To: Dr. Rigoberto Hernandez and the Executive Committee of the ACS Georgia Section
From: Lihong D’Angelo
Re: 1999 Spring ACS Council Meeting Report

I attended the spring ACS meeting in Anaheim CA on March 21-24. As a first term councilor, I attended the Council Orientation Meeting on March 21. I also attended the Council Meeting on March 24. Below is the highlight report of the latter.

1. ACS President-Elect 2000.
    

    

   Four nominees: F. Peter Boer, James A. Bristol, Attila E. Pavlath and Alan Schriesheim, each told us their background and actions they’d take as the President-Elect. Boer of W.R. Grace, sounded very much like a corporate executive, emphasized on creating "value" for the ACS. Bristol from Parke-Davis focused more on career development and membership drive. Pavlath, who frequently visited our section, talked mostly on what he had done for the ACS. Schriesheim from Argonne National Lab talked more broadly on career, fund raising, chemistry education and image.

   Pavlath of USDA and Schriesheim of Argonne National Lab were elected by the councilors to be the candidates for the upcoming election.
    

2. Report from the Committee on Budget and Finance.

• The committee reported that the ACS ended 1998 financially sound, with its core activities making a net contribution to the society of $400,000.
• The council voted to raise the dues from 105 to 108 in year 2000.
• The committee also presented the information, which was requested by councilors in the fall meeting 98, on the need of increasing meeting registration fees by $10. The committee told the council that ACS lost $41/attendee for the Anaheim meeting and 40% of the attendees received discount. E. Elliel of NC pointed out that ACS should consider give undergraduate and graduate students different discount since the majority of the latter receive financial support from their research advisors.

(After I returned from the meeting, in a conversation with Theresa Chamblee on the above matter, she suggested that our section set up a travel award for undergraduate students majoring in chemistry to go to the national meetings. We’ll bring it up at the next executive committee meeting.)

• The council also voted to remove the $10 fee for members to reinstate their membership.

1. Report from the Committee on Membership Affairs (MAC).

• The final 98 membership was 158,968 and an increase of 3000 from 97.
• MAC reminded local sections that the 1999 new member commission was increased to $15.
• MAC awarded grants to several local sections including Colorado, Cleveland, Detroit, etc. to support their proposals for member retention and recognition activities. These grants, with an award of up to $2,000, are available to all local sections.

(I think our section should start a new membership drive program to get the above grant. Perhaps we can designate a meeting to welcome and recognize new members, and they get their first meeting dinner for free. I’ll bring this up at the next executive committee meeting.)

4. Others Issues Related to Local Sections:

• Local sections may now order recognition products, such as plaques, certificates, and past-chair pins from the ACS online store at www.ChemCenter.org
• A new and free service for local section officers, the ACS Electronic Local Section officers Mailing list became available Oct. 1, 1998. This list provides local section officers with a way to share ideas and information about local sections from other officers.

   
  Back to Executive Board Page

  

Last Updated April 14, 1999.