Comment: Empowering global communities

I have had the privilege to travel to nearly 20 countries over my lifetime. My uncle took me on my first international experience when I was 17. We spent 3 weeks traveling through South Korea, China, Hong Kong, and Macau. The cultural experience was life-changing. My 1987 visit was long before iPhones and Google Translate. Paper maps and tour books alongside a good local guide were essential. The Mandarin Chinese language fascinated me and challenged my communication skills. Where some might glaze over while studying characters not reminiscent of any Germanic- or Latin-derived language, I wanted more. In college I enrolled in Mandarin Chinese as my required foreign language, and I have had the chance to visit China several times over my professional career, setting up partnerships and even publishing a small section of a book with colleagues from Tsinghua University in Beijing.

As I transitioned to graduate school and then professional life, the world continued to get smaller. The global presence is apparent at the American Chemical Society and other scientific meetings I attend. Dozens of countries, cultures, and languages come together to discuss chemistry. ACS journals and other chemistry publications reveal authors from around the world. One of ACS’s core values is “passion for chemistry and the global chemistry enterprise” to support global problems through chemistry and collaboration. Chemistry is the central science—a unifying science.

The Committee on International Activities (IAC) continues to make significant strides in our mission to “connect and support global chemical practitioners for the benefit of Earth and all its people.” IAC supports, connects, collaborates, and advocates for ACS’s international members and international chemical science chapters (ICSCs). IAC develops members and chapters, promotes and funds grants and awards, encourages sharing best practices and activities, and creates connections between ICSCs and divisions, ACS committees, local sections, and other units across the society. ICSCs also collaborate with international student chapters to support students’ transition to chemistry professionals.

One strategic goal for IAC is to advocate and champion global member equity to promote a mechanism for international members to gain full representation in ACS. In 2023, with full support from IAC, the first international district director was approved by the ACS Council, ACS membership, and the ACS Board of Directors. Starting in 2025, this director will give the ACS Board an international perspective. IAC also launched a campaign to promote global participation in ACS governance. As a result, the Committee on Committees reported that a record number of international members submitted the committee preference form in 2023.

At ACS Fall 2024 in Denver, the ACS Council will act on the petition put forward by the CPC Future Council Representation Task Force to implement international zones to elect councilors. The council is the popular deliberative assembly of the society. Currently, voting councilors are elected by local sections and divisions and include selected ex officio officers. ACS’s global membership community—members, society affiliates, and community associates—comprises over 200,000 chemists; international membership makes up 27% of that number. The recent increase in the international membership community (+34%) has outpaced the domestic membership increase (+13%). The realization that a fifth of the dues-paying membership is not represented by a local section on the council led to the creation of the Petition for Global Representation on Council. The petition will change the society’s bylaws and standing rules to allow members living outside the US and some who live in areas of the US not within a territory of a local section to be represented by a voting councilor. Of members residing outside of the US, 40% are members of ICSCs. The petition creates six global electoral zones with the following characteristics.

▸ They are geographically continuous.

▸ They have roughly similar membership numbers.

▸ They represent an even distribution of ICSCs.

▸ They comply with federal sanctions lists.

As Beth Lorsbach, chair of the Committee on Local Section Activities (LSAC), noted in her May 2024 C&EN Comment, LSAC supports the Petition for Global Representation on Council to close the representation gap of all members. The petition will not decrease council representation for any local section or division. Based on feedback from the Committee on Divisional Activities, an amendment will be introduced at the council to ensure the ratio of divisional councilors to geographically elected councilors remains the same.

The future impact of equitable global participation in ACS is difficult to measure. IAC will continue to foster connections and collaborations; enhance opportunities, resources, networks, and training to empower our global members; and advocate and champion global member equity. IAC is interested in partnering with ACS committees and divisions for the benefit of the society and the entire ACS membership. By investing in and engaging all members, we empower global communities to achieve the ACS vision of “improving all people’s lives through the transforming power of chemistry.”

Views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of C&EN or ACS.