MILWAUKEE SECTION
AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY

Councillors' Report

The main issues considered by the Council at this meeting included several items.

1. Report from the President. Dr. Ann Nalley stated that it is time to move forward with her theme "Ensuring the Future". She reminded the audience that the NAS report, "Rising Above the Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter Economic Future", shows that we have a growing crisis in science education as well as support for basic research. Dr. Nalley noted that among other activities, three focal points will demand her attention. These are: to develop more effective ways of communicating the values of basic research, to recognize the value of volunteer service in the society and to seek more effective ways of insuring that we have good science and mathematics education at all levels in order to insure the future. She will continue traveling to local sections, student affiliate meetings and regional meetings of the society.
2. Report from President -elect. Dr. Catherine Hunt stated that it is time to re-ignite our commitment to Science and Technology. The key to success in this endeavor are education, collaboration and innovation. We should educate our legislators, promote science and engage our students. Collaboration requires building strong partnerships and innovation involves recreating our companies our universities and ourselves. Working together would and improving life by transforming chemistry is necessary.
3. Report from past President. Dr. William Carroll mentioned the published "Chemistry Enterprise in 2005" report which is available on the ACS website. He spoke of visibility, credibility and accessibility of the President of ACS, describing his participation in Project SEED, National Chemistry Week and visits to many local sections, institutions and government.
4. Report from Chair of the Board. Dr. James Burke reported that Policy Committee governance Review Task Force was charged with reviewing Society's governance, Constitution and Bylaws. Also a Program Review Advisory Group (PRAG) has been established to assist the Committee on Budget and Finance in reviewing all programs of the Society on a periodic and regular basis. The ACS new vision statement: "Improving people's life through the transforming power of chemistry" was also discussed.
5. Report of the Executive Director. Madeleine Jacobs, updated the Council on the workshop on evolving information/technologies and trends, key initiatives related to Washington information technology-including the Web Presence project- and the activities of Chemical Abstracts Service and the Publication Division. ACS is transforming itself to be more welcoming to chemists at the exciting interface areas of chemistry. In Atlanta we are witnessing interdisciplinary themes such as Drug Discovery, Energy and Nanotechnology.
6. Special Discussion. A special discussion item was put on the Council agenda. 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. President Ann Nalley invited the co-chairs of the Board - Council Policy Committee Governance Review Task Force, James Burke and William Carroll to frame the discussion by presenting the results of a councilor survey on ACS membership requirements. Many questions were asked from the floor by councilors and many different opinions were offered. The survey results and councilors' broad input as well as ACS Committees' input will be all considered and analyzed by the B-CPCGRTF to decide making the membership to ACS less restrictive or more restrictive.
7. The Council Policy Committee opened an orientation program for new councilor in Atlanta. At the session for 40 new councilors, council-board interaction and review of budgeting were offered by representatives of committees. The councilors' listserve is now in operation to improve communication among councilors. For a form contact majordomo@acs.org and say "subscribe councilor".
8. Committee on Nominations and Elections. "The President-Elect Town Hall Meeting" was held for 4 nominees for the office of President-elect. These nominees were also presented at the Council meeting. By written ballot, the Council selected Bruce Bursten and Bassam Shakhashiri as candidates for 2007 President -Elect to stand for election in the fall meeting. Again, ACS members will have an option to vote for candidates electronically or by paper ballot. Separately and by mail ballot, the councilors of District V, chose John Adams and Judith Behman as candidates for Director of District V for the term 2007-2009.
9. The Budget and Finance Committee report. ACS ended 2005 with a net contribution of $ 11.6 million, which was $9.1 million favorable to the approved budget. The variance was primarily attributable to higher than budget print and electronic information services revenue and income investment as well as expense savings. ACS also realized $21 million in investment gains. In total, unrestricted net assets increased just over $26 million. The Council voted on proposed B&F report to set the member dues for 2007 at the fully escalated rate of $132.
10. Society Committee of Education (SOCED).
    SOCED held it's meetings on Thursday and Friday prior to the meeting itself. Several projects were noted by the committee. The new high school chemistry club program has had a successful initial pilot level launch and will be growing to a full scale pilot in the next academic year. SOCED received a briefing from Will Polik, chair of the Committee on Professional Training (CPT) about the proposed new guidelines for approved chemistry programs. SOCED also voted to explore the possibility of the US hosting the International Chemistry Olympiad, in roughly 2013.
11. The Committee on Science reported on multidisciplinary vision for the society and announced the following program for San Francisco meeting: a presidential event on "Carbon Nanotubes", a program in support of President Nalley's focus on energy and a program highlighting the contributions of chemical technicians.
12. Committee on Local Section Activity reported that "Local section Innovative Projects Grant Program", has $115,000 available for distribution in 2006. Many local sections have formed "Silver Circles" which are groups of mature chemists enjoying the programs that ACS has to offer, participating in activities of mutual interest and sharing the wisdom of their collective years in chemical sciences. Anyone interested in having more information on this should feel free to contact Councilor Dimitri Gorjestani (dimitrig@prodigy.net) who is a member of the ACS Senior Chemist Group.
13. Committee on Meetings and Expositions. The spring national meeting, has attracted 12,546 registrants as follows: Regular Attendees 6,323; Students 4,158; Exhibitors 1,288; Exhibition only 413; and Guests 364. The advance member registration fee of $305 remains in effect for 2006 national meetings.
14. Membership Affairs Committee. ACS closed 2005 with 158,422 members, reversing a 4-year trend in membership. Of the 15,532 applications processed in 2005, nearly 900 came from the member get a member campaign, in which many councilors participated. The membership retention number remained stable at 92.4%.
15. Additional reports from other standing committees were made to the Council.
    
    

Submitted by Thomas Holme and Dimitri Gorjestani