Official Reports from the June Board of Directors Meeting

Major actions taken by the American Chemical Society Board during its June meeting in Baltimore are reported below.

GRANTS & AWARDS

Acting under delegated authority, the ACS Board Committee on Grants & Awards (G&A) voted to accept the recommendations of the ACS Petroleum Research Fund Advisory Board for funding grants totaling nearly $7.3 million.

The committee received an update on the activities of the Subcommittee on Award Reviews and also discussed the number and types of national awards. A proposal from the Division of Chemical Education was discussed regarding the establishment of a new award for achievement in experimental research for teaching and learning chemistry.

The committee then took the following actions: It voted to dissolve the Seaborg Endowment and to allow the funds in the corpus to be used to support the Glenn T. Seaborg Award in Nuclear Chemistry, to be presented annually by the Division of Nuclear Chemistry & Technology; it voted to make a recommendation to James D. Burke, chair of the board of directors, for the appointment of four scientists to the ACS Petroleum Research Fund Advisory Board; and it voted, upon the recommendation of the Joint Board-Council Committee on Patents & Related Matters, to recommend to the ACS Board of Directors two nominations for the society's nominees for the 2006 National Inventors Hall of Fame: Hal Rosen for the invention of the multilayer optical disc and Lubomyr T. Romankiw and David A. Thompson for the invention of the thin-film read/write heads for magnetic storage.--C. GORDON MCCARTY, CHAIR

PROFESSIONAL & MEMBER RELATIONS

The Committee on Professional & Member Relations (P&MR) heard a progress report on the Board Oversight Group on Leadership Development. The group has completed a study targeting industrial management in relation to ACS volunteer leadership programs and a benchmarking study of comparable nonprofit leadership development programs.

Acting under delegated authority, P&MR voted to approve a cooperative cosponsorship with Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker and the Royal Society of Chemistry for the TransAtlantic Frontiers of Chemistry Symposium--planned for August 2006 in Durham, N.H.

Inclusiveness: P&MR members viewed a presentation based on the final report of the ACS Board-Presidential Task Force on the Multidisciplinarity of Chemistry. The task force produced a varied and extensive set of recommendations for ACS to remain competitive and relevant in today's multidisciplinary environment. At the conclusion of the presentation, P&MR voted to review the full report of the task force and to develop recommendations for consideration by the board of directors at its August meeting.

The committee was updated on appointments of James P. Shoffner and Nancy B. Jackson as diversity ambassadors and on a letter regarding the Percy Julian Project.

Membership: Kent J. Voorhees briefed P&MR on a student/teacher products and services white paper he has written and a subsequent table listing URLs for the programs, products, and services that ACS provides in relation to the white paper contents. P&MR requested that a presentation describing the Education Division activities be placed on the board server as a first step toward increasing awareness of these quality products and services.

P&MR expressed its strong desire to continue discussions with the Committee on Membership Affairs regarding the development of a "fellow" designation to improve member loyalty and recognition. For more information about P&MR, contact the staff liaison, Denise Creech (d_creech@acs.org).--ANNE T. O'BRIEN, CHAIR

PUBLIC AFFAIRS & PUBLIC RELATIONS

The Committee on Public Affairs & Public Relations (PA&PR) discussed several policy matters including the teaching of evolutionary theory, student and scholar travel, and innovation policy. The first two items were sent to the board of directors for final action.

In the area of innovation policy, the committee discussed recent policy developments driven by Rep. Frank R. Wolf's (R-Va.) call for a national focus on a U.S. national innovation strategy, including tripling R&D funding. ACS has worked closely with Wolf to highlight this issue and is actively pursuing a meeting with President Bush to discuss the role of innovation in U.S. economic security. To this end, the committee encouraged the Office of Legislative & Government Affairs (OLGA) staff to develop a society statement on innovation that would bring together standing ACS statements on R&D, intellectual property, and math and science education. The committee voted to continue to actively work with Wolf.

The Office of Communications discussed its ongoing process to develop a communication strategy for the society. The committee was presented with some of the broad questions to be posed and the audiences that might be consulted in order to assemble a comprehensive strategy. PA&PR also reviewed two potential National Historic Chemical Landmarks and sent them to the board of directors for final action.

The Office of Legislative & Government Affairs discussed plans for expanding the society's Legislative Action Network (LAN). The committee reviewed the 2005 board goals concerning public policy and recommended a specific LAN goal to the board of directors.--DIANE G. SCHMIDT, CHAIR