Councilor's Reports
Councilor's Report from the fall national ACS 2023 meeting from Brent Eldridge:
The Councilors had a Caucus meeting on August 13 from 6-7 pm. We met on August 16 from 8-Noon for the Councilor's Meeting and following business was conducted:
§ Election Results:
By electronic ballot, the Council elected Martha G. Hollomon, Elizabeth M. Howson, Jeanette M. Van Emon, and Lydia E. M. Hines for a three-year term (2024-2026) on the Council Policy Committee (CPC). James C. Carver was elected for a one-year term from 2024-2025 to fill the unexpired term of Will E. Lynch, who was elected to the ACS Board of Directors.
By electronic ballot, the Council elected Anna G. Cavinato, Andrea B. Twiss-Brooks, Thomas R. Gilbert, Jeanne R. Berk, and W. Matthew Reichert for a three-year term (2024-2026) on the Committee on Committees (ConC).
By electronic ballot, the Council elected Linette M. Watkins, Arlene A. Garrison, Zaida C. Morales Martinez, Amber F. Charlebois, and Jetty L. Duffy-Matzner for a three-year term (2024-2026) on the Committee on Nominations and Elections (N&E). Kevin J. Edgar was elected for a one-year term from 2024-2025 to fill Silvia Ronco’s vacancy.
§ Highlights from Reports and Key Actions:
Chief Executive Officer Albert Horvath honored the memory of our newly appointed Editor-in Chief of C&EN, Mohammed Yahia, who passed away on the way to the San Francisco meeting. Our thoughts go out to his wife Ola and their two young children.
Horvath also shared ACS’s efforts to engage more members while recruiting and retaining talented staff as we continue to adapt to the post-pandemic workplace. He shared an update on the ACS Strategic Initiatives and the Society’s continued strong financial performance.
On the recommendation of the Council Policy Committee, the Council approved the Petition to Amend the Council Executive Function. This amendment codifies the current practice in the Standing Rules, removing the oral reporting requirement for non-elected Society Committees. CPC welcomes oral reports from all Society Committees including those without action before Council.
CPC voted to discontinue the Councilor Travel Expense Program, effective December 31, 2023, and replace it with the Councilor Attendance Incentive Allotment, effective January 1, 2024. This new approach will provide a single payment of $2,000 per Councilor, per meeting, directly to Local Sections and Divisions that opt into the program. · CPC also voted to move oversight for the Non-Councilor Reimbursement Program to the Committee on Committees with the recommendation that it be renamed the “Volunteer Committee Reimbursement Program.”
On the recommendation of the Committee on Committees, and with the concurrence of the Council Policy Committee, Council approved the Petition to Amend the Duties of the Committee on International Activities (IAC), providing the committee with the same authority permitted to its unit counterparts to assist International Chemical Sciences Chapters with issues arising from officer turnover and other administrative difficulties.
On the recommendation of the Committee on Nominations and Elections, and with the concurrence of the Council Policy Committee, Council approved the Petition to Add International Representation to the Board of Directors, decreasing the total number of Councilor Talking Points and Summary of Governance Issues and Actions American Chemical Society 3 Directors-at-Large from six to five and creating an International District Director. Following approval by the Board of Directors, the amendment to the ACS Constitution will require the support of two-thirds (2/3) majority of voting members.
On the recommendation of the Committee on International Activities, Council approved the creation of the Singapore International Chemical Sciences Chapter.
The Committee on Constitution and Bylaws (C&B) reported the certification of bylaws for six Local Sections in 2023: Cornell, East Tennessee, Idaho, Puerto Rico, Tennessee-Virginia Highlands, and Wooster.
Council Special Discussion
The Board of Directors shall be composed of the President, the President-ACS President Judith Giordan introduced and led a special discussion on "ACS Council: Equitable Governance for the Future.” She sought Councilor input on ideas to improve representation, broadly defined, on Council and across ACS governance.
Three specific prompts were posed to Councilors for their input and suggestions:
1. Ideally, for ACS Council to equitably represent all members we would...
2. The key areas where we need to ensure greater equity and inclusion in Council are…
3. I wish ACS Council would/could… ...to engender greater equity and inclusion.
Councilors provided their ideas and thoughts, and relevant Society units will receive this input within the next several weeks. Please share further input with secretary@acs.org.
Resolutions
The Council passed several resolutions:
- In memory of deceased Past President Ned D. Heindel
- In memory of deceased Past President Paul H.L. Walter
- In memory of deceased Councilors
- In appreciation of the California and Silicon Valley Sections, host Sections for the fall 2023 ACS meeting, the Divisional program chairs, symposium organizers, and ACS staff for the planning and execution of the meeting
- In appreciation of the outgoing Chair of Council, Judith C. Giordan
This concludes the major highlights of the fall national councilor’s meeting.
If there is additional information that you would like me to include in the report, then please email me at brent.eldridge@kctcs.edu
Councilor's Report from the spring 2023 national ACS meeting from Brent Eldridge:
The Councilors had a Caucus meeting on March 26. We met on March 26 from 8-Noon for the Councilor's Meeting and following business was conducted:
Dorothy J. Phillips and Florian J. Schattenmann were chosen as 2024 President-Elect. Councilors will vote in the fall.
The Council Policy Committee is looking to streamline the process for reimbursement to attend the Councilor's meetings.
Petition to Amend the Duties of the Council Policy Committee which will allow removal of a Councilor or Alternate Councilor from their position upon determination of at least 2/3 of the members of the Council Policy Committee when warranted, passed.
Committee on Committees stated the committee preference form was to be sent out April 3 and should be submitted by ACS members no later than July 3: https://www.cmte.acs.org/s/dashboard
Petition to Amend the Name and Duties of the Committee on Environmental Improvement passed. The committee will be named the Committee on Environment and Sustainability
Petition to Add Plan B to Council Meetings passed, "... an event ...beyond the Council control, such as natural disasters or technology failures, will negatively impact the ability of a significant number of Councilors to cast their votes during a Council meeting...can be postponed until after the Council meeting."
Due and Benefits packages were tweaked, Disabled Waiver was changed from "totally disabled to has a long-term disability" and Emeritus was changed to 35 years of paid membership and retired from full-time professional employment.
For Consideration which will be voted on in August:
The Board of Directors shall be composed of the President, the President-Elect, the most recent Past President (all ex officios) six District Directors, one elected from each of six geographical Districts by the membership of the Districts from which they are to serve, one International Director elected by the SOCIETY members residing outside of the United States and Canada who are not members of a Local Section, and five Directors-at-Large elected by the Council. The Chief Executive Officer shall be a nonvoting ex officio member of the Board of Directors.
If you have thoughts on this Petition to Add International Representation to the Board of Directors, then send them to brent.eldridge@kctcs.edu.
This concludes the major highlights of the spring national councilor's meeting.
As an Associate of the Society Committee on Education (SOCED) and the subgroup Science Education Policy, we met on March 24 to discuss:
Mission and Vision Statements
The Strategic Plan
Reports from each Sub-Committee
SOCED Science Education Policy:
Created a Science Education Policy which was passed by the ACS last fall. The policy can be viewed at: https://www.acs.org/policy/publicpolicies/education/educationpolicies.html
We are currently working on a VISA/Immigration policy which we hopefully will present at the fall meeting.
Participated in the SOCED open meeting.
Participated in the Undergraduate Poster Session from Noon to 2pm on Monday, March 27.
Science Education Policy - American Chemical Society
This concludes the major highlights of SOCED for spring 2023.
The Lexington Section of the ACS was invited to participate in the ACS Local Section Showcase ACS Spring 2023.
On behalf of LSAC, I am excited to invite you to participate in a new initiative that is planned for the ACS Spring 2023 Meeting in Indianapolis. The ACS Local Section Showcase will make its debut at Sci-Mix on Monday, March 27, 2023, from 8:00-10:00pm.
For this inaugural event, we are inviting all local sections from District II to participate and showcase their unique programming. This event will provide an opportunity for you to highlight your local section events and activities, connect the value of being engaged with ACS through local sections and attract new members/volunteers. In addition to District II local sections, the Committee on Local Section Activities (LSAC) will participate in this event to promote our mission of providing opportunities, resources, and networks to partner with and serve our diverse member communities.
Our Chair, Erin Peters produced a poster and stickers promoting our section for the event. Stationery for the Biennial Conference on Chemical Education (BCCE) that will be held at the University of Kentucky in 2024 was also handed out. It was nice talking to Jennifier Muzyka from Centre College, Gary Anderson from Marshall University, and numerous students during the poster session from our region.