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A Councilor Update for the 2024 Spring Meeting Council Agenda

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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:

  1. 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

  1. 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):
    1. District I
  • Matt Grandbois
  • Barbara Hillery
  • Katherine Lee (incumbent)
  • Alyssa Thomas
  1. District V
  • Lisa Balbes (incumbent)
  • Mark Cesa
  • Joseph Heppert
  • Silvia Jurison
  1. International District
  • Hassan Bzzi
  • Csaba Janaky
  • Hooi-Ling Le
  • David Wu

  1. 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):
    1. Chris Bannochie
    2. Natalie LaFranzo (incumbent)
    3. Sergio Nanita

  1. 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”. 

  1. 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. 

  1. 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.

  1. 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. 

  1. 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. 

  1. 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.

  1. 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. 

  1. 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. 

  1. 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. 

Christopher J. Bannochie Named 2024 Recipient of the Henry Hill Award

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On behalf of the PROF Awards Committee, we are pleased to share the following Award winner for 2024:

Christopher J. Bannochie – Henry Hill Award Winner

Christopher J. Bannochie is being awarded the Henry Hill Award for 2024 by the Division of Professional Relations of the American Chemical Society. The award will be presented to him at the Fall Meeting of the American Chemical Society in Denver, Colorado. The Henry Hill Award is presented annually to recognize persons who have served the profession in the area of professional relations in a unique and distinguished manner.

He is recognized for his outstanding contributions to professionalism through his leadership in fostering inclusiveness for all chemists including women, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) members of the American Chemical Society and the broader scientific and professional communities and for his efforts in creating subdivisions within the Division of Professional Relations. He is also recognized for his efforts and guidance leading to the ACS Public Policy Statement of 2003-14 that recommends federal legislation to extend employment discrimination protection to include sexual orientation, gender expression, and gender identity.

Christopher is Senior Manager, Advanced & Energy Materials at the Savannah River National Laboratory, Aiken, SC. He has served in numerous capacities in the American Chemical Society, including Chair of the Division of Professional Relations, various national committees and advisory boards, Chair of the Southeastern Regional Board and two regional meetings, and leadership roles in his local section.

Ready to nominate a deserving chemist for one of our Awards? Contact awards@acsprof.org or visit the Awards Page for more details.

Your Year to Elevate Professionalism, A Letter from the 2024 Chair

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Dear Members of PROF,

First off, I would like to personally wish everyone a happy and healthy new year! May this year bring you personal and professional growth. As we enter the new year, I would like to start off by thanking Katherine Johnson for her tremendous leadership last year as chair. Her hard work helped us celebrate our 50th anniversary and continue growing our membership. Thank you for your service and I look forward to working with you and Sue Schelble, our chair-elect, this year to achieve our vision of Elevating Professionalism.

I also want to take this time to personally welcome our newer members to the division. Over the past two years, we have added over 500 new members. Part of the value of being a member of PROF is the community and professional network that comes with it. I can say with utmost confidence that this division contains some of the longest-serving ACS volunteers within the society, making it one of the best networks to be a part of. If you have been a PROF member for quite some time, I am writing to ask you to extend the same mentorship and leadership that was given to you early in your time within PROF to our newest members. PROF has prided itself on helping shape and grow the professional careers of many chemists over the past 50 years and we look forward to continuing to do so for the next 50 years and beyond.

Another goal of this message is to take the time to outline some of my overarching goals for my year as chair. Some of the things I would like to achieve include:

Membership Value: Provide exclusive programming, new professional development resources, and mentorship opportunities to our members to help them grow professionally.

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Respect: Enable our subdivisions to not only succeed but thrive within the division. Our subdivisions underpin some of our most important core values as a division. I look to our membership to get involved with our subdivisions, make your voices heard, and help us provide the opportunities and resources needed.  

Collaboration: Strengthen the bonds between our division and mirrored ACS governance units. We are given the benefit of having many society committees and offices that overlap with our goals. Combining efforts to achieve our mission and vision can help us reach newer heights as a division.

Involvement: Our volunteers have allowed us to sustain over the past 50 years and they will be just as important for the next 50. We have started to see new faces getting involved within the division’s leadership and I hope to see this continue. Volunteering and attending PROF events allow us to not only help our members grow their networks more, but also provide more opportunities to our members through awards, programming, and content.

So how will we accomplish this? We have many exciting events already planned for this year. So I ask you to look out for them, put them on your calendar, and I hope to engage with you at some of them. These events include (1) Our first ACS Pride-Merck Graduate Research Award symposium in NOLA, (2) Several exciting webinars cosponsored by the division, (3) Networking events at our national meetings and in the virtual space throughout the year, and (4) award opportunities and receptions.

Please stay tuned for more communication throughout the year and we look forward to engaging with you! If you aren’t sure where to start, please reach out to me or anyone on the executive committee and we will find ways to get you involved!

Thanks,

Jarrod Cohen

2024 PROF Chair

The Value of Involvement with PROF

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Author: Jarrod Cohen, Ph.D. Chair-Elect, ACS Division of Professional Relations


This blog post highlights ways you can be involved with PROF at a National meeting, highlighting programming that is promised to be engaging. It also features ways to get involved and start or expand on building your ACS leadership. Finally, it describes how we recognize individuals for their contributions to the division and profession!


Being Being, Getting, and Recognizing Those Involved 

A warm hello to all of our members and a warm welcome to our newest members! Its hard to believe that national meeting if only one week away. As I write this, I want this to not just focus on highlighting all of our amazing programming but also tell you how to make the most of your meeting and get the most out of the Division of Professional Relations! 

BEING INVOLVED

PROF has some amazing programming coming up at the national meeting including talks focused on our amazing subdivisions like the newly named ACS PRIDE which will host its annual LGBTQ+ Graduate and Postdoctoral Scholar Symposium, or some of our key sessions around professional development like our All Roads Through Chemistry Session focusing on all the career paths you can take with your chemistry degree or our COMPASS mentorship session. In addition to these, we have some that combine everything that encompasses PROF’s mission and goals like our Underrepresented Minorities within the Chemical Industry: What Industry is Doing to Improve DEIR in Talent, Acquisition, & Retention. If you cannot make a traditional technical talk, PROF is also excited to participate and host different social events to promote networking, meeting people, and getting some free food and swag! You can find us at Sci-Mix, at our Meet & Greet with other PROF members, our open membership meeting, or even our URM Networking Session with some really amazing food and industry partners! We cannot wait to see you there!  

GETTING INVOLVED

As many of you can attest, the power of the Division of Professional Relations is in its diverse and active membership. With many current and past board members, committee members, and presidential succession, it is evident that PROF is the home for ALL chemists. With that being said, our division can only be as strong as its volunteers. We have an army of involved members, helping us provide content for our website, programming at national and regional meetings, networking, and engaging with all of you! As we move forward in 2023 with a new strategic plan, we are looking for new volunteers to help keep our momentum moving forward. To not only build our volunteer pool but also provide leadership opportunities for our members, I have listed ways to get involved within our division.

If you are interested in learning more about how you can get involved, I encourage you to email us at chair@acsprof.org.  

1.     Volunteer on one of our many divisional committees including the programming committee, membership engagement committee, awards committee, and communications committee. 

2.     Get involved with our subdivision leadership, helping as a subdivision program chair, or working with the current chair succession to define a role best fit for you!

3.     Help generate content for our website based on your career experiences through a blog post.  

RECONGNIZING THOSE INVOLVED

PROF has some amazing people that make up its membership. So many of our members have taken others under their wings and impacted many chemist’s lives in one way or another. In order to formally recognize some of these individuals who have gone above and beyond for the profession and PROF specifically, we are extremely honored to announce several award winners for the 2023 year. Firstly, we would like to recognize Carol Duane, the 2023 Recipient of the Henry Hill Award, for service to the profession in the area of professional relations in a unique and distinguished manner. We would also like to recognize Susan Schelble, 2023 recipient of the Lou Sacco award for service to the division. Both of these awardees epitomize the meaning of being a champion for professionalism and a dedicated member of PROF. We look forward to celebrating their achievements at the San Francisco Fall 2023 National Meeting.    

Involvement can be a scary thing and for those who are just starting to explore the value of your PROF or ACS membership may feel overwhelmed. I can assure you though on behalf of the entire executive committee and many of our members, we are here to help you navigate your professional career and lead you on a path for success. If you are unsure where to begin your involvement, join us at an event in Indianapolis or send us an email and we will connect you with someone who is willing to help! Thanks to all of you for being amazing division members and we hope to see you soon! 

PROF 2023 Awards Announcement

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On behalf of the PROF Awards Committee we are pleased to share the following Award winners for 2023:

Carol Duane – Henry Hill Award Winner

Carol Duane is awarded the 2023 Henry Hill Award for promoting, engaging, and preparing individuals to thrive in their chosen profession. She is recognized for being a key player within the American Chemical Society in developing programs and workshops that promote professionalism. She is honored for her role in creating the ACS Center for Leadership Development and the ACS Strategic Planning Retreats.

Susan Schelble – Lou Sacco Award Winner

Susan Schelble is the 2023 recipient of the Lou Sacco award. PROF recognizes Sue’s contributions as an executive board member serving the division at large and a prolific contributor to ethics-related technical and educational symposia extend well beyond her duties as a professor of chemistry at the Metropolitan State University of Denver.  Her nomination letter accurately described her as always saying “yes” when asked to serve, for which PROF bestows the Lou Sacco Award for always doing so and in a meritorious and exemplary manner. 

Ready to nominate a deserving chemist for one of our Awards? Contact awards@acsprof.org or visit the Awards Page for more details.

Want to share content or an announcement our members may be interested in?

Contact:

ACS Division of Professional Relations

Annabelle Lolinco

communications@acsprof.org

(559) 644-8891

The Value of Involvement with PROF

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Author: Jarrod Cohen, Ph.D. Chair-Elect, ACS Division of Professional Relations


This blog post highlights ways you can be involved with PROF at a National meeting, highlighting programming that is promised to be engaging. He also mentions ways to get involved and start or expand on building your ACS leadership. Lastly, he recognizes several individuals for their contributions to the division and profession! Check it out as soon as you can to make the most of your membership to PROF. 


Being Being, Getting, and Recognizing Those Involved 

A warm hello to all of our members and a warm welcome to our newest members! Its hard to believe that national meeting if only one week away. As I write this, I want this to not just focus on highlighting all of our amazing programming but also tell you how to make the most of your meeting and get the most out of the Division of Professional Relations! 

BEING INVOLVED

PROF has some amazing programming coming up at the national meeting including talks focused on our amazing subdivisions like the newly named ACS PRIDE which will host its annual LGBTQ+ Graduate and Postdoctoral Scholar Symposium, or some of our key sessions around professional development like our All Roads Through Chemistry Session focusing on all the career paths you can take with your chemistry degree or our COMPASS mentorship session. In addition to these, we have some that combine everything that encompasses PROF’s mission and goals like our Underrepresented Minorities within the Chemical Industry: What Industry is Doing to Improve DEIR in Talent, Acquisition, & Retention. If you cannot make a traditional technical talk, PROF is also excited to participate and host different social events to promote networking, meeting people, and getting some free food and swag! You can find us at Sci-Mix, at our Meet & Greet with other PROF members, our open membership meeting, or even our URM Networking Session with some really amazing food and industry partners! We cannot wait to see you there!  

GETTING INVOLVED

As many of you can attest, the power of the Division of Professional Relations is in its diverse and active membership. With many current and past board members, committee members, and presidential succession, it is evident that PROF is the home for ALL chemists. With that being said, our division can only be as strong as its volunteers. We have an army of involved members, helping us provide content for our website, programming at national and regional meetings, networking, and engaging with all of you! As we move forward in 2023 with a new strategic plan, we are looking for new volunteers to help keep our momentum moving forward. To not only build our volunteer pool but also provide leadership opportunities for our members, I have listed ways to get involved within our division.

If you are interested in learning more about how you can get involved, I encourage you to email us at chair@acsprof.org.  

1.     Volunteer on one of our many divisional committees including the programming committee, membership engagement committee, awards committee, and communications committee. 

2.     Get involved with our subdivision leadership, helping as a subdivision program chair, or working with the current chair succession to define a role best fit for you!

3.     Help generate content for our website based on your career experiences through a blog post.  

RECONGNIZING THOSE INVOLVED

PROF has some amazing people that make up its membership. So many of our members have taken others under their wings and impacted many chemist’s lives in one way or another. In order to formally recognize some of these individuals who have gone above and beyond for the profession and PROF specifically, we are extremely honored to announce several award winners for the 2023 year. Firstly, we would like to recognize Carol Duane, the 2023 Recipient of the Henry Hill Award, for service to the profession in the area of professional relations in a unique and distinguished manner. We would also like to recognize Susan Schelble, 2023 recipient of the Lou Sacco award for service to the division. Both of these awardees epitomize the meaning of being a champion for professionalism and a dedicated member of PROF. We look forward to celebrating their achievements at the San Francisco Fall 2023 National Meeting.    

Involvement can be a scary thing and for those who are just starting to explore the value of your PROF or ACS membership may feel overwhelmed. I can assure you though on behalf of the entire executive committee and many of our members, we are here to help you navigate your professional career and lead you on a path for success. If you are unsure where to begin your involvement, join us at an event in Indianapolis or send us an email and we will connect you with someone who is willing to help! Thanks to all of you for being amazing division members and we hope to see you soon! 

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