Chemical Education Today edited by
Association Report: 2YC3
Ann Cartwright
2YC3—More Than Just an Ice Cream Social
San Jacinto College, Central Campus Division of Science & Mathematics Pasadena, TX 77501-2007
by Rick Bolesta
Brief History
Gruber, and Jeff Kovac.
2YC3 started in Chicago in the early 1960s, when a selected group of chemistry teachers in two-year colleges was invited to serve on a committee of the ACS Division of Chemical Education (DivCHED). This committee was to be responsible for the ACS’s Junior College Chemistry Roundtable Conferences. The committee then directed a series of regional conferences designed to provide two-year college chemistry faculty with resources to enhance the teaching and learning of chemistry. They continue today as the Two-Year College Chemistry Conferences. To increase financial and program support for this undertaking, college and industrial sponsors, as well as faculty, were solicited to join 2YC3. By the end of 1990 there were 547 faculty members, 118 college sponsors, and 23 industrial sponsors. The governing committee grew so large over the years that the committee set up its own executive committee and developed its own policies and procedures. By 1990 it had grown so large (60–70 members) that there was a concern that the committee did not conform to the size and structure of other DivCHED committees. A restructuring took place in response to this concern: the 2YC3 executive committee became the Committee on Chemistry in the Two-Year College (COCTYC), and the remainder of the members of the governing committee were appointed as members of Regional Advisory Boards. Today the entire group (including COCTYC, Regional Advisory Board members, other members, college sponsors, and industrial sponsors) is known as the Two-Year College Chemistry Consortium (2YC3). Regional Conferences 2YC3 conducts three or four annual conferences that have direct application to two-year college chemistry teach-
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ing. Some of the features of the conferences are:
Photo by Lin W. Morris
Many people’s first exposure to 2YC3 is at a popular event that has become a tradition at the Biennial Conferences on Chemical Education—the Ice Cream Social. In fact, in the conference registration book for the recent 16th Biennial, Monday, July 31, was titled, The Day of the Ice Cream Social! At this event, the 2YC3 provides the ice cream and serves it to the conference attendees. (At the 16th BCCE in 2000 the social was co-sponsored by the 2YC3 and the Journal of Chemical Education.) Though pleasant, this brief encounter does not provide opportunity to fully share information about who we are and what we do—we’re just Volunteers scoop ice cream at the recent BCCE; from left, Dick Jones, Tom too busy scooping.
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inexpensive registration fees ($15)
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broad geographical distribution to minimize travel expenses
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programming Friday mornings through Saturday afternoons so attendees miss fewer classes
Conferences have a varied programs of talks, panel discussions, workshops, industry exhibits, banquets, and tours of local industries and points of interest, with plenty of time to meet and compare notes with fellow teachers. They are held on college campuses rather than in big-city hotels and conference centers in order to see facilities and equipment that are used at other colleges, and to experience their unique campus environments. Additional Services for Teachers 2YC3 provides a variety of other services for members and the two-year college community: •
a national forum for the interchange of ideas, resources, guidelines, and information pertaining to two-year college chemistry programs
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a network of colleagues in chemical education that is concerned with improving two-year college chemistry teaching
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a mechanism to network two-year college chemistry teachers with other categories of chemical educators
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an entry point for 2YC3 members to become involved in the Division of Chemical Education (DivCHED)
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a quarterly newsletter, Chemistry Outlook, that describes upcoming conferences, provides a place for industrial sponsors’ ads, and has other information useful for college chemistry teaching. The newsletter’s cost is included in the $15 annual membership fee; approximately 1800 copies are printed and mailed quarterly.
2YC3 contributes to a column in the Journal of Chemical Education and maintains a Web page (http://2yc3.vinu.edu) that provides teaching resources and helps to improve communication. It coordinates activities in two-year college chemistry programs with related organizations, such as C3 in Canada. The organization co-sponsors the Biennial Conferences on Chemical Education, providing both program support and, of course, the traditional ice cream social. To find out more about 2YC3, contact me at the email or postal address below. To join, contact Dolores Aquino, our membership chair:
[email protected] for an application. Rick Bolesta teaches at Mt. Hood Community College, Gresham, OR 97030;
[email protected]. He is the 2000 chair of 2YC3.
Journal of Chemical Education • Vol. 77 No. 11 November 2000 • JChemEd.chem.wisc.edu
