MILWAUKEE SECTION
AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY

Councillors' Report

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

1. SOCED Report: (Councilor, Thomas Holme, is an Associate Member of the Society Committee on Education, SOCED). SOCED considered a number of key topics and new initiatives at this meeting. A pre-pilot program for high school chemistry clubs has been established with an expectation for expansion next academic year. Holme continues to serve on the Task Force of SOCED that is considering the next steps needed to expand on the initial efforts in Exploring the Molecular Vision and among the topics being considered there is overall better coordination among the components of the ACS that work in matters of education.
   
   
2. Report from the President. Dr. William Carroll noted that the final paper on his Chemical Enterprise 2015 project will be released this fall. The general tenor of this document is that chemistry has a robust future. President Carroll also highlighted the Chemistry Teachers Connection project. High school teachers in the Milwaukee area should feel free to contact Tom Holme, tholme@uwm.edu , if they wish additional information about this exciting new program. It was announced that the Chemistry and the Law division will soon launch a Chemistry Legal Action Network as a new benefit for members of the Society. Members of this division will be available for free initial legal consultations due to this program. Finally, President Carroll will be engaging in a National Chemistry Week Extreme Outreach Project. He will visit 15 cities in 10 days to bring the message of National Chemistry Week to as many places as he possibly can.
   
   
3. Report from President-elect. Dr. Ann Nalley described her main program ideas for the Atlanta National Meeting next spring. They include the overall theme of enabling innovation and will focus on the connections between basic research and applied research. In San Francisco in late summer of 2006 her theme will be collaborations - very broadly defined. Finally she is still working to enhance efforts to recognize and promote the work of volunteers for the work of the Society.
   
   
4. Report from the Past-president. Dr. Charles Casey again mentioned the success of the Academic Employment Initiative which had increased participation at the Washington, DC meeting - it's second year of implementation. He also noted that the ACS is working to be more transparent with members about the compensation packages of top ACS Executives.
   
   
5. Report from the Chair of the Board. Dr. James Burke also emphasized the work of the Board to make sure that executive compensation packages for the staff of the Society were in line with practices for similar organization. He then discussed the establishment of a task force to review governance of the Society. It will be charged with looking at five factors related to governance (1) Membership; (2) Geographic distribution; (3) Divisional distribution; (4) Governance structure and; (5) Governance Operations.
   
   
6. Report of the Executive Director. The Executive Director, Madeleine Jacobs, began her report by briefly mentioning the results of the 2004 membership survey. A number of positive factors were identified and a key action item that resulted from this survey is a “reinvention” of the ACS website. The Society has been able to hire the former Chief Information Officer (CIO) of the AARP to work on the implementation of the new web site. The second topic discussed was the issue of the NIH PubChem project and the interest that ACS has that this effort not duplicate the resources of Chemical Abstract Services and the CAS Registry. She reported that Congress has asked NIH to not duplicate work already taking place in the private sector. The ACS and NIH continue to discuss ways to work together in this area. Finally, Ms. Jacobs noted the successes of the ACS Scholars Program and Project SEED and encouraged the members of the Council to consider contributing to fundraising efforts for these programs.
   
   
7. The Council Policy Committee noted that a new listserve designed to improve communications among members of the Council has been launched. An orientation for new Councilors has also been established.
   
   
8. The committee on Nominations and Elections noted that members will have the option to vote either electronically or by paper ballot in the upcoming election for ACS President. Some worries about this process were expressed from the floor of the Council, but it was noted that the organization running this election has previous experience with elections of similar size for organizations like the ACS and it is anticipated that the new process will go smoothly.
   
   
9. The budget and finance committee noted that it provided funding for several projects, including the High School Chemistry Club project and an increased ACS presence at the International Science and Engineering Fair competition. They also indicated that they were discussing the development of a cost sharing model for Regional ACS Meetings.
   
   
10. In its report to the Council, SOCED highlighted its work with the Office of Legislative and Government Affairs to advocate for funding for the Education and Human Resources directorate within the National Science Foundation.
    
    
11. The Committee on Science reported its efforts towards program development for future ACS National meetings. They noted specifically an interest in enhancing the multi-disciplinary content of the ACS meetings.
    
    
12. A special discussion was held to discuss the vision statement for the Society President Carroll organized the discussion along topics that had emerged from on-line surveys completed at the meeting by members. Thus, the discussion centered around the future implications for the Society of diversity, young people, governance, multidisciplinary, globalization and outreach.
    
    
13. The Washington DC National Meeting had an attendance of 13,040 (regular attendees 7,584; students 2,715; guests 478; exhibit only 468; exhibitors 1,795). The attendance filled roughly 94% of the housing block from hotels - an important fact that means the Society will pay no penalties for not meeting its room reservation levels. The full registration price for the 2006 national meetings was set at $305. After looking into the costs and logistics of the matter, the Meetings and Expositions committee determined that there will not be an implementation of child care programs for national meetings at this time. Finally, the city of Denver was approved as a location for future ACS national meetings.
    
    
14. The Membership Affairs Committee reported that current membership in the Society stands at 155,567. They have recommended that the category of “Student Affiliate” for undergraduate students be eliminated and that they be categorized as “Student Members” instead. The chair of SOCED noted from the floor of the Council that this category already exists (for graduate students) and that SOCED would likely submit a recommendation that the name be changed to “Student Affiliate Member” rather than “Student Member”. If you have input on this matter, feel free to contact Tom Holme at tholme@uwm.edu who can pass your input onto SOCED.
    
    
15. Reports from other standing committees were made to Council.
    
    

Submitted by Thomas Holme and Dimitri Gorjestani