REPORT OF COUNCIL MEETING IN PHILADELPHIA
by Barbara Moriarty, Councilor
The 252nd National Meeting of the ACS was held in Philadelphia, PA, from August 21 – 25, 2015. The theme of this meeting was “Chemistry for the People, by the People and with the People” The Chicago Section was represented by Charles Cannon (Local Section Activities), Dave Crumrine (Constitution and Bylaws), Russ Johnson (Chemistry and Public Affairs), Michael Koehler (Chemistry and Public Affairs), Fran Kravitz (Local Section Activities), Margaret Levenberg (Meetings and Expositions), Milt Levenberg (Public Relations and Communication), Inessa Miller, Barbara Moriarty (Science) and Susan Shih (Education). The national activities of each are given, as I know them.
Finances: The Society’s 2016 expectations are that the Society will finish the year with a Net from Operations of $17.3 million. This is $3.9 million higher than the Approved Budget. Total revenues are projected to be $528.8 million, essentially on budget, and. Total expenses are projected at $511.5 million, which is 0.6% favorable to budget. The Society is expected to meet four of the five Board-established financial guidelines. It is not expected to meet the Fund Balance ratio because unrestricted net assets are low because of underfunded postretirement benefit plans.
The Board of Directors voted on the recommendation of the Society Committee on Budget and Finance, to approve an advance member registration fee of $4145 for national meetings held in 2017.
Governance: Russ Johnson was recognized for his 15 years of service to Council. Barb Moriarty was recognized for her service on the Committee on Science.
The Council elected councilors to serve on the Committee on Committees, the Council Policy Committee and the Committee on Nominations. Barb Moriarty was nominated for service on the Council Policy Committee. The following councilors were elected for each committee.
Committee on Committees –Wayne E. Jones, Jr., D. Richard Cobb, Stephanie J. Watson, Dee Ann Casteel, and Emilio X. Esposito were elected for full three year terms
Council Policy Committee – Harmon B. Abrahamson, Lissa A. Dulany, Andrea B. Twiss-Brooks, and Sally B. Peters were elected to full three year terms, Martin D. Rudd for a two year term, and Karl S. Booksh and Ella L. Davis for a one-year term.
Committee on Nominations and Elections – Lisa M. Balbes, Thomas H. Lane, Amber S. Hinkle, Alan M. Ehrlich, and Alan A. Hazari were elected to full three year terms and Neil D. Jespersen for a one-year term.
Meetings and Expositions: The attendance at the Philadelphia meeting was reported to be 12,800 including 3249 students and 7437 attendees with more than 9000 contributions. The site of the 2024 meeting was chosen to be Denver.
Committee on Membership Affairs (MAC): The committee reported membership in ACS to be just over 155,000 with a retention rate of 84%. For the first time academic chemists, accounting for 41% of ACS membership, surpassed industrial membership at 40% of ACS members. The Council voted to approve a petition to extend the unemployed members’ dues waiver to three years.
Committee on Economic and Professional Affairs (CEPA): The Committee on Economic and Professional Affairs (CEPA) reported that the unemployment rate for member chemists was 2.6%. The on-site career fair at the meeting had 710 job seekers and 37 employers with 172 jobs.
Local Sections (LSAC): The Council approved two petitions, one for the Permian Basin Local Section to annex Texas counties of Pecos and Brewster, and a second petition from the Upper Peninsula Local Section to annex unassigned and adjacent territory, and one Michigan county (Menominee) now currently assigned to the Northwest Wisconsin Local Section.
Committee on Community Affairs (CCA): The theme for National Chemistry Week, to be held October 16-22, is “Solving Mysteries through Chemistry.”
The Council conducted a special discussion to gather input on proposed recommendations from the ACS Presidential Task Force on the U.S. Employment of Chemists.
If you have any questions and/or comments about the above actions, please contact me or one of your other representatives. You may contact me by email (barbaramoriarty0@ gmail.com).
