COUNCILOR
TALKING POINTS
SUMMARY OF
GOVERNANCE ACTIONS/REPORTS
AMERICAN CHEMICAL
SOCIETY
233rd
ACS NATIONAL MEETING
The following summary is provided to help councilors report to their local sections and divisions on key actions of the ACS Council and Board of Directors at the 2007 spring national meeting.
·
The Committee on Nominations and Elections
presented to the Council the following nominees for selection as candidates for
President-Elect, 2008: Pat N. Confalone,
·
The Committee on Nominations and Elections
announced the results of the election to select candidates from the list of nominees
to represent District II and District IV on the Board of Directors for the term
2008-2010. Nominees for District II
included: Robin J. Hood, Joseph R.
Peterson, Diane Grob Schmidt, and Steven W. Yates. Nominees for District IV included Paul F.
Barbara, Eric C. Bigham, John P. Fackler, Jr., and Gregory H. Robinson. By mail ballot the councilors from these
districts selected Joseph R. Peterson and Diane Grob Schmidt as District II
candidates; and as District IV candidates, Eric C. Bigham and Gregory H.
Robinson. Ballots will be mailed on or before October 10 to all members in
District II and District IV for election of a Director from each District.
Candidates for
Directors-at-Large
· The Committee on Nominations and Elections announced the selection of the following candidates for Directors-at-Large for a 2008-2010 term: Janan M. Hayes, Helen A. Lawlor, Kent J. Voorhees, and Frankie K. Wood-Black. The election of two Directors-at-Large will be conducted in the fall. Ballots will be mailed to the Council on or before October 10.
Committee Performance
Reviews
·
As part of a regular review, the Council VOTED
to continue the Committee on Science, the Women Chemists Committee, and the
Younger Chemists Committee - subject to concurrence by the Board of
Directors. The Committee on Science
provides an organizational framework to facilitate policy formulation, actions,
and planning in several areas of ACS activity directly related to the science
of chemistry. The Women Chemists Committee
was established to recognize women chemists and to encourage them to take an
active interest in Society activities; and the Younger Chemists Committee facilitates
communication of ideas and attitudes between the governing bodies of the
Society and younger chemists.
Petitions
(For Action)
·
The
Council received three amendments to the ACS Bylaws (Petitions) for action: the Petition on Election Procedures 2006, the
Petition on Rules for Nominating Members of
N&E for National Offices, and the Petition on Multi-Year Dues.
·
The
Council VOTED to split consideration and action on the Petition on Election
Procedures 2006 into two parts: Part 1
changes the timing of run-off elections and specifies an election process for
situations in which only one Director-at-Large position is open.
Part 2 addresses consistency in national election procedures. It proposes
changes to standardize the petition and election processes for President-Elect
and all Director positions based on percentages of voting members. It replaces language specifying a required
absolute number of petition signatures for nomination of candidates for
President-Elect, and Director-at-Large with language specifying a higher
requirement for petition signatures as a percentage of the membership for
nomination of candidates for these offices.
The Council VOTED to accept Part 1. For Part 2, the Council VOTED to recommit this
petition back to the Committee on Nominations and Elections and ask that they
reconsider the signature requirements, procedures for processing electronic signatures,
and those suggestions arising from the Governance Review Task Force pertinent
to election procedures.
·
The
Petition on Rules for Nominating Members of N&E for National Offices
establishes a one-year waiting period following service on the Committee on
Nominations and Elections before an individual can be nominated for District
Director, President-Elect or Director-at-Large. The Council VOTED by recorded vote
to defeat this petition.
·
The
Council VOTED to accept the Petition on Multi-Year Dues. This petition will allow members paying full
dues without any of the discounts to pay for periods of two or three years if
they wish, at a rate equal to two or three times the rate for a one year period. Council also VOTED to make this petition
effective when technical components are instituted to offer and track the
payments, but no later than
·
The
Board of Directors will vote within 90 days on whether to ratify the approved
petitions.
(For Consideration)
·
The
Council received one petition for consideration: the Petition on Local Section
Affiliations. The petition addresses a
difference in current Society bylaws regarding the responsibilities of the
Committee on Local Section Activities (LSAC) and the Committee on Divisional
Activities (DAC) in oversight of the establishment of affiliations by local
sections and divisions, respectively. The
petition grants responsibilities for LSAC parallel to those currently
established for DAC. Action is expected on the petition at the fall national
meeting.
2008 Member Dues
·
The Council VOTED to set the member dues for
2008 at the fully escalated rate of $136. This rate is established pursuant to
an inflation-adjustment formula in the ACS Constitution and Bylaws.
The Society’s
Finances
·
The Society ended 2006 with a net contribution
from operations of $12.2 million, on revenues of $424.0 million and expenses of
$411.9 million, which was $7.8 million favorable to the approved budget. The favorable variance was primarily
attributable to higher-than-budgeted electronic services revenue and investment
income, as well as expense savings from lower-than-budgeted health care costs
and reduced IT spending. In addition,
the Society ended 2006 in full compliance with the Board-established financial
guidelines.
Registration Report
·
As of
Future National
Meetings
·
The
Council VOTED to approve dates and sites for 2017 national meetings as follows: April 2-6,
New Local Section
·
The
Council VOTED to establish the Snake River Local Section with headquarters in
Member Statistics
·
ACS closed 2006 with 160,491 members, the
highest year-end membership since 2002.
Of the 17,857 applications processed in 2006, more than 1,000 came from
the Member-Get-A-Member campaign, in which many councilors participated.
Governance Review
· The Council received a report on the recent activities of the Governance Review Task Force. Councilors were informed that since the last Council meeting, the task force has met twice and action teams have been actively addressing those areas under the “Advance” category. Councilors also learned that the Council Policy Committee and the Board of Directors VOTED, as recommended by the Governance Review Task Force, to accept four recommendations under the “Refine” category.
Chemical Professional’s
Code of Conduct
·
The Council VOTED to approve the Chemical
Professional’s Code of Conduct as submitted by the Committee on Economic and
Professional Affairs. This document
offers guidance for Society members in various professional dealings, especially
those involving conflicts of interest.
Resolutions
·
The Council adopted resolutions in memory of
deceased councilors and ACS Past Presidents Robert Parry (1982), and Fred
Basolo (1983).
The Board’s Standing
Committees
·
The Board of Directors received a report on the
screened list of candidates from the Committee on Grants and Awards for the
2008 Priestley Medal and the Volunteer Service Award. The Board will announce the winners of these
two awards after its June meeting. The
Board also VOTED to approve a new award:
the ACS Award for Affordable Green Chemistry, and an endowment to
support the award sponsored by the Rohm and Haas Company. The Committee on Grants and Award concluded
its report with an update from the PRF Steering Committee.
·
The Board received a report on the activities of
the Committee on Public Affairs and Public Relations where they were informed
of its actions at this meeting and recent governance advocacy activities since
the committee’s last meeting in December.
Activities of the
Board’s Task Forces and Working Groups
·
The Board of Directors received status reports
from several of its task forces and working groups namely: the Governance Review Task Force, the
International Strategy Advisory Group, Percy Julian Task Force, the Board
Oversight Group on Leadership Development, the working group on 2007 Board
Goals and the working group charged with planning the Board’s retreat. The
Board VOTED, on the recommendation of the Governance Review Task Force, to
accept four recommendations under the “Refine” category. The Board also expressed its appreciation to
the Percy Julian Task Force for its outstanding work and presented its members
with plaques of the US House of Representative Resolution (February 2007) honoring
the life and contributions of Dr. Julian.
Recognition of
Chemical Society Milestone Anniversaries
·
The Board approved resolutions recognizing the
100th anniversary of the Hungarian Chemical Society and the 150th
anniversary of the French Chemical Society.
The French Chemical Society’s anniversary will be celebrated in
connection with its national meeting and the “C6” meeting, a summit of six
large international chemical societies, in July. The Hungarian Chemical Society will celebrate
its anniversary in June.
The Review and
Approval of Two Policies
·
The Board reviewed and approved a statement on
scholarship as presented by the Committee on Education, and a series of
policies for the acceptance of gifts as supported by the Task Force on
Development Activities.
Compensation of
Society Staff
·
On the recommendation of the Committee on
Executive Compensation, the Board VOTED to approve several actions relative to compensation
for the Society’s executive staff. The
compensation of the Society’s executive staff receives regular review from the
Board.
The Executive
Director/CEO Report
·
The Executive Director/CEO led a discussion on
challenges facing the ACS, 2007-2011, including demographic/disciplinary,
international, workforce readiness & science competitiveness, knowledge
transfer and governance reform, and on priority recommendations for addressing
those challenges. She also, along with
several of her direct reports, updated the Board on the following issues: the
impact of evolving information and communication technologies and trends on the
Society, the Web Presence initiative, the ACS Green Chemistry Institute, and
the activities of Chemical Abstracts Service, the Publications Division, and
the Society’s General Counsel.