The Fall 2025 Council Meeting of the American Chemical Society will be a hybrid session on Wednesday, August 20th, 2025 starting at 8:00am ET hosted out of Washington, DC during the 2025 Fall ACS Meeting. We highly encourage any PROF members who are interested in listening in on the CALC petition to register in advance to listen in online. If you are interested in attending as either an in-person or virtual observer to learn more about ACS Governance and Council, please contact 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 we are open to your feedback and interested in representing you so feel free to review the full Fall 2025 Council Agenda available on the ACS website and/or contact us to discuss these items:
During Fall ACS Council Meetings, candidates for elected Council Committees are voted upon to begin their terms starting the following year. This includes elections for the ACS Committee on Council Policy, the ACS Committee on Committees, and the ACS Committee on Nominations & Elections. Our votes are highly dependent on PROF membership, but we encourage you to contact us if you would like to share your thoughts and perspectives on any of the election slates below so that we can incorporate it into our vote. The pending election slates are as follows:
- The ACS Committee on Council Policy (CPC) is responsible for maintaining and supporting the activities of Council, developing long-term strategies for the functioning of Council, and making recommendations for changes in the governance documents that define the activity of Council. Four candidates will be elected to begin 3-year terms to this Committee starting in 2026. The candidates for 2025 election to CPC are (PROF members are highlighted in BOLD):
- Penny Beuning
- Raychelle Burks (running for re-election)
- James Carver (running for re-election)
- Gregory Ferrence
- Fran Kravitz
- Jason Ritchie
- Stephanie Watson
- Frankie Wood-Black (running for re-election)
- The ACS Committee on Committees (ConC) is responsible for assisting Committees and advising the appointment of Chairs and Members of Committees to the ACS Board and President. Members of ConC must be voting Councilors for the duration of their term. Five candidates will be elected to 3-year terms and begin service to this Committee starting in 2026. The candidates for 2025 election to ConC are (PROF members are highlighted in BOLD):
- William Carroll, Jr. (running for re-election)
- Robert Cohen
- Roger Egolf
- Carmen Gauthier (running for re-election)
- Timothy Hanks
- Thomas Lane (running for re-election)
- Louise Lawter
- Margaret Levenberg
- Lori Stepan
- Keith Vitense
- The ACS Committee on Nominations & Elections (N&E) is responsible for reviewing and populating election ballots for President-Elect, District Director, and Director-At-Large. The Committee is also responsible for supervising and conducting elections across the Society. Seven candidates will be elected to 3-year terms, one for a 2-year term, and one for a 1-year term; and they will all begin service to this committee starting in 2026. The candidates for 2025 election to N&E are (the only current PROF member is highlighted in BOLD):
- Mary Anderson
- Maria Contel
- Kelly Elkins (running for re-election)
- Jennifer Hollingsworth
- Alison Hyslop
- Julie Jessop
- Jingbo Louise Liu
- Marge Matthews
- Lisa McElwee-White
- Kristina Proctor
- Elsa Reichmanis
- Gregory Tew
- Ellene Tratras Contis (running for re-election)
- Jackie Trischman
- Kathyrn Ulhrich (running for re-election)
- Lichang Want
- Don Warner
- Peter Zarras
In addition to the elections described above, 7 petitions are being presented for Action (i.e. to be discussed and voted upon). These include:
- The ACS Committee on Committees (ConC) has submitted a Petition to Establish the Committee on the Advancement of LGBTQ+ Chemists (CALC) as an amendment to the ACS Standing Rules. This petition, if approved and carried by the ACS Board of Directors (BOARD), would create a new Society Committee that would report to both the ACS Council and the Board of Directors. The purpose of this Committee would be to support and recognize LGBTQ+ chemistry professionals and their allies.
- The ACS Committee on Committees (ConC) has submitted a Petition to Realign the Committee on Publications as an amendment to the ACS Standing Rules. This petition, if approved and carried by the BOARD, would remove the Committee of Publications (PUBS) as a Society Committee and realign it as a Journal Advisory Board reporting to the Governing Board for Publishing (GBP), a Board Committee. This was a recommendation from a commissioned study conducted by ConC over the past few years and is meant to elevate the impact of PUBS given the significant financial growth of ACS Publications and difficulty in consistently finding individuals with relevant expertise to appoint to PUBS. The current PUBS membership is supportive of this move and will be appointed, if the petition is approved, to be the inaugural members of the Journal Advisory Board.
- The ACS Committee on Committees (ConC) has submitted a Petition to Amend the Name and Duties of the Committee on Public Relations and Communications (CPRC) as an amendment to the ACS Standing Rules. If approved, and carried by the BOARD, this petition would rename CPRC as the ACS Committee on Communicating Chemistry and amend the duties to better reflect their engagement with all levels of ACS Governance to promote the value of chemical sciences to the public. This change is supported by CPRC as they do not believe their activities are representative of their duties as they are not involved in public relations, and the name will help to reinforce the new charge.
- The ACS Committee on Committees (ConC)has submitted a Petition to Amend the Duties of the Committee on International Activities as an amendment to the ACS Standing Rules. This petition, if passed and carried by the BOARD, would essentially given IAC similar authority over International Chemical Science Chapters (ICSCs) that is currently provided to the ACS Divisional Activities Committee (DAC) over ACS Divisions and ACS Committee on Local Section Activities (LSAC) over ACS Local Sections. As IAC is responsible for the formation and management of ICSCs, these duties should be a core component of their authority and charge.
- The ACS Committee on Economic and Professional Affairs (CEPA) has submitted a Petition for Approval of Professional Employment Guidelines. This would be the 11th edition of the guidelines recommending best practices regarding employment for professional scientists and their employers in the areas of Beginning Employment, Employment Environment, Professional Development, and Involuntary Separation. This is the first revision of this policy since 2021.
- The ACS Committee on Local Section Activities (LSAC) has submitted a Petition for Changes in Local Section Territory. This petition would assign all currently unassigned regional territories to existing ACS Local Sections and align any ACS members currently residing in these regions with the newly assigned Local Sections. This has been a long-standing debate topic and this proposed petition would provide all ACS Members living within the domestic United States a default Local Section based on their home residence.
- The ACS Committee on International Activities (IAC) has submitted a petition to Charter International Chemical Science Chapters to form a new ICSC to be known as the Guatemala International Chemical Sciences Chapter.
The increased number of petitions for this upcoming meeting is not unprecedented, but is a testament to significant change and shifting perspectives within the Society. 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 August 8, 2025, so that we can take your voice into account prior to voting on these items. Stay safe and take care.
