Committee Reports, March 2005

Chemical Education Today

978 Journal of Chemical Education • Vol. 82 No. 7 July 2005 • www.JCE.DivCHED.org

Association Report: ACS Division of Chemical Education

Committee Reports, March 2005

San Diego Executive Committee ReportDonald Wink, Secretary

Initiatives of the ACS PresidentDivision chairman Morton Hoffman reported on the ex-

cellent atmosphere for chemical education that had been cre-ated by the work and the ideas of ACS president Bill Carroll.This includes Carroll’s support of a new initiative that is a jointeffort by the Division and the Journal to provide high schoolteachers with full access to relevant material from the Journal,known as the Chemistry Teacher Connection (CTC) program.(See below for more information about CTC.)

Proposed Changes to Division BylawsThe Executive Committee voted to approve changes to

the Division bylaws pertinent to the possible implementationof other voting methods (such as electronic balloting) in thefuture. This follows upon the work of the Online ElectionsTask Force. Note that this decision will not affect the electionsthis year, which will use the regular paper-and-mail method.

2008 Biennial Conference on Chemical EducationThe Committee approved the recommendation of the

Biennial Conference on Chemical Education (BCCE) com-mittee to accept Indiana University’s application to host the2008 BCCE. (See p 980 for more about BCCE conferences.)

Endowment Solicitation CommitteeGlenn Crosby reported on the effort to create an endow-

ment to sponsor ACS Regional High School Teacher Awards.The key is obtaining donations from a large number of people,distributed geographically and across different levels of teach-ing. Virtually all chemists, Glenn pointed out, have good rea-son to credit their high school teacher for motivating themto study chemistry. The endowment is a way for chemists toacknowledge publicly the ongoing importance of excellent high

school teaching. In 2005 the Executive Committee agreed tomatch the first $100,000 contributed to the endowment. In-formation about the Endowment is on p 993; a downloadabledonation form is available at http://www.divched.org/awards/endowment/donationForm.pdf (accessed May 2005).

ACS DiviCHED 2005 Election of OfficersCandidates for the 2005 annual election of Division of-

ficers appear on p 982. Ballots will be mailed in August 2005;completed ballots must be received by October 1, 2005. BothMembers and Affiliate Members of the Division may vote forthe offices of Chair-Elect and Treasurer; only Members (whoare also members of ACS) may vote for Secretary and Coun-cilor/Alternate Councilor since these are ACS as well asDivCHED offices. In this election there are two Councilor/Alternate Councilor positions available, to be filled in this or-der: Councilor 2006–2008; Alternate Councilor 2006–2008.

Journal of Chemical Education NewsChemistry Teacher Connection

In collaboration with DivCHED and the Journal ofChemical Education, ACS President Bill Carroll has devel-oped an exciting initiative to involve more high school teach-ers in ACS activities. Called Chemistry Teacher Connection(CTC), this new opportunity provides teachers with affiliatemembership in the Division of Chemical Education (and alsothe ACS) as well as a subscription to CLIC—Chemical Learn-ing Information Center—JCE’s online publication for highschool teachers. All of this is available for the low annual priceof $40. Affiliate membership in DivCHED affords the rightto vote for Chair-Elect, Treasurer, and Member-at-Large andthe right to run for these offices—as well as a subscriptionto the DivCHED Newsletter. JCE Online HS CLIC providesan online version of the CLIC section of JCE—all articlesmarked in the table of contents as being of interest to highschool teachers—from 1996 to the present.

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Jim Spencer (at left, Franklin& Marshall College), recipientof the George C. PimentelAward in Chemical Educationsponsored by The Dow Chemi-cal Co., with his colleague RickMoog (Franklin & MarshallCollege).

Geraldine Richmond (right,University of Oregon), recipi-ent of the ACS Award forEncouraging Women into Ca-reers in the Chemical Sci-ences, being congratulated bySally Chapman (Barnard Col-lege).

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Saluting 2005 ACS Awardees!Saluting 2005 ACS Awardees!

http://www.jce.divched.org/Journal/

http://www.jce.divched.org/Journal/Issues/2004/

http://www.jce.divched.org/

http://www.divched.org/awards/endowment/donationForm.pdf

http://www.divched.org/awards/endowment/donationForm.pdf


www.JCE.DivCHED.org • Vol. 82 No. 7 July 2005 • Journal of Chemical Education 979

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Morton Hoffman,DivCHED chair, poseswith his poster describ-ing the Division and itsactivities at Sci-Mix inSan Diego.

Bill Carroll, ACSPresident, at the CTC

poster during Sci-Mix inSan Diego. CTC is one

of his initiatives to reachout to high school

teachers.

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Phoebe Dea (at left, Occi-dental College), recipient ofthe ACS Award for Researchat an Undergraduate Institu-tion sponsored by ResearchCorp., with Kerry Karukstis(Harvey Mudd College) at theaward symposium.

Annis Hapkiewicz (at right,from Okemos High School,Okemos, MI) is the recipientof the James Bryant ConantAward in High School Chem-istry Teaching. She is shownwith Koni Stone (CaliforniaState University, Stanislaus).

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Congratulations to the Winners!Congratulations to the Winners!

Highlights of other recent happenings from JCE includethe successful launch of the JCE Online store; donations tothe Tsunami Relief Project (organized by ACS ProjectBookshare) and to the DivCHED Teaching Excellence Endow-ment (see p 993); tremendous growth in usage of JCE On-line; plans to publish a CD-ROM of approximately 100 ofthe published CLIPs (Chemical Laboratory Information Pro-files); the availability on JCE Online of the full text of scannedback issues of JCE from 1976 through 1996—with the ex-pectation that an additional installment will be uploaded inthe very near future; the inception of three new collectionsas part of the NSDL program: JCE ChemInfo: Organic, JCELearning Communities Online, and JCE Featured Molecules.

Another important item is the first step in the process ofselection the eighth editor of JCE, as described below. Thepresent (seventh) editor, John W. Moore, took up the editorialred pen in 1996.

Editor, Journal of Chemical EducationThe Board of Publication of the Journal of Chemical Edu-

cation (JCE) announces the search for the eighth editor of theJCE. Ability to oversee day-to-day operation of a monthly aca-demic journal, creativity in envisioning the future of the JCE,and the skills and tenacity necessary to bring creative plans tofruition are essential characteristics of the editor of the Journal.

The editor of the JCE is responsible for all aspects of itspublication, including: peer review and evaluation of manu-scripts; selection of submissions to be published; preparing, print-ing, distributing, and archiving Journal issues; maintaining JCE

Online; hiring and supervising JCE staff; and selecting and col-laborating with the Secondary School Section editor and morethan 30 editors of feature columns. The editor is expected to:have a broad knowledge of both chemistry and chemistry edu-cation content; exhibit diplomacy, good interpersonal skills anddecisiveness; exercise good writing/editing ability; and meetmonthly publication deadlines. The editor typically spends 30–40 hours per week on Journal work throughout the calendaryear. Multi-tasking and time management skills are essential, asis the ability to work with a broad range of people that includessubscribers, authors, reviewers, advertising representatives, com-puter specialists, column editors, and editorial staff, as well asthe Publications Coordinator and members of the Board of Pub-lication. The editor must manage a large budget that, at present,is administered through the editor’s home institution.

The editor is appointed to a 5-year renewable term bythe Board of Publication. To help with the transition, thenew editor will serve in conjunction with the current editor,John Moore, for up to a year. It is expected that the neweditor will assume full responsibility for operating the JCEon September 1, 2009.

Preliminary applications or nominations should include aCV and a letter describing the applicant’s qualifications for theposition. Preliminary applications will be accepted beginningimmediately and continuing through February 28, 2006.

Please forward applications or requests for further infor-mation to John I. Gelder, Chair, JCE Board of Publication, De-partment of Chemistry, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater,OK 74078; phone: 405/744-7005; email: [email protected].







proved a motion to award the site for the 20th BCCE to Indi-ana University, Bloomington, IN. The Committee and the Di-vision are convinced that Indiana University is very wellprepared to host a successful conference in 2008. The planneddates for the 20th BCCE are July 26 through July 31, 2008.

Future ConferencesThe BCCE Committee welcomes proposals to host fu-

ture BCCE conferences. Groups who may be interested inlearning more about hosting a BCCE should contact the Com-mittee chair, George Kriz ([email protected]) and see theinformation in the box below.

The Committee seeks enthusiastic members to representall aspects of chemistry education to provide their perspectivein the running of successful conferences. Their qualificationsmight include first-hand experience with the running of aBCCE or other conferences and/or active participation in aBCCE. Anyone with valuable experience in how a conferenceshould be run is welcome. Most of the Committee’s businessis conducted via electronic mail, but we do have about twomeetings each year, generally during the ACS national meet-ings. If you are interested in being part of the Committee’sactivities, contact George Kriz ([email protected]).

Examinations Institute ReportTom Holme, Director

LawsuitThe most important announcement from the Exams

Institute concerned its legal actions to protect the security ofACS Exams. Our case against Yeshiva University was resolvedby a Consent Judgment that was registered in New York cir-cuit court. By way of background, the 1994 and 1998Organic Chemistry exams were posted on the Yeshiva Uni-

Report of the Biennial Conference on ChemicalEducation (BCCE) CommitteeGeorge S. Kriz, Committee Chair

The BCCE Committee recommends the sites for the Bi-ennial Conferences on Chemical Education and provides sup-port and communication between those who have conductedprevious BCCE conferences and those developing future con-ferences. The committee continues to develop ways to improveoverall support and guidance for the currently identified BCCElocations as well as for those who might consider hosting aBCCE conference in the future. The duties of the committeeinvolve discussions, not only of possible host sites, but also ofthe overall structure and nature of the conferences themselves.The committee strives to maintain the high quality of pastBCCE conferences and their service to the entire chemical edu-cation community, while making certain that the conferencesare responsive to the many changes that are occurring in tech-nology, the economy, and travel patterns.

19th BCCE, 2006The 19th Biennial Conference on Chemical Education

(BCCE) in 2006 will be held at Purdue University, from July30 through August 3, 2006. The General Chair for the con-ference is Bill Robinson (Purdue University), and the ProgramCo-Chairs are Mickey Sarquis (Miami University of Ohio) andArlene Russell (UCLA). The BCCE 2006 planning group isactively developing plans for an interesting conference. Pleaseput these dates into your planner!

20th BCCE, 2008At the Spring 2005 American Chemical Society National

Meeting in San Diego, the BCCE Committee unanimouslyrecommended and the DivCHED Executive Committee ap-

The ACS Division of Chemical Education requests bidsto host the 21st Biennial Conference on Chemical Educa-tion (BCCE) in 2010.

BCCE Objectives

The overall conference goals are to facilitate the exchangeof ideas and to create and maintain contacts among all thoseinterested in chemical education. Since each site has uniqueattractions, the conferences also seek to create an informal set-ting where families may enjoy the various peripheral ameni-ties. We encourage you to think about the possibility ofhosting the 21st BCCE in 2010.

Benefits of Hosting the BCCE

Each BCCE offers its organizers an extraordinary oppor-tunity for personal and professional growth. The host insti-tution is able to bring its chemistry program, in both chemical

education and traditional research, to the focused attentionof more than 1400 high school and undergraduate chemis-try teachers nationwide and beyond. Thus, hosting theBCCE may enhance your ability to recruit undergraduate andgraduate students as well as new faculty. The BCCE has beenshown to have a positive influence on local K–12 teachers,and this can be a factor in establishing or strengthening co-operative local programs. Although hosting the BCCE pro-vides its organizers with significant administrative experience,it is the organizers who provide us all with the most preciouscommodity… an invaluable service to the profession.

For More Information

Contact George Kriz, BCCE Committee Chair, West-ern Washington University, Department of Chemistry MS9150, Bellingham, WA 98225; email: [email protected];phone: 360/650-3126; fax: 360/650-2826.

Host the 2010 Biennial Conference on Chemical Education!





www.JCE.DivCHED.org • Vol. 82 No. 7 July 2005 • Journal of Chemical Education 981

versity Web site in 2004 for a period exceeding six months.This meant that the Institute needed to engage in a replace-ment program for those who had purchased these exams.Thus, the posting of the exams effectively forced a productrecall of these two assessment tools, and the Institute pur-sued its rights under copyright law for damages associatedwith the incident. In addition to asserting that the postingof these exams constituted an apparent violation of copyright,the Consent Judgment awarded substantial financial dam-ages to the Institute. Perhaps the key effect of this court caseis that it demonstrates that the Exams Institute will take thenecessary steps to protect the value of the exams it producesand that its customers presume to be secure.

Institute Director AppointmentThe Board of Trustees of the Exams Institute conducted

its 3-year review of Thomas Holme, the Director. The Boardvoted to endorse him for a second 5-year term upon receivingand discussing his 3-year report.

New ProductsWhile these operational activities were taking place, new

products for the Institute were also being developed by com-mittees. The preparation of a new exam for the first term ofthe full-year Organic Chemistry course is well under way; itwill be ready for trial testing in Fall 2005. A new pair of Gen-eral Chemistry exams that blend conceptual and algorithmicitems also continues to be written. The first-semester examis now ready to be put into final form, and work on the sec-ond-semester exam has begun. Finally, a committee has beenestablished to write ACS Exam items that use nanosciencecontexts for content commonly found on standardized ex-ams. These supplemental items will ultimately be providedto purchasers of Exams Institute materials once they havebeen developed. They will allow professors to includenanoscience content in their course and still be able to uti-lize standardized testing. The meeting of this committee inSan Diego began to clarify the topics and methodology thisproject will utilize for item development. This latter projectis funded by the National Science Foundation, (CHE-0407378).

Report, ACS Council MeetingCarol White, Councilor

The ACS Council met at the 229th ACS National Meet-ing in San Diego at 8 a.m. on Wednesday, March 15. Themany issues that the Council addressed are summarized below.

ACS Nominations and ElectionsThe Committee on Nominations and Elections presented

to the Council the four nominees for selection as candidatesfor President-Elect, 2006: Pat N. Confalone (Dupont,Wilmington, DE), Catherine T. Hunt (Rohm and Haas Co.,Spring House, PA), John W. Kozarich (ActivX Biosciences, LaJolla, CA), and Cynthia A. Maryanoff (Cordis Corp., SpringHouse, PA). By written ballot the Council selected CatherineT. Hunt and John W. Kozarich as candidates for 2006 Presi-

dent-Elect. George E.Heinze (retired, RobertWood Johnson Pharma-ceutical Research Institute)was certified as a petitioncandidate for 2006 Presi-dent-Elect.

The Committee onNominations and Elec-tions announced the re-sults of the election ofnominees for candidates torepresent District III andDistrict VI on the Board ofDirectors for the term 2006–2008. By written ballot theCouncil selected Catherine C. Fenselau and Madeleine M.Joullié as District III candidates; and as District VI candi-dates, Bonnie A. Charpentier and Stanley H. Pine. Ballotswill be mailed on or before October 10 to all members inDistrict III and District IV for election of a Director for eachDistrict.

The Committee on Nominations and Elections an-nounced the selection of the following candidates for Direc-tors-at-Large for a 2006–2008 term: James D. Burke (retired,Rohm & Haas Co., Spring House, PA), Edwin A. Chandross(Materials Chemistry LLC, Murray Hill, NJ), C. GordonMcCarty (retired, Bayer Corp., Dataw Island, SC), and FrankieWood-Black (Conoco Phillips Inc., Ponca City, OK). The elec-tion of two Directors-at-Large will be conducted in the fall,with ballots mailed to the Council by October 10.

Committee ReviewAs part of a regular review, the Council voted to continue

the Committee on Project SEED, the committee that overseesthe Society’s summer educational experience program for dis-advantaged youth.

Proposed Committee on EthicsThe Committee on Committees presented to Council a

proposal for establishing a Committee on Ethics as an OtherCommittee of the Council. The charge of this committeewould be to: coordinate the ethics-related activities of the So-ciety, serving as an educational resource and clearinghouse butnot as an adjudication body, for ACS members seeking guid-ance on ethics issues; raise awareness of ethics issues throughmeeting programming and columns/editorials; review recogni-tion opportunities for acknowledging ethical behavior; developand oversee such other ethics-related activities as will serve ACSmembers and promote the Society’s standards of ethical con-duct within the profession of chemistry and its related disci-plines. After defeating a motion to assign the proposed dutiesof the committee to the Committee on Economic and Profes-sional Affairs, the Council voted to establish a Committee onEthics as an Other Committee of the Council.

2006 Member DuesThe Council voted to set the member dues for 2006 at

the fully escalated rate of $127.

… the Exams Institute

will take the necessary

steps to protect the value

of the exams it produces

and that its customers

presume to be secure.






Membership in the ACS Division of Chemical Education

Contact Donald J. Wink, CHED [email protected]

Online Membership Formhttp://www.divched.org/CHED-membership.html


Additional items of potential interest from the CouncilMeeting:

• As of March 15, 2005, the ACS spring national meeting inSan Diego had attracted 15,385 registrants as follows: Regu-lar attendees 8,372; Students 4,160; Exhibitors 1,624; Ex-position only 628; and Guests 601. There were 580 boothsin the Exposition.

• The Membership Affairs Committee reported that mem-bership in the American Chemical Society was 158,127 asof year-end 2004. Compared to the previous year, this rep-resents less than a 1% decrease. In 2004, more than 13,000new members were added to the rolls.

• The Committee on Nominations and Elections withdrewa petition on election procedures. The committee plans tooffer additional changes to the Society’s election proceduresand introduce a new petition at the fall national meeting.

• ACS President-Elect E. Ann Nally described her plans forher year as ACS President to focus on spotlighting volun-teers; communicating the value of basic and applied researchto the public; and highlighting the importance of under-graduate research in science education.

• Board Chair James Burke reported that the goals of theBoard include: contingency planning for ACS finances;establishing a shared vision statement; putting together aportfolio of strategies; and going toward a formal governancereview.

• ACS Executive Director Madeline Jacobs stated that theACS Web site is under review. She commented on phasingout ACS matching funds for such programs as NationalChemistry Week and Project SEED. She stated that the newDevelopment Office at the ACS will help local sections anddivisions find alternative sources of funding for their pro-grams.

• The Board voted to approve the appointment of an editorfor a new Society journal, ACS Chemical Biology, which isscheduled to debut in 2006.

• The Divisional Activities Committee reported that divisionsmay apply for up to two innovative program grants total-ing $12,500 per year. A single grant proposal may applyfor up to $7500.

• The Committee on Economic and Professional Affairs(CEPA) reported that 1410 interviews for 189 positionswere conducted by employers at the ChemJobs Career Cen-ter at the San Diego meeting. CEPA is working on improv-ing career services at regional meetings.

Special Discussion Item: Future of Graduate EducationA special discussion item was put on the Council agenda

for this meeting. ACS President William F. Carroll presentedan overview of Chemistry Enterprise 2015, posing the ques-tion, “Where will our students come from in the next ten years,and where will they go?” The issue was framed as follows: Atpresent the U.S. has a strong university system, and U.S.graduate education in science is widely recognized as the bestin the world, but problems loom on the horizon. In addi-tion, a variety of factors in the nation’s academic infrastructureare likely to produce change in the training and careers ofnew chemists. Councilors then participated in a lively dis-cussion that intensified among Council members their aware-ness of this issue and brought out some possibilities forsolutions.

Candidates for the 2005 annual election of Divisionofficers appear below. Ballots will be mailed in August2005; completed ballots must be received by October 1,2005. Both ACS and Affiliate members of the Divisionmay vote for the offices of Chair-Elect and Treasurer; onlyACS members may vote for Secretary/Councilor and Coun-cilor/Alternate Councilor since these are ACS as well asDivCHED offices.

Chair-Elect (Chair in 2007)

• Melanie Cooper, Clemson University, Clemson, SC;[email protected]

• George Kriz, Western Washington University,Bellingham, WA; [email protected]

Treasurer (2006–2008)• Tom Greenbowe, Iowa State University, Ames,

IA; [email protected]

• Anna Wilson, Purdue University, West Lafayette,IN; [email protected]

Councilor/Alternate Councilor (2006–2008)

• Jennifer Lewis, University of South Florida, Tampa,FL; [email protected]

• Laura Pence, University of Hartford, West Hart-ford, CT; [email protected]

• Laura Slocum, University High School of Indi-ana, Carmel, IN; [email protected]

• Pratibha Varma-Nelson, Northeastern IllinoisUniversity, Chicago, IL; [email protected]

ACS Division of Chemical Education2005 Election of Officers






The Moment

Overlooking the San Diego bay region in early morningThe Star of India and The Monarch are docked in viewAs a salty breeze blows over clear deep blue waters.

Eating aromatic toasted sourdough bread and sipping a hot coffee chaserOutdoors, as pigeons flit about.Playing on the radio is the ballad from The Midnight Cowboy:

Goin’ where the sun keeps shining, through the pourin’ rain,Goin’ where the weather suits my soul ... .

Reflecting on my students’ poster presentations:They beam with confidence and laugh with excitementAs perhaps a thousand boisterous chemists crowd about.

Tomorrow in arctic grey northern MichiganI’ll deliver an organic lecture—chapter 21 pages 770–775Acyl substitution reactions, nomenclature of esters and amides.

Ah, the sun feels good.

Pasquale Di RaddoFerris State UniversityBig Rapids, MI 49307March, 2005


Undergraduate Research Poster Session

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More than 800 undergraduates pre-sented the results of their research inDivCHED’s Undergraduate ResearchPoster Session in San Diego. What a suc-cess story for this program!

Left: The group of ACS Student Affiliates from Ferris State University in San Diego: fromleft, Lindsey Dyke, Megan Tunney, Ryan Littich, Erica Touhill, Rachael Peterson, LindseyWynkoop (president of the affiliate chapter), Emmanuella Ohaeri, and Pasquale Di Raddo(chapter advisor). Right: Ryan Littich at his poster, Green Chemistry Activities at FerrisState University. He is a bachelor’s student in chemistry after having graduated from anindustrial chemistry technology program.

Poster 685, Bridging the gap betweentheory and practice: comparing a simula-tion to the actual death of a Daniel cell, acontribution of undergraduate students atLongwood University, Farmville, VA.

Poster 689, Development of inquiry cen-tered activities for the secondary chemis-try classroom, was contributed by MissouriWestern State College and South HarrisonHigh School, Bethany, MO

Poster 684, Baeyer–Villiger oxidation withhousehold sodium percarbonate, a contri-bution by Indiana State University, TerreHaute, IN.

Poster 683, Atomic force microscopy andnanoparticle spectroscopy in the highschool classroom, was an undergrad re-search contribution of Juniata College,Huntingdon, PA.

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One of the research advisors,Pasquale Di Raddo from Ferris State Uni-versity shares his reflections on havingseven of his undergrads (shown below)make presentations.




Documents

Committee Reports, March 2005