Senior
Chemists Task Force |
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Tom
Beattie (San Diego Local
Section) and SCTF member,
at left, with Harry Gray
(Cal- Tech), who spoke
at the Senior Chemists
Break- fast at the ACS
meeting in Anaheim, March
2011.
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| The
Senior Chemists Task Force
(SCTF) was established in
2009 and is currently composed
of 21 members. Its purpose
is to serve as the focal
point of programming and
representation for senior
chemists over the age of
50 within the ACS and the
chemistry enterprise at large.
Its mission, broadly stated,
is to encourage and serve
as a conduit for senior members
to volunteer and contribute
their energy and talent to
the ACS, including governance,
education, mentoring, and
community projects; to provide
useful services and information
to seniors, such as retirement
and estate planning, consulting
and part-time opportunities,
and travels/tours; to foster
networking opportunities
among seniors, both nationally
and locally; and to represent
senior chemists in their
interaction with other elements
of ACS governance, bringing
awareness of their needs,
fostering collaborations,
and creating synergies. |
| The
age demographics of the ACS
demonstrate the need for
institutional interest in
senior chemists; of its approximately
160,000 members, at least
50% are 50 years of age or
older, and about 30% are
over 60. SCTF is needed in
order to provide services
to this continually growing
segment of the membership,
to encourage seniors to stay
involved with ACS, to coordinate
local section activities
that involve seniors, and
to make the rest of the Society
aware of the needs of seniors.
From a programming standpoint,
SCTF is in a position to
organize, sponsor, and co-sponsor
symposia and events at ACS
national meetings, and provide
guidance for communications
with seniors at regional
meetings and within local
sections. It can also pro-
vide information at its link
on the ACS website, through
the SCTF connections on the
ACS Network, and with articles
in local section newsletters,
the Councilor Bulletin, and
Committee News. |
With
regard to SCTF program-
ming at ACS national meetings,
the most enduring has been
the Senior Chemists Breakfasts,
which have attracted sell-out
crowds. Since 2009, the
speakers have included
Peter Stang, University
of Utah (Salt Lake City,
2009); Luis Echegoyen,
NSF (Washington, 2009);
Robert Grubbs, CalTech
(San Francisco, 2010);
Roald Hoffmann, Cornell
University (Boston, 2010);
Harry Gray, CalTech (Anaheim,
2011). A Senior Chemists
Breakfast to be held in
Denver on Tuesday, August
30, will feature Dr. Bassam
Shakhashiri, current ACS
President-Elect, as the
guest speaker; he will
speak on “Chemistry and
Society: Looking Back,
Looking Around, Looking
Ahead.” |
| SCTF
has organized, co-sponsored,
or co-listed the following
symposia on topics important
to seniors and other attendees
at the national meetings:
being a consultant, volunteerism
(Washington, 2009); the consulting
business (San Francisco,
2010); governmental interface,
connections to Germany and
Europe, Medicare supplement
workshop (Boston, 2010);
aging and the ACS, diverse
workforces in small businesses
(Anaheim, 2011). In Denver
(Fall 2011), SCTF will co-
sponsor a symposium on interactions
between the Younger Chemists
Committee of ACS and the
European Young Chemists Network
of EuCheMS (European Association
for Chemical and Molecular
Sciences), as well as symposia
on entrepreneurial- ism,
health care reform and its
impact on seniors, and the
globalization of the chemistry
profession. |
| SCTF
is in the process of planning
future activities for seniors,
including assistance with
consultancies, employment,
income tax issues, and retirement
and estate planning. It anticipates
organizing trips for seniors
to universities for educational
visits, and to local governmental
bodies for legislative visits.
Seniors with academic or
industrial backgrounds will
become part of the “Chemistry
Ambassadors” to interact
with students and teachers
at the K-12, undergraduate,
and graduate levels. SCTF
plans to work with local
sections toward the establishment
of their own senior chemists
committees for the promotion
of relevant activities of
interest to their members
in the areas of education,
governmental affairs, and
environmental improvement. |
| Later
in 2011, the ACS Committee
on Committees (ConC) will
evaluate the programs and
activities of SCTF with an
eye toward the establishment
of a national Senior Chemists
Committee (SCC) that would
be analogous to the current
Younger Chemists Committee
(YCC) and Women Chemists
Committee (WCC). |
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Members
of SCTF at the Senior Chemists
Breakfast at the ACS meeting
in Anaheim, March 2011,
left-right, George Heinze
(New Jersey Local Section),
SCTF Chair, Morton Hoffman
(NESACS), Ronald Archer
(Connecticut Valley Local
Section).
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ACS Senior Chemists Committee Created |
| The ACS Committee on Committees (ConC) is pleased
to announce that the Council and Board of Directors
have now officially approved the establishment
of the Joint Board-Council Committee on Senior
Chemists (SCC), effective January 1, 2013. The
age demographics of the ACS demonstrated the need
for a Senior Chemists Committee. Of its more than
164,000 members, more than 37% are over the age
of 50 (as of Dec. 31, 2011) with this segment of
the Society being one of the fastest growing groups. |
| SCC will be a group
of highly professional, volunteer chemists whose
mission is to enrich the educational, technical,
and cultural lives of the ACS membership while
ministering to and employing the talents of senior
ACS members (over the age of 50) in the following
ways: |
- sharing with ACS members of all ages a rich
variety of personal experiences and expertise
gained over many years of professional service;
- fostering
interest and participation in the science of
chemistry through community outreach, especially
in grades K-12;
- acting as science advisers/ambassadors
for the purpose of cultural exchange at home
and abroad;
- providing senior ACS members with
challenging, diverse, and enjoyable professional
experiences that enable them to contribute to
the cultural experiences of their communities;
- recommending
policies that address issues of interest to senior
chemists.
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| SCC will initially
consist of 15 members and such associates and consultants
as the President and Chair of the Board of Directors
deem necessary. And, as stipulated in the Bylaws
for such committees, SCC will be “subject to review
by ConC no less often than every five years to
advise Council whether it should be continued.”
The Senior Chemists Task Force (SCTF) had formally
requested that ConC review and evaluate its request
for the establishment of SCC as a Joint Committee
of the Board and Council. SCTF had been functioning
as a quasi-committee for three years, and was the
culmination of more than a decade of task forces
examining the need for a senior chemists committee.
ConC acted on this request and brought a specific
recommendation to Council in Philadelphia that
the establishment of such a committee be approved
subject to the concurrence of the Board of Directors. |
| SCTF believed the committee
could serve two constituencies within the ACS:
(1) seniors who are still active either as full-time
or part-time employees, consultants, or those who
still wish to stay closely connected to the ACS
and its spectrum of activities; and (2) younger
members and students who have questions about a
chemistry-based career or who have started careers
but are looking for guidance on how to progress.
Examples of SCC activities are mentoring, career
guidance and counseling, job training seminars
and webinars, alternate career selection, problem
support, workshops, and tutorials. |
The new committee will
hold its first meeting in New Orleans on Monday,
April 8, 2013. |
| Click here to download
this announcement |
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Senior Chemists - ACS Wants You!
The U.S. economy is experiencing the biggest setback since
the Great Depression, and many of your colleagues in the
chemical sciences are out of work or are in transition.
They could certainly use your assistance as someone who
has been there and done that to help them with advice and
guidance.
The ACS Career Consultant Program (CCP) has been providing
support to new graduates and displaced workers for over
30 years. It is staffed
by qualified volunteers who give freely of their time.
Although there is no compensation, ACS provides annual
training for Career Consultants. Applicants to the program
are vetted through the Council Committee on Economic and
Professional Affairs (CEPA). The following is a list of
criteria used by CEPA to assess applications for the Career
Consultant program:
Employment Background
• work
experience in chemistry or related field
• respect by colleagues –
reputation for excellent work
• mentoring or advising experience
• career counseling or personnel
(hiring and firing) experience
• may not be principals in, or employed
by, enterprises that derive
income by collecting fees from individuals for providing career counseling
or job placement services
• must have degree in chemistry or related field.
• must be an ACS member in good standing.
Personal Characteristics
•
personal experience with making job or career changes
• good writing and speaking skills
• good listening skill
• good telephone communication
skills
• dependable, outgoing, empathetic,
tactful and patient
Other
• employed
and/or retired member of the ACS
• have a broad view of the business
and professional dimensions of chemistry
• letters of recommendation from
two current ACS members
• willingness to attend a CCP training
program (possibly 2 days)
The ACS seeks to have a diverse group of chemists as consultants.
Therefore, consultants are recruited from industry, academia,
government, large and small organizations, all chemical
specialty areas, and different work levels and positions.
The ACS also seeks diversity in gender, racial, and ethnic
backgrounds.
If you are interested in serving
your fellow members as an ACS Career Consultant, please
email Malahat Layazali <m_layazali@acs.org> or
Liane Gould <l_gould@acs.org>.
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Why a Senior
Chemists Committee? |
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People are living longer and looking
for opportunities to stay engaged, and ACS has
to change to meet their needs. |
photo by Linda Wang/C&EN |
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ACS membership statistics
provideconvincing support for creating a Senior Chemists
Committee. Almost 38,000 ACS members are more than
60 years of age; they constitute 23% of the membership
and are the fastest growing demographic in the society.
More than 18,000 of these members are still working
and active in the profession. A large number of the
others are engaged in part-time work (such as consulting,
contracting, and teaching).
Many of those who are not working are engaged in
a variety of volunteer activities. ACS must not neglect
this cohort of chemists— to do so would be an injustice
to these individuals and would weaken the society. |
| Recently I attended the
North Jersey Section’s 2012 Awards & Recognition
Dinner, which honored 35 50-year members and 26 60-year
members. As their bios were read, it was obvious
that these members are still very much interested
in the profession. Thirty years ago, we didn’t have
enough 60- year members to include as a distinct
group in the celebration. Times have changed. People
are living longer and looking for opportunities to
stay engaged, and ACS has to change to meet their
needs. |
| During the ACS national
meeting in Philadelphia this August, the Committee
on Committees will present a motion at the ACS Council
meeting to establish a Senior Chemists Committee
as a joint boardcouncil committee of the society.
We believe the present Senior Chemists Task Force
(SCTF) has demonstrated through its accomplishments
the value—both to ACS and to its senior members—of
going forward with this motion. |
| Some of the task force
activities to date are the initiation in 2005 of
the Senior Chemists Breakfast, an activity that sells
out at each ACS national meeting, hosting along the
way three Nobel Laureates and four ACS presidents
as speakers; the establishment of a semiannual newsletter
for senior chemists that is distributed to all local
sections and international chapters; the organization
of and continuing support for senior groups in local
sections, with a particular focus on ACS mentoring
programs and career development initiatives, including
development of instructional material in support
of these programs; and the development of a very
active national and regional meeting programming
subcommittee that has presented 12 programs over
the past three years. Each of these activities reached
a large audience and would not have happened without
SCTF’s leadership. |
| SCTF believes that the
proposed Senior Chemists Committee will be an essential
resource for ACS to keep its senior members involved
in the society. The committee will also strengthen
ties to students and younger members who are looking
for career guidance. |
| Some have reasonably
questioned the rationale for another committee, and
to be fair, I will list some of their concerns: ACS
has a large number of committees; do we need another
one? Is there some other means besides a committee
to serve this significant group of ACS members? Isn’t
this group of seniors too numerous to have identifiable
needs? |
| Good questions, but I
think a committee focused on the unique needs of
nearly a quarter of the ACS membership would be of
high value to the society. The seniors of 2012 are
not the seniors of 1982. A committee focused on responding
to senior needs and, at the same time, organizing
senior members to better serve their local communities
and ACS, will be an efficient and effective means
of maximizing the number of ACS members. A joint
board-council committee is logical, because the committee
will recommend necessary policy changes to the ACS
Board of Directors and implement actions and programs
through the council. |
SCTF believes that ACS
is ready for a Senior Chemists Committee, and we
offer a mission statement and a set of goals: “The
Senior Chemists Committee is a group of highly professional,
volunteer chemists whose mission is to enrich the
educational, technical, and cultural lives of the
ACS membership by ministering to and employing the
talents of senior ACS members (over 50).” SCTF includes
members under 60 in case they want to provide input
to or
use services of the committee. |
| The
goals for the committee,
drafted by SCTF, are as follows: |
- Sharing with ACS members of all ages
a rich variety of personal experiences and
expertise gathered over many years of professional
service;
- Fostering interest
and participation in
the science of chemistry through community
outreach, especially in grades K–
12;
- Acting as science advisers
and ambassadors
for the purpose of cultural exchange
at home and abroad; and
- Providing senior ACS
members with
challenging, diverse, and enjoyable professional
experiences that enable them to
contribute to the cultural experiences of
their communities.
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Among other activities,
the proposed committee could provide a central governance
organization that more actively involves senior members
in ACS and offers programs at national and regional
meetings and other venues that focus on the interests
and accomplishments of senior members. It could guide
local sections in starting senior chemist groups
and ensuring they flourish. And it could help senior
chemists share the rich variety of their personal
experiences and expertise gathered over many years
of professional service
with other ACS members. |
| I urge you to support
the establishment of the ACS Senior Chemists Committee
by sending your comments to silvercircle@acs.org. |
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