Spring 2025 Council Meeting of the ACS

The Spring 2025 Council Meeting of the American Chemical Society will be a hybrid session on Wednesday, March 26th  beginning at 8:00am PT hosted out of San Diego, CA during the ACS Spring 2025 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 2025 Council Agenda available on the ACS website and/or contact us to discuss these items:

1. During the Council Meeting, 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 Sunday, March 23^rd at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront at 2:30pm 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. Please note that none of the 2026 President-Elect preliminary candidates are PROF Members.
   • Christina Bodurow
   • Dawn Mason
   • Sheila Murphy
   • John Warner
2. Councilors from District II and District IV 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. Click here to find your district. Please note that Councilors will not be voting on these candidates as part of the Spring 2025 Council meeting. The preliminary candidates are (PROF Members highlighted in BOLD):
   1. District II
      • Kimberly Agnew-Heard (incumbent)
      • Rodney Bennett
      • Dady Dadyburjor
      • Mary Engleman
   2. District V
      • Milagros Delgado
      • Kirby Drake
      • Lisa Houston (incumbent)
      • Joseph Stoner
3. The candidates for Director-At-Large have also been announced and will be voted upon during the Spring 2025 Council meeting by all Councilors (2 seats).
   • Anna Cavinato
   • Donna Friedman
   • Malika Jeffries-EL (incumbent)
   • Will Lynch (incumbent)
4. The ACS Committee on Patents and Related Matters (CPRM) has submitted a Petition to amend the name of the committee to the ‘Committee on Intellectual Property’ and duties to consider patents and ‘other forms of intellectual property’. This new verbiage helps to better define committee’s current work scope, which not only includes patents, but also copyrights, trademarks and trade secrets. Both PROF Councilors support this petition.
5. The ACS Committee on Nominations and Elections (N&E) has submitted a Petition to Amend the number of Councilors on the Committee to 19 (from 15). By increasing the number of Councilors serving on Committees, N&E can better support its newly expanded duties (organizing the nominations and elections of Councilors for Zones). If passed, elections to these new positions would take place during the Fall 2025 election. As the Society grows its global representation on Council, this Committee expansion makes sense to ensure that N&E can continue to carry out its duties. Both PROF Councilors support this petition
6. The ACS Committee on International Activities (IAC) have submitted Petitions to Charter New International Science Chapters in Ghana, Ecuador, and Northeast China. Both PROF Councilors support this petition. 
7. The ACS Committee on Local Section Activities (LSAC) has submitted a Petition to Dissolve the Penn-Ohio Boarder Local Section Name due to its failure to carry out typical Local Section functions (IE: submit annual reports, conduct programming, and host elections). Both PROF Councilors support this petition.
8. The ACS Committee on Membership Affairs (MAC) has submitted a 2026 Schedule of Dues and Benefits. The major change in this schedule introduces permanent discounts of ACS National Membership Dues for partner organizations (IE: SACNAS, NOBCChE, or AISES). Both PROF Councilors support this petition.

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 24^th so that we can take your voice into account prior to our vote on these items.