Official reports from the ACS Board

The major actions taken by the ACS Board of Directors at its Dec. 6–9, 2007, meeting in Arlington, Va., were reported in C&EN (Dec. 17, 2007, page 9).

Society Committee Report

Budget & Finance

The Society Committee on Budget & Finance met on Friday and Saturday, Dec. 7–8, 2007, to review the society's 2007 probable financial performance and consider the 2008 proposed operating and capital budgets.

ACS is expected to end 2007 with a net contribution from operations of $8,082,000, or $638,000 favorable to the approved budget. After including the Member Insurance Program and New Business Ventures, the society's projected net contribution for 2007 is $8,689,000, or $3,304,000 favorable to the 2007 approved budget. The society is projected to end the year in compliance with the board-established financial guidelines.

The committee considered proposals from the Committees on Divisional Activities and on Meetings & Expositions regarding reimbursement to ACS divisions for expenses incurred in programming for PacifiChem 2010 and the 2008 national meeting registration fees, respectively. The committee voted to recommend to the ACS Board that it approve the request from the Divisional Activities Committee to reimburse ACS divisions on a pro rata basis for expenses incurred in programming for PacifiChem 2010. The committee also voted to recommend that the ACS Board approve an advance member registration fee of $330 for national meetings held in 2008.

In other approved actions, the committee recommended that funding for ACS High School Chemistry Clubs be included in the society's 2008 proposed budget and 2009-10 forecast, that funding for the ACS Communications Strategic Plan be included in the society's 2008 proposed budget, and that the ACS Scholars Program be extended from 2010 to 2013.

Finally, the committee voted to recommend to the ACS Board that it approve a 2008 proposed operating budget with a projected net contribution of $6,233,000, subject to further ACS Board actions at the meeting. The committee also voted to recommend to the ACS Board that it approve the 2008 proposed capital budget of $29,808,000.—Dennis Chamot, chair

Board Committee Reports

Grants & Awards

Three winners of the Astellas USA Foundation Awards have been identified; they are Harold B. Dellinger, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge; Esther Takeuchi, University at Buffalo; and Shahriar Mobashery, University of Notre Dame. The winners will present a half-day symposium at the ACS national meeting in Philadelphia in August 2008, and at that time, they will each receive a $30,000 check from the Astellas USA Foundation, as well as a crystal plaque.

Acting under delegated authority, the committee (G&A) voted to accept the recommendations of the ACS PRF Advisory Board (September 2007 meeting) for funding grants totaling $8.56 million; to approve the new Petroleum Research Fund Advisory Board (PRFAB) structure, as presented by the PRF Steering Committee, including the creation within PRFAB of a Scientific Committee for proposal review and a Program Committee for program evaluation; to accept the recommendations of the GCI Governing Board (October 2007 meeting) for funding grants totaling $518,873; and to invite the current sponsors of nine national awards to renew their sponsorships, which are scheduled to expire after the 2009 awards presentation.

The committee voted to recommend to the board of directors that the Arthur Adamson Award for Distinguished Service in the Advancement of Surface Chemistry be financially supported by ACS for the 2009 presentation unless a sponsor is found to support this award; that the E. Bright Wilson Award in Spectroscopy, George C. Pimentel Award for Chemical Education, ACS Award in Theoretical Chemistry, and Irving Langmuir Award in Chemical Physics be financially supported by ACS for the 2009 presentation unless a sponsor is found to support these awards; and that G&A seek assistance from the appropriate technical divisions to find financial support for these awards.

The committee ratified one interim action taken since Aug. 16, 2007: G&A voted that the Board Committee on Grants & Awards allow a nomination of a team of two people for the 2009 Parsons Award.

Acting under delegated authority, the committee voted to invite the Subcommittee on Canvassing & Selection to review the results of the August 2007 surveys to jurors and recipients and to make recommendations to the committee for action.—Eric C. Bigham, chair

Planning

In June, the Board Planning Committee and senior staff formulated six strategic goals for the society and identified strategies for each goal. Since that time, the committee has developed a shared understanding of each goal's emphasis.

The committee then considered the entire content of the "Strategic Plan for 2008 and Beyond," approved changes to the "External Trends" section of the plan based on input from the education community, and recommended to the board that the plan be approved.

The committee discussed the Strategic Plan Web storyboard, proposing several improvements and approving the public presentation to be released in January 2008. The committee decided to invite the preparation of C&EN Comments related to the strategic plan from a variety of governance leaders.

The committee considered ways to advance the implementation of the Strategic Plan throughout the society. Recommendations were made regarding approaches to the engagement of ACS committees, local sections, and divisions. Other activities to promote the plan will include a series of presentations during the upcoming "ACS Leadership Institute," which is scheduled for January 2008 in Dallas, and an offer to engage in face-to-face interactions with committees at the spring national meeting.

The committee considered the process for annual refinement and evolution of the strategic plan, starting in 2008. The key focus for the committee in 2008 will be on promoting the plan among governance groups, encouraging engagement and the development of operational plans, and tracking progress toward our goals and metrics.—Judith L. Benham, chair

Professional & Member Relations

The Committee on Professional & Member Relations (P&MR) approved a nominal cosponsorship in response to a request from the 20th International Conference on Chemical Education.

It discussed emergency preparedness plans associated with the 2008 ACS national meeting in New Orleans and encouraged staff to urge meeting participants to develop a personal emergency communications plan prior to departing for the meeting.

P&MR received an update on the prior publication issue. Editors-in-chief from all ACS journals have submitted a prior publication policy. In December 2007, those policies will be posted online. The "letter of consent" document that presenters need to complete before posting content online has been edited to include more comprehensive and direct language on the possible implications of posting content online. Staff will send technical division chairs updated information to include all ACS journal prior publication policies as well as the revised letter of consent document.

The committee received a report on a recommendation from the Committee on Economic & Professional Affairs (CEPA) to curtail the practice of offering members a free situations-wanted advertisement in C&EN. CEPA's rationale for making this recommendation was that the advertisements almost never result in the advertiser finding employment; therefore, offering this service under such circumstances provided nothing more than false hope to the job seeker. P&MR recommended to the ACS Board that it amend Board Regulation I(4) to eliminate the opportunity for members to place a free situations-wanted advertisement in C&EN.

P&MR received a report on the need to establish a new ACS committee to serve the needs of older/retired members and recommended that the board send this request to the Committee on Committees for its consideration.—Kent J. Voorhees, chair

Public Affairs & Public Relations

The Committee on Public Affairs & Public Relations (PA&PR) chair, Bonnie Charpentier, opened the meeting by reviewing the progress made toward achievement of the committee's 2007 goals, including establishment of the state government affairs program, public policy position prioritization, increased communications with committees, the society's communication strategic plan, and the committee's website.

The goal concerning the establishment of a separate form of recognition for nonseminal historic chemical achievements will be fulfilled by asking for a proposal from the Committee on Historic Chemical Landmarks and the Division on the History of Chemistry. The chair also informed committee members of the Dec. 18, 2007, meeting of the ACS Presidential Task Force on Enhancing Innovation & Competitiveness.

The committee received an update on the ACS communications strategic plan and ongoing work to strengthen the ACS brand. The update included a review of a proposed new brand look incorporating the ACS insignia and a consistent look for ACS materials and publications. The committee discussed a potential amendment to Board Regulation IX that would define options for the use of the ACS insignia.

The main elements of the proposed change would involve use of the insignia in association with "ACS" or with "American Chemical Society," as well as regularizing the use of a new, not yet agreed to, tagline, "Chemistry for Life." The chair conducted straw polls of both elements of the proposed change and concluded that there was insufficient support for making a change to Regulation IX at this time. The chair asked for, and received, committee agreement to discuss the tagline choice and insignia use with the full board.

The committee voted to approve new public policy statements on global climate change and science education; extend the Employment Non-Discrimination Act policy statement set to expire in December 2007 for a period of three years; and approve two National Historic Chemical Landmark nominations—Pfizer for fermentation technology and Rohm and Haas for aqueous acrylic emulsion technology.

After a telephone discussion and consultation with Martin Gorbaty, chair of the Committee on Economic & Professional Affairs (CEPA), in which he outlined the importance of health care and insurance to ACS members and employees of the chemical enterprise, the committee voted to support CEPA developing a health care public policy statement for future consideration by PA&PR.

The committee voted unanimously to recommend to the board of directors that they approve the nominations received from the Committee on Chemistry & Public Affairs for the 2008 recipients of ACS Public Service Awards.—Bonnie Charpentier, chair

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