Northeastern Section of the American Chemical Society Board of Directors Radisson Hotel Woburn MA September 9th, 2004
Members in attendance: M. Burgess, M. Chen, M. Chorghade, C. Costello, M. Froimowitz, J. Fuller-Stanley, W. Gleekman, P. Gordon, M. Hoffman, J. Neumeyer, D. Phillips, J. Piper, D. Rickter, M. Simon, J. D. Smith, M. Spitler, M. Strem, M. Singer, R. Tanner, A. Tapper, A. Viola, G. Weisman, D. Yesair. The meeting was called to order at 4:40PM with Jean Fuller-Stanley in the Chair. The minutes of May 2004 were approved as presented. The minutes of June 2004 were approved as presented. Chair Report: J. Fuller-Stanley Chem. Luminary Awards- the section was finalist in three categories. o We did not win, but did get three finalist appreciation certificates, will be given to the Archivist. Letter of thanks (attached at the end of the minutes) to be sent to the Chemistry Department Chair at Northeastern University - rededication of the Norris Room. o Motion to send the letter – passed unanimously by voice vote. James Flack Norris award for Physical Organic Chemistry. - National needs to know if the Section will continue support for 2006-2011 inclusive. Audio Conference for Local Section Chairs- Annual Reports Appreciation e-mail note from Ed Atkins daughters, need extra copies of the Nucleus. Ted Light, not well. Announcement from AIChE meeting tomorrow- Green Chemistry and possible joint programming in future 20 people attended today’s career workshop. The vendor fair appears to be very well attended Chair-Elect: A. Tapper Will attend the Advanced ACS Leadership Conference in St. Louis. 80 people have replied for tonight’s dinner. The LSAC Report on the 2003 NESACS Annual report is attached to the end of these minutes. Secretary: M. Singer No report Treasurer: J. Piper The May-Aug 2004 treasurer’s report was presented and accepted. 1 of 18 pages
o Notice that line 12 on the local dues has increased. This is due to raising the dues to $15 this year. Archivist: M. Simon No Report Trustees: M. Strem The next scheduled Trustees meeting is in 2 weeks. The trustees will review the Norris Award request and report back at the October Board meeting. Councilors: ACS Council Report (kindly provided by M. Hoffman) SUMMARY OF GOVERNANCE ACTIONS/REPORTS AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY 228TH ACS NATIONAL MEETING PHILADELPHIA, PA AUGUST 22-26, 2004
ACTIONS OF THE COUNCIL Election Results The Committee on Nominations and Elections presented to Council the following slate of nominees for membership on the Committee on Committees for the 2005-2007 term: Lawrence Barton, Cherlynlavaugh Bradley, George F. Cowperthwaite, Franklin A. Davis, Lissa Dulany, Larry K. Krannich, Melanie J. Lesko, Mary Virginia Orna, Eleanor D. Siebert and James Visintainer. By written ballot the Council elected Lawrence Barton, Lissa Dulany, Larry K. Krannich, Mary Virginia Orna, and Eleanor D. Siebert for the 2005-2007 term. The Committee on Nominations and Elections presented to Council the following slate of nominees for membership on the Council Policy Committee for the 2005-2007 term: Rita R. Boggs, Dean W. Cooke, Ann H. Hunt, Thomas J. Kucera, Robert A. Pett, Yorke E. Rhodes, Peter J. Stang, and Mark Wicholas. By written ballot the Council elected Rita R. Boggs, Dean W. Cooke, Yorke E. Rhodes, and Peter J. Stang for the 2005-2007 term. The Council Policy Committee presented to Council the following slate of nominees for membership on the Committee on Nominations and Elections: Roger F. Bartholomew, R. Gerald Bass, Frank D. Blum, Michael
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P. Doyle, Carol A. Duane, Merle I. Eiss, Ruth Ann Hathaway, Frederick G. Heineken, Roland F. Hirsch, Warren D. Hull, Jr., Robert A. Pribush, Kathleen M. Schulz, Herbert B. Silber, and Ellen B. Stechel. By written ballot the Council elected Frank D. Blum, Michael P. Doyle, Carol A. Duane, Ruth A. Hathaway and Kathleen M. Schulz for the 2005-07 term; and to fill two vacancies on the committee, Merle I. Eiss for a 2005-06 term, and Ellen B. Stechel for a 2005 term. Candidates for President-Elect and Board of Directors The Council was informed of the candidates for the fall 2004 ACS national election as follows:
President-Elect 2005 E. Ann Nalley, Cameron University, Lawton, Oklahoma F. Sherwood Rowland, University of California, Irvine, California Isiah M. Warner, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana Director-at-Large, 2005-2007 David F. Eaton, Light Insights, LLC, Wilmington, Delaware Judith C. Giordan, Visions in Education, Inc., Pleasanton, California Howard M. Peters, Peters, Verny, Jones & Schmitt, LLP, Palo Alto, California David N. Rahni, Pace University, Pleasantville, New York Director, District II, 2005-2007 Thomas H. Lane, Dow Corning Corporation, Midland, Michigan Diane G. Schmidt, Procter & Gamble Company, Cincinnati, Ohio Director, District IV, 2005-2007 Eric D. Bigham, GlaxoSmithKline, Chapel Hill, North Carolina Paul R. Jones, University of North Texas, Denton, Texas Robert L. Lichter, Merrimack Consultants, LLC, Atlanta, Georgia John L. Massingill, Jr., Texas State University, San Marcos, Texas Candidate Statement Guidelines: President-Elect and Board of Directors The Council discussed a recent decision by the Committee on Nominations to reduce the allowable length for candidate statements (President-Elect and Board of Directors) from 1000 words to 750. A resolution was defeated at Council that would have allowed candidate statements to be 1000 words or more.
Proposal for an Ethics Committee The Committee on Committees presented to Council a proposal for establishing an Ethics Committee as an Other Committee of the Council.
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The charge of this committee would be as follows: To coordinate the ethics-related activities of the Society; serve as an educational resource and clearinghouse, but not as an adjudicatory body, for ACS members seeking guidance on ethics issues; raise awareness of ethics issues through meeting programming and columns/editorials; review recognition opportunities for acknowledging ethical behavior; and develop and oversee such other ethics-related activities as will serve ACS members and promote the Society’s standards of ethical conduct within the profession of chemistry and its related disciplines. The Council voted to refer the recommendation back to the Committee on Committees for further study. Registration Report, 2005 Advance Registration Fee, and Future Locations of National Meetings As of August 24, 2004, the ACS fall national meeting had attracted 13,805 registrants as follows: Regular attendees 7,741; Students 2,919; Guests 482; Exhibit only 734; and Exhibitors 1,929. The 2005 advance registration fee was announced as $295. The Council approved 2014 meeting sites as follows: Washington, D.C. (March 16-20) and San Francisco (August 24-28). The Committee on Meetings and Expositions will be requesting that the Board of Directors agree to switch the New York 2010 meeting with the Boston 2012 site due to projected construction on the New York Convention Center.
Membership Statistics The Council was informed that as of June 30, 2004, total ACS membership stood at 154,945. Compared to last year, this represents less than a 1% decrease in the overall membership number. The good news is that the very impressive 50% increase in the recent graduates joining the Society experienced at year-end last year is continuing. At the end of June, more than 6,800 new members had been added to the membership rolls, which aligns well with the number at the same time last year.
Approval of Petitions The Council voted to accept three amendments to the ACS Constitution and/or Bylaws (Petitions): Petition for Electronic Balloting, Petition to Change Division Annual Report Deadline, and Petition for Membership Requirements for Teachers. The Petition for Electronic Balloting proposed changes to the Society’s Constitution and Bylaws allowing for the option of electronic balloting. The first Society implementation will be internetbased, similar to those currently used by several divisions, sister societies, and other organizations, such as public corporations polling their
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shareholders prior to annual meetings. The Petition to Change Division Annual Report Deadlines makes the annual report deadline consistent with that of Local Sections. This allows the Council Committee on Divisional Activities more time to evaluate Division Annual Reports for making selections for the ChemLuminary Awards program. The Petition for Membership Requirements for Teachers allows experienced qualified chemistry teachers, who may not otherwise fully meet the requirements, to become members based on their status and experience. The petition also allows a pre-college chemistry or allied science teacher to become an associate member. Special Discussion Item A special discussion item was put on the Council agenda for this meeting. ACS President Charles Casey and Board Chair James Burke lead the Council in a discussion on the multidisciplinarity/dispersion of chemistry as a discipline and its impact on ACS members and the profession. Questions were raised about the way the federal government identifies jobs held by chemists as one of many indicators of how multidisciplinarity has come to affect the status of chemists. The Board of Directors and the ACS President have established a joint Board-Council task force to assess the challenges and opportunities that multidisciplinarity presents to the ACS and chemical scientists in general. The discussion at Council revealed an interest in this topic, particularly as it applies to the future of the discipline.
Local Section Actions On the recommendation of the Local Section Activities Committee, the Council approved a name change for the Peoria Local Section to the Illinois Heartland Local Section. The Council also approved the inclusion of four additional counties to the Wichita Falls – Duncan Local Section.
Approval of the ACS Professional Employment Guidelines On the recommendation of the Committee on Economic and Professional Affairs, the Council voted to approve the seventh edition of the ACS Professional Employment Guidelines. These guidelines offer a variety of recommended practices in employment for professional scientists and their employers in today’s workplace.
ACTIONS OF THE BOARD ACS Award Activity
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The Board of Directors voted to recommend a nominee for both the 2005 Perkin Medal and the Othmer Gold Medal. The Perkin Medal, the highest award of the Society of Chemical Industry, is awarded for outstanding contributions to the applied chemistry industry. The Othmer Gold Medal recognizes a chemical scientist of multiple talents and achievements and is awarded by the Chemical Heritage Foundation. The Board also approved financial support for the James Bryant Conant Award in High School Chemistry Teaching for 2006. The Board agreed that the award addresses for the Award for Volunteer Service to the Society will be presented at annual ChemLuminary Award Ceremonies.
The Board’s Committees and Task Forces The Board received a report from its Audit Committee and voted to approve the committee charter and a subsequent board amendment referencing the charter. The Audit Committee assists the Board with fulfilling its responsibility for oversight of the quality and integrity of the accounting, auditing, internal control and financial reporting practices of the Society. The Board received a progress report from its task force on strategic alliances, which is drafting a framework “stage gates” of sequential decisions to guide the Society as it pursues new endeavors. The Board also was updated on its continued discussions with the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. Earlier this year a task force on ACS development activities began studying opportunities for an expanded development program at the Society. At this meeting, the Board voted to centralize and expand the Society’s development activities, effective January 1, 2005.
The Society’s Finances The Board received a report from the Committee on Budget and Finance and was advised that the Society is projected to end 2004 with a net contribution from operations of $1,531,000, which is $60,000 favorable to the approved budget. The Board of Directors received and discussed three program funding requests for 2005: ChemCensus 2005; a Leadership Development Project and the PROGRESS Project. On the recommendation of the Society’s Budget and Finance Committee, the Board voted the following actions: to include funding for ChemCensus 2005 in the ’05 proposed budget at a cost of $229,000; to fund the PROGRESS Project in the proposed 2005 budget at a cost of $160,000, $94,000 in 2006, and $98,000 in 2007; and to defer consideration of the Leadership
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Development Project for further clarification of the project’s focus and metrics and to resubmit a modified proposal at the earliest opportunity. The Society’s Staff The Board received a report from the Executive Director on the overall activities of the Society and detailed reports on the activities of the Governing Boards for Publishing and Green Chemistry, the Membership Division, Human Resources and the Society’s General Counsel. The Board continued its review of executive compensation through a report presented by Aon Consulting – a nationally recognized human resources consulting firm.
Special Presentations The Board received two special presentations. The first presentation detailed the American Chemistry Council’s (ACC) Long Range Research Initiative and was presented by Dr. Nance Dicciani, President and CEO of Honeywell Specialty Materials, and Chair of ACC’s Board Research Committee. The second special presentation took place at the Chemical Heritage Foundation, where the Board received a tour of the Foundation followed by an overview of its history and current activities as presented by its president, Dr. Arnold Thackray.
Councilor Report: M. Hearn At the fall National Meeting in Philadelphia, I attended the session of the Committee on Chemistry and Public Affairs, a joint committee of Council and the Board. The Northeastern Section is well represented on this Committee, having three members: Drs. Doris Lewis, Tim Rose and myself. Among the significant issues that were discussed in the meeting were the prospects for adequate funding for scientific research by the Congress and the effects of increasing globalization on the nation’s research and development enterprise, economy and workforce. As Chair of the Grassroots Sub-committee, I reported on the activities of the Legislative Action Network of the ACS and on recent visits made by ACS members to the district offices of their senators and representatives. Councilor Report: M. Burgess The CEPA meetings that I attended were very interesting and enlightening. I attended some meetings on Globalization and hope to be active on this committee. Council meeting: Each of these proposals or recommendations were accepted in general with little or no problem and I agreed
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Councilor Report: M Chen Attended National Council Meeting, Sci-Mix, Town Meeting and Visited Chemical Heritage Foundation. I am a member of the Admissions Committee. Councilor Report: A. Tapper In addition to attending Council, I also attended the town hall meeting (debate among candidates for Director at Large). In the Division of Chemical Education, I gave an oral presentation on the German Exchange Program. Councilor Report: T. Gilbert On Sunday and Monday I participated in and served as Vice-Chair for meetings of the Committee on Nominations and Elections. I chaired the task force that developed the petition for electronic balloting, and in that capacity met with the following groups to discuss the petition and answer questions: o Monday evening: the Western Councilors' caucus o Tuesday morning: meeting of the Council Policy Committee o Tuesday afternoon: the Divisional Officers' caucus o Tuesday evening: the Divisional Councilors' caucus o Tuesday evening: District I Councilors' caucus o On Wednesday morning I presented the electronic balloting petition to Council and answered questions prior to the vote on the required constitution and bylaw changes. Votes at Council meeting: o Against resolution to restore size of candidates' statements to 1000 (+) words o For referring to committee the motion to create Committee on Ethics o For ACS membership for chemistry teachers o For electronic balloting National Meeting Report: S. Lantos (Director at Large) I attended the High School Day at the August National Meeting in Philadelphia. The meeting had roughly 60 attendees, mostly from the Philadelphia area. Participants heard talks on inquiry-based learning in the chemistry classroom and graduate programs for chemical education, among other lectures offered. The keynote speaker, Dr. Joseph Schmoekler from Temple University, spoke about the importance and value of a chemistry education. As always, the High School Day is a great place to exchange ideas, innovations, and addresses with fellow high school teachers! Local Arrangements: M. Burgess Everything is all set for tonight’s dinner meeting.
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Chemical Education: R. Tanner The 4th Connections to Chemistry will be October 13th and is advertised on the website. Burlington High School will once again be the venue. Teachers are responding very well to the Board action last year of supplying all Connection to Chemistry attendees with a 1-year subscription to the Nucleus. Motion by R. Tanner: To renew the program to send all Connections to Chemistry registrants 2004 a 1-year subscription to the Nucleus. Second by M. Simon. o Motion passes on a voice vote. Undergraduate day will be at Boston University on November 6th. All the information is on the NESACS website. Board of Publications: Patrick Gordon Introduced Mark Spitler as the new Nucleus editor. The BOP met July 2004 and discussed the remuneration for the Editor of the Nucleus as was requested by the NESACS board at the Long range Planning Meeting. The Board was unanimous in its conclusions not award any remuneration to the Editor at the present time. Further to this decision, Vince Gale and I met with Mark Spitler, the appointed Interim Editor, to discuss, among other BOP matters, the subject of compensation for the Editor as was the custom. We indicated to Mark the circumstances, as best we understand them, the reason for awarding a stipend per issue to Arno Heyn, the previous Editor and some of his predecessors. We also indicated to Mark the deficit that the publication of the Nucleus has incurred and our efforts to minimize that in the coming months. We relayed to Mark that one of the measures will be to suspend the remuneration to the Editor for the rest of the year. Mark is in complete agreement with the BOP’s decision in not awarding any remuneration at this time. Vince Gale and I felt that Mark Spitler completely understands and agrees with the BOP’s fiscal remedies in streamlining the 2004 fiscal expenses of the Nucleus. Moreover, Mark feels that his major focus in the near future is to ensure that the new team understands its role, figuring out the best roles for all the other volunteers of the team as this transition occurs with the new team. The BOP expresses its appreciation for the NESACS board’s concern and trusts that the NESACS’s board will abide by the BOP’s decision in withholding any remuneration to the Editor at this time. Furthermore, we have agreed, as a Board, to review the situation in January 2005 and to have Mark Spitler as part of any decision we take and to solicit his input as to whether any other members of the team ought to be rewarded in a like manner. Finally, it is worth noting that many NESACS volunteers perform their responsibilities without remuneration
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Discussion: o Should there be 3 paid positions for the Board of Publications: Nucleus Editor, administrative secretary and Webmaster. o The editorial job has been split between several people and is currently difficult to figure out exactly who does what. The editorship has been split. Suggests tabling any discussion on the proper amount to pay the Nucleus Editor until the details have been worked out among the editorial staff. o There needs to be proper reimbursement for out of pocket expenses. Motion by A. Viola: The NESACS Board should continue the stipend / honorarium for the office of the Nucleus Editor. The motion was not seconded. o Discussion on the motion: This really is a Board of Publications decision and the motion should be considered a Sense of the NESACS Board. Jim Piper as Treasurer pointed out that passing this motion for this year would force the Nucleus over budget. The Interim Editor (M. Chorghade) was a volunteer and granted an honorarium for his efforts. The Nucleus is in transition right now from a long established editor to a new team of editors. The new team needs to re-evaluate the entire Nucleus production process. Legitimate out of pocket expenses for members of the Nucleus staff are currently being covered by the Board of Publications. The intent of the motion is to continue the practice of paying an honorarium to the office of the Editor. Not to specify the amounts or the time frame. The final decision to pay any editor is a budget recommendation from the Board of Publications to the NESACS Board. A. Viola withdraws his motion and replaces it with the following Sense of the NESACS Board: The NESACS Board acknowledges the importance of paying an honorarium to the Nucleus editor and encourages resumption of the honorarium at an appropriate time in the future as determined by the Board of Publications. Seconded by W. Gleekman o Vote: 19 yes, 1 No, 2 abstain. The chair of the Board of publications will report back to the NESACS Board in January 2005 as part of the budget process. Nucleus Editor: M. Spitler: Jean Fuller-Stanley welcomed Mark Spitler to the Board as the new editor of the Nucleus. There are currently 3 people on the editorial staff as of now. Other volunteers are being identified.
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Thanks to Vince Gale and Harry Steinman in helping to make the transition. The new staff has been made aware in the types of submissions the Nucleus receives as well as the time requirements of submission. The October issue is on schedule. A 20 page November issue is planned and has a September 17 th deadline for submissions. The December issue will be 16 pages. In general, the deadlines for submissions are being pushed forward to allow for team coordination. Constitution and By-Laws: C. Costello National ACS Constitution and By-laws have acted on the November 2001 by-law request for modification to the NESACS by-laws to include the Brauner book award. The modification has been approved and is ready for final section action. The final wording should be reviewed before sending the matter to the section membership for a vote. National C&B recommends modifications to permit electronic balloting in NESACS C&B in accordance with changes at the national level. We have the correct wording from National C&B. A proposal from C&B will be made to the NESACS Board at a future meeting. C&B membership needs to be updated and requests that the NESACS Chair appoint committee members. Membership Committee: M. Chen 145 Welcome New Member Letters were sent on August 14, 2004. (95 were new members, 50 were members who were transferred to our Local Section). I also received 90 New Member labels from Karen Piper on Aug. 26, 2004. o 4 New Members attending tonight's dinner: o Longyvan Mei o Richard Russo o Oliver Dasse o Ashis Saha Professionnel Relations: M. Chorgadhe Held a session today. It was very well attended. The program is maturing well. Continuing Education: A. Viola The next ACS Short Course will be October 28 and 29th. The announcement will be in the September and October Nucleus.
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The National ACS Continuing Education coordinator is retiring in 2005. The program may go into transition and possibly not be continued on the national level. Hill Award: J. Fuller-Stanley Don Rickter is the 2004 Henry Hill Awardee. The award will be given at the October meeting. Medicinal Chemistry Group: A. Tapper The program is currently going on. Summerthing: W. Gleekman Summerthing IV was postponed to next year due to construction. NCW – 2004 C. Jaworek-Lopes The Kick-Off event for NCW 2004 will be held at Wellesley College Science Center on October 17, 2004 from 10 am – 4 pm. In accordance with the theme, Health and Wellness a number of hands-on activities and demonstrations have been identified: o dental health activities including power of fluoride, dental sealants, and acid attack; o identifying iron in cereals; o skin protection using UV-sensitive beads; o smoking and our lungs. The Tufts Dental Smile Squad has agreed to volunteer that day as well. A number of colleges have been contacted for participation in the kick-off event. The Phyllis Brauner Memorial Lecture will be held on October 17, 2004 at 11 am and at 2 pm at Wellesley as well. The lecture demonstrators will be Dr. Jerry Bell and Dr. Jim Golen. NERM M. Simon The following report is supplied by M. Simon from the NERM organizing committee Greetings from Rochester, NY site of the American Chemical Society 2004 Northeast Regional Meeting! o The organizing committee has been working diligently to make NERM 2004 an exciting meeting. The official website for the meeting can be found at www.nerm2004.org. Please visit the website often as the content changes rapidly. We are happy to present a wide variety of activities for meeting attendees this year, all listed on the website. Also, we have a fantastic program for undergraduate affiliates and we encourage faculty member to bring students. The NERM venue is the perfect size to introduce your students to the array of activities that occurs at ACS meetings.
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o Finally, please note that meeting registration and abstract submittals will be coming to a close in early September. So don't delay, visit the NERM website at your earliest convenience. We look forward to seeing you in Rochester at NERM 2004!! Speaker’s Bureau: S. Buta As of May seven members have volunteered. I will actively recruit in October, but I would deeply appreciate my colleague's help in recruiting other members during local section meetings. My goal is to have 20something members committed before we should announce the program to the public. Fundraising Committee: D. Phillips 14 vendors are at today’s vendor show. The goal was 10 vendors. The vendor show will be repeated next year. Old Business: Norris Award discussion tabled until next month waiting for Trustee’s report. New Business None Meeting Adjourned at 6:00PM
Respectfully Submitted
Michael Singer NESACS Secretary
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LSAC Report on the 2003 NESACS Annual report provided by A. Tapper. 2003 Annual Report - “Evaluation Form for Reviewers” Local Section: Northeastern Reviewer: Bruce Ault Phone Number 513-556-9238 Email bruce.ault@uc.edu A. Comment on the following (noting strengths and, if applicable, deficiencies): 1. New Activities/Projects Forming a budget and finance committee is important for any local section, and for a section of your size, complexity and financial involvement, it is doubly important. This should help you be financially stable and work effectively for years to come. A welcoming letter and survey for new members is an excellent way of finding out the needs of new members, and getting them involved quickly. Keep up the good work!
2.
Section Administration/Member Involvement:
The section appears to be running very smoothly and effectively, with 25 standing committees and an executive committee of substantial size (63!) that met 9 times during the year. This is a model for effective organization of section activities. Finding and "bringing into the fold" new volunteers to maintain long-term leadership in the section is important, and you are doing this very well. Congratulations also on a very thorough and well-written annual report.
3.
Membership Services/Meetings:
With the broad range of activities that the section conducts, it is hard to pick out one or two for mention here. I did note the activity in the section directed toward young scientists, both through Connections to Chemistry for high school teachers, and your two student research conferences. Also, the exchange program with a young German science group is very unusual and very valuable to the participants. As a side note, your website looks very good and has been updated very recently, a challenging issue for many sections..
4.
Section Thrusts/Priorities/Goals:
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Through the goals both of the section and of the chair, you have identified a number of key targets for the year. This type of focused leadership enables the section to achieve very concrete and important objectives during the year. Good luck with your 2004 goals!
B.
Additional observations and/or suggestions that could help re-focus the efforts of the Local Section
Your section is doing many things well, so it is hard to find something to suggest here. I did note that while you have groups and committees that focus on many segments of your membership (e.g. YCC), you did not indicate that you have a Women's Chemist Committee. Such groups have been effective in a number of sections in focusing on issues related to women in the discipline. With over 1500 female members, you may wish to consider efforts in this direction.
C.
Comment on concerns found in Part II of the Section’s Annual Report. Write "NONE" if no concerns were reported.
Motivating young (busy) young people is always a challenge. By "participating in section activities" are you referring more to general section activities or focused YCC activities? If it is the latter, then perhaps a survey (online) of just your younger chemists might be helpful to find what really interests them (if anything). If it is the former, then you might look at successful YCC events and adapt them for overall section activities. Knowing what people want is the key, but not always easy to find out. As well you know, there will always be a group who will never be involved - they join the ACS for every different reasons - journals, national meetings - but have no service inclination. Contacting ACS national - Martha Lester (m_lester@acs.org) or Dale Gaddy (d_gaddy@acs.org) in the office of local section affairs may be a source of additional insights. Having a chair-elect who was a recent YCC chair may also help in this area.
The following errors/omissions were found in the Annual Report and should be brought to the section's attention for consideration as it prepares its next Annual Report. Check those that apply.
Mathematical errors in Financial Report Appendix 2 Budgets for 2003, 2004 not 15 of 18 pages
attached Appendix 3 One copy of Newsletter not attached/No URL Other
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NORTHEASTERN SECTION AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY ADMINISTRATIVE SECRETARY 23 COTTAGE STREET NATICK, MA 01760 E-MAIL: mcash0953@aol.com PHONE OR FAX (508) 653-6329 MA AND NH ONLY (800) 872-2054
September 9, 2004
Professor Graham B. Jones, Chair Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology 102 Hurtig Hall Northeastern University 360 Huntington Avenue Boston, MA 02115-5000
Dear Professor Jones; On behalf of the Board of Directors of the Northeastern Section of the American Chemical Society (NESACS) I would like to thank you, members of the chemistry department and others associated with Northeastern University for continuing to honor the original intent of the donation, to establish the James Flack Norris Room dedicated solely to the ACS Student Affiliate Chapter. Your letter of March 15th 2004 indicated substantial building renovations and the changing needs of the Department as major reasons to relocate the Norris room. Your letter also mentioned previous encroachments on the planned sole use of the room, which deprived students affiliate members of the use of said space. Your assignment of new larger space, 1058 square feet compared with the previous 551 square feet is indeed an improvement. The NESACS Board of Directors wish to commend you and your colleagues for your rededication to the original intent and purpose of the Norris Room, namely for the sole purpose of ACS Student Affiliate Chapter. As you outlined in your correspondence, the Norris room is now comprised of a two-room suite with the smaller room serving as an office for the Officers of the Chapter and the larger room as a meeting rooms and lounge for all Chapter members and their guests.
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Your letter also mentioned that undergraduate students seeking help would also use the larger room for their studies in Chemistry. While this does not conform to the letter of the original intent of the room, the Board of NESACS are in agreement that this use by students does not violate the “spirit” of the original purpose of the room. Chapter members will still have access to the room at all times and will be given priority for meetings and other of their activities. Additionally, the fact that Chapter members will be participating as “peer counselors” will ensure that student affiliates presence in the rooms when in use. As you are aware, the May monthly meeting of NESACS was held at Northeastern University on May 13th 2004. The vibrancy of the student affiliate members was evident by their involvement in all aspect of the planning and hosting us. The NESACS Board concur with your assessment that this dedicated space for the student affiliates sole use has become the catalyst that rekindled interest and enthusiasm for chemistry. The student affiliates enthusiasm and willingness to be involved were clearly demonstrated by the professional manner with which they hosted the May meeting. Chapter members took full responsibility for making arrangements and coordinating the University's efforts to host that meeting. The Board of Directors wish to convey their gratitude to the student affiliate for allow us to use the new James Flack Norris room for the May 13th 2004 meeting. Members of the NESACS Board look forward to being present at the dedication of the new facility in the fall. The Board continues to be grateful for your willingness to uphold the original intent of the James Flack Norris room for student affiliates’ use.
Sincerely,
Jean A. Fuller-Stanley Ph.D. NESACS Chair-2004 Professor of Chemistry, Wellesley College
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