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Report From Council
At the 231st Meeting of the ACS, I represented the Dayton
Section for the third time at Council. Shortly after 7 AM on
Wednesday, March 29, councilors were herded into a room for a
continental breakfast, although there were no tables, much less
chairs, for councilors to place their beverages on while they
ate with plate in hand. Several councilors commandeered for
their personal use the small table holding the half-and-half,
contributing to the testiness of other councilors before their
first cup of the day. Perhaps at next Council, we’ll be provided
bibs and troughs so that we can all dine hands free.
Elections
I am happy to report that I am 2-for-2 in
selecting presidential candidates; the majority once again
agreed with my selections for candidates for President-Elect,
2007: Bruce E. Bursten and Bassam Z. Shakhashiri (the losers,
make that non-winners, were Richard Eisenberg and Matthew V.
Tirrell). Before I became Councilor, I voted for ACS President
by counting the number of times, if any, that the candidate
mentioned unemployment issues or whether or not a candidate was
from New York. Now, however, I read carefully the nominees’
written statements, note their past service to ACS, and grade
each nominee on their answers at the Town Hall Meeting. Finally,
there are the nominees’ oral statements at Council just before
the vote is called for. Matthew V. Tirrell flubbed his answer to
a question on open access journals and his past service to ACS
was scant. By my count, Shakhashiri came out slightly ahead of
Eisenberg at the Town Hall Meeting but Shakhashiri’s speaking
style struck me as harsh. However, Shakhashiri won me over at
Council, where he was animated, humorous, and came across as
strictly pro-member. Rumor has it, though, that not one but two
petition candidates for ACS President may be in the offing. I
hope that they will be invited to address Council in San
Francisco if, indeed, they meet petition requirements.
Candidates will stand for election in the Fall National
Election.
The Committee on
Nominations and Elections announced the selection of the
following candidates for Directors-at-Large for a 2007-2009
term: William H. (Jack) Breazeale, Jr., Dennis Chamot, Peter K.
Dorhout, Paul R. Jones, Valerie J. Kuck, and Dorothy J.
Phillips. The election of three Directors- at-Large will be
conducted in the fall. Two candidates will fill the 2007-2009
term, and one will fill a two-year vacancy for 2007-2008 created
by the resignation of Director-at-Large James D. Burke
(effective December 31, 2006). Ballots will be mailed to the
Council on or before October 10.
Committee Review
As part of a regular review, the Council VOTED to continue the
Committee on Admissions and the Committee on Professional
Training. The Committee on Admissions has the power to interpret
and apply the requirements for membership, including determining
status of applicants educated in foreign countries. The
Committee on Professional Training promotes and assists in the
development of high standards of excellence in all aspects of
post-secondary chemical education, and undertakes studies
important to their maintenance.
The Society’s Finances
The Society ended 2005 with a net
contribution from operations of $11.6 million, which was $9.1
million favorable to the approved budget. The favorable variance
was primarily attributable to higherthan- budgeted print and
electronic information services revenue and investment income,
as well as expense savings from staff vacancies and reductions
in information technology spending. The Society also realized
$21.0 million in investment gains. In total, unrestricted net
assets increased just over $26 million in 2005 to $211 million,
and the Society ended 2005 in full compliance with the
Boardestablished financial guidelines.
Registration Report
As of March 28, 2006, the ACS spring national meeting had
attracted 12,546 registrants as follows: Regular attendees
6,323; Students 4,158; Exhibitors 1,288; Exposition only 413;
and Guests 364.
Society Initiatives
ACS committees and councilor caucuses provided input into
three key Society initiatives:
1. The Society’s new vision statement:
“Improving people’s lives through the transforming power of
chemistry,” which resulted from the input of several thousand
ACS members, was unveiled and discussed at this meeting. At the
District II Caucus, which I attended, a large majority of
Councilors made it clear their dissatisfaction with the new
vision statement. Criticisms include the fact that it is not a
complete sentence, that it does not even mention the society,
and that it would have been a lot cheaper to license from Dupont
their old slogan, “better living through chemistry.” I, for one,
am nonplussed with the new vision statement. An alternative,
which, however, does not quell the above criticisms is,
“Transforming people’s lives through the power of chemistry.”
2. The Board-Council Policy Committee Governance Review Task
Force was charged with reviewing the Society’s governance, and
Constitution and Bylaws, to ensure that the Society has a
governing framework to enable it to best fulfill its mission,
meet member needs, and remain a world-class organization. The
task force developed a framework that emphasized five key
elements of the Society’s governance, which are: membership,
geographical organization, disciplinary organization, governance
structure, and governance operations.
3. A Program Review Advisory Group (PRAG) has been established
to assist the Committee on Budget and Finance in reviewing all
programs of the Society (with some exemptions) on a periodic and
regular basis. The PRAG consists of councilors, members of the
Board of Directors, members of the Committee on Budget and
Finance, and representatives from the committees with oversight
over the programs under review in a given year.
Member Statistics
ACS closed 2005 with 158,422 members,
reversing a 4-year downward trend in Society membership. Of the
15,532 applications processed in 2005, nearly 900 came from the
Member-Get-AMember campaign, in which many councilors
participated. The membership retention number remained stable at
92.4%.
Special Discussion
A special discussion item was put on the
Council agenda for this meeting. The discussion focused on
membership – specifically, the requirements for ACS membership,
and whether they should be made more or less restrictive, or
kept the same. ACS President E. Ann Nalley invited the co-chairs
of the Board-Council Policy Committee Governance Review Task
Force, James D. Burke and William F. Carroll, to help frame the
discussion by presenting the results of a councilor survey on
ACS membership requirements.
2006 Member Dues
The Council VOTED to set the member dues for 2007 at the fully
escalated rate of $132.
Future National Meetings
The Council voted to recommend to the Board of Directors that
the spring meeting for 2015 be held in Denver, Colorado, March
22-26; and that the fall meeting be held in Boston,
Massachusetts, August 16-20. The Council also voted to recommend
locations and dates for the 2016 meeting as follows: the spring
meeting to be held on March 13-17, in San Diego, California; and
the fall meeting to be held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on
August 21-25.
Your faithful Councilor,
Steve Trohalaki
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