Councilor Report – Spring 2024
Prepared by: Matt Grandbois & Katie Johnson, PROF Councilors
The Spring 2024 Council Meeting of the American Chemical Society will be a hybrid session on Wednesday, March 20th beginning at 8:00am CT hosted out of New Orleans, LA during the Spring 2024 ACS National Meeting. If you are interested in attending as an in-person or as a virtual observer to learn more about ACS Governance and Council, please contact us at councilor@acsprof.org.
There are several items that will be up for Councilor vote during this meeting that we believe are impactful to PROF members. We have summarized these items below and state our current intentions as your elected Councilors, but we welcome your feedback as we are interested in representing your voices as part of our ACS governance process. Please feel free to review the full Spring 2024 Council Agenda available on the ACS website and/or contact us to discuss these items:
- During Spring ACS Council Meetings, candidates for President-Elect are voted upon by Council prior to the open election held later in the fall. A President-Elect Town Hall will be held on Saturday, March 17th at the Hilton New Orleans Riverside at 4:30pm CT. Both PROF Councilors will attend to learn more about the candidate prior to voting for their top 2 choices, but we are in agreement that PROF Membership does have an impact for our votes. 2025 President-Elect preliminary candidates are (PROF Members highlighted in BOLD):
- Rigoberto Hernandez
- Thomas Holme
- Ingrid Montes
- Laura Sremaniak
- Prior to the Spring 2024 National Meeting, Councilors from District 1, District 5, and the newly established International District will also conduct primary voting to down-select to the top two candidates for ACS Board of Directors that will be voted upon by all members of their district during the Fall open election. The preliminary candidates are (PROF Members highlighted in BOLD):
- District I
- Matt Grandbois
- Barbara Hillery
- Katherine Lee (incumbent)
- Alyssa Thomas
- District V
- Lisa Balbes (incumbent)
- Mark Cesa
- Joseph Heppert
- Silvia Jurison
- International District
- Hassan Bzzi
- Csaba Janaky
- Hooi-Ling Le
- David Wu
- The candidates for Director-At-Large have also been announced to be voted upon during the Fall 2024 Council meeting. Due to the newly established International District (above) only 1 candidate will be elected to the ACS Board of Directors. The candidates are (PROF Members in BOLD):
- Chris Bannochie
- Natalie LaFranzo (incumbent)
- Sergio Nanita
- The ACS Committee on Council Policy (CPC) has submitted a Petition to Remove Inconsistencies and Add missing provisions. This is to better define the membership of CPC, th ACS Committee on Nominations & Election (N&E), define process for replacing Director-At-Large, and include language required when excluding ACS Members from Open meetings for cause. Both PROF Councilors support this petition, yet seek clarification on the definition of “cause”.
- The ACS Committee on Committees (ConC) has submitted a Petition to Amend the Duties of the Committee on Budget & Finance (B&F). This updates language to better define the role of B&F and the role of ACS Finance Staff. Both PROF Councilors have concerns with this petition, yet agreeing in principal that current workload is appropriately managed between Committee and Staff. This petition seems to represent the current situation, yet this was not always the case (nor could it be the case in the future), so further discussion and review is requested.
- The ACS Committee on Divisional Activities (DAC) has submitted a Petition t Change Division Name for the Division of Biological Chemistry (BIOL) to the Division of Biochemistry and Chemical Biology. In general, the PROF Councilors are supportive of Divisions having autonomy over their name, yet there is significant objection expressed by the Division of Medicinal Chemistry (MEDI). DAC was unable to mediate a solution, so have defaulted to go forward with the original petition presented by BIOL. Both PROF Councilors currently support this petition, but have reservations pending more discussion from MEDI.
- DAC also submitted a Petition to Approve an Amendment to the Distribution formula for Division Funding. This attempts to correct an oversight in the previously approved DAC petition that restricted upward growth of Divisions at +7.5% (while also protecting against greater than -7.5% decline). This amendment would raise upward growth cap to 25%, yet there is no commentary from B&F on the financial impact of this petition. Both PROF Councilors currently request additional input form B&F prior to supporting this measure.
- The ACS Committee on International Activities have submitted Petitions to Charter New International Science Chapters in Egypt and Guangdong (China). Both PROF Councilors support this petition.
- The ACS Committee on Local Section Activities has submitted a Petition to Change in Local Section Name for the Auburn Local Section to be renamed to the “East Alabama/West Georgia Local Section”. Both PROF Councilors support this petition.
- The ACS Committee on Member Affairs (MAC) has submitted a Petition on Dues and Benefits. This petition introduces another new category of membership, codifies the inability of Student Members to run for National ACS Office, expands expulsion authority of MAC to the newly established Affiliates, and changes market testing limits for MAC studies. Matt does not support this petition as he disagrees with the premise of having yet another membership category. Katie does not support this petition on the grounds that Student Members should have the ability to run for any office within National ACS.
- MAC also submitted a Petition to further detail the Dues and Benefits of Membership for 2025. In this update to the governance documents there are specific independent, third party organizations in the Governing Document (e.g. LinkedIn Learning) and other benefits provided to Members. Both PROF Councilors believe that calling out independent entities in the Governing Documents sets up potential problems in the future (e.g. what happens if the company changes names or is acquires?). Due to this, both PROF Councilors believe this Petition needs to be reworked prior to resubmission.
- Finally, CPC introduces a new section to the ACS Constitution related to the role, duties, and responsibilities of International Councilors. This is being provided for consideration, not action, prior to its submission as a Petition to the ACS Council in Fall. Both PROF Councilors believe this is in a good direction for the Society and look forward to further discussions leading up to Fall 2024.
As your Councilors, we are very interested in hearing from you and hearing your thoughts, perspectives, and preferences on any of the above items described above. Feel free to contact us prior to March 11, 2024 so that we can take your voice into account prior to our vote on these items.
