were raised for SERMACS 2004, together with savings (such as no conference room, parking or box lunch expenses), enabled the conference to achieve these results.  Since the mandate for national meetings is to “break even”, the moderate profit achieved at SERMACS 2004 is viewed as excellent budgetary management.  The next opportunity to host SERM at RTP is in 2011; a bid can be submitted in 2007.

 

5.         Treasurer's Report: Checking Account: $6,129.89; Money Market Account: $7,105.77.  There has been no update as yet on the ACS fund.  The report on the ACS fund, as of 30 September 2004, has 6.054 shares with a market value of $30,517.87 (cost basis is $30,916.86). 

 

6.         2005 Proposed Budget: Treasurer Joan Bursey noted the following changes and additions to the proposed budget.  We are almost ready to switch to electronic reporting.

 

Budget surplus:

 

            Budget surplus from 2004 actuals: $3,700.

            Budget surplus from proposed 2005 budget: $177.

 

Income: 

 

a)       2005 allotment from ACS: $16,427 (estimated)

b)       $200 check received for Tarhelium ad

c)       $5,000 check pending from Progress Energy for Project SEED.  (SEED is in debt to the Section by $1,100).

 

 

Expenses:

 

a)       Tarhelium ad: $200, up from $150

 

7.         Tarhelium.  The next issue will be published in late January or early February.  A report on 2005 officers will be included; Keith Levine needs the complete information.  Remarks by the outgoing and incoming Section chairs are needed.  Also, a summary report on SERMACS 2004 is needed. 

 

8.         NBC Health Fair.  The Health & Fitness Festival 2005 is scheduled for February 12-13.  Darrell Coleman played an NBC television ad for this event, and noted that the Section may be included in next years’ promotional materials if our participation is a success.  Darrell will look into finding an appropriate uniform for our volunteers, such as the National Chemistry Week t-shirt.

 

9.         Leadership Conference.  The next Leadership Conference is scheduled for 1/28-30 at the Baltimore Marriott.  Lodging expense is $275; travel additional.  A motion to pay the expenses of chair-elect Charles Goss to attend was approved.

 

10.        NC Academy.  A $100 donation is in the 2005 budget and already approved.  Sol Levine will investigate what benefit we would receive for the requested doubling of this amount to $200.

 

11.        Councilors at national meetings.  Bob Morrison agreed to serve as a coordinator to manage attendance of councilors, and to alert alternate councilors in advance of opportunities for meeting attendance.

 

12.        Discussion groups and committees.  The Section website is out of date as to leadership members of discussion groups and committees.  Jay Brown agreed to collect updated information for Bill Switzer.

 

13.        Local section report.  Darrell Coleman will coordinate this report, which is due by February 15th. 

 

14.        Project SEED.  Ken Cutler provided an update on funding efforts to keep Project SEED alive.  A possible $50k Dreyfus Grant is pending.  There are over 1,000 NIH grantees in NC.  Each receives $3k to hire a student.  Project SEED will work on placing students under such grants in 2006.  Ken Cutler spoke of successes in Project SEED, such as the 9 papers selected in the Junior NC Scientists and Humanities symposium, and advising a student who is now a star chemist at Hampton University.  Ernest Eliel suggested writing up Project SEED successes so that they can be used to raise grant money; ACS National can help.  He also suggested asking the public relations groups at local large companies to help.  Eric Bigham agreed to seek support from ACS National in preparing a Project SEED brochure.  Laura Sremaniak and Darrell Coleman agreed to meet with Ken Cutler and to help in his Project SEED efforts.  Eric Bigham will discuss opportunities to introduce Ken Cutler to GSK, with Charles Goss. 

 

The meeting was adjourned at 6:30 PM.  The next meeting will be at Sigma Xi on February 2, 4:30 pm.

 

15.        Post-Meeting Appointments.    Eric Bigham has been elected as District IV Director and has resigned his position of councilor on our board.  Laura Sremaniak has been appointed per the by-laws to fill the remainder of Eric's term of councilor; the vote was unanimous.  Chris Lowden has been appointed per the by-laws to fill the remainder of Laura's term as alternate councilor; the vote was unanimous.