ACS NEWS News, Reports, People, Meetings
November 22,1971
Corporation Associates' changing role
For other news of special interest to ACS members, see:
Group ponders problems of professionals in industry, supply and demand, and role in aiding ACS programs
New polymers
page 17
Industry-academe gap
page 22
The average ACS member may be unfamiliar with the ACS Corporation Associates. If he has heard of it, he probably has misconceptions about what the group is or what it does. Much of the misunderstanding that does exist stems from the steady evolution of the group, which has changed both in name and function since its earliest beginnings in 1910. As a meeting of the organization earlier this month in Arlington, Va., revealed, the Corporation Associates is still undergoing changes. Purpose of the meeting—entitled "Chemistry in a Time of Change"— was to "lay out on the table some of the problems of chemical professionals in industry in the context of the current economic climate," says Dr. Richard W. Roberts, chairman of the Committee on Corporation Associates and R&D manager of General Electric Co., Schenectady, N.Y. The meeting brought together 75 representatives of the Corporation Associates, many of them directors or vice presidents of R&D at their companies. Corporation Associates at present comprises more than 230 companies that employ chemists and chemical engineers. Each company supports the Society through annual dues of $200 or more depending upon the number of chemists and chemical engineers it employs. Affiliation as a Corporation Associate does not confer any of the privileges that individual ACS members have, however. For example, Corporation Associates cannot vote on ACS matters. The group's dues are expended at the discretion of the Board of Directors, which may be guided by recommendations of the Committee on Corporation Associates. Recent ACS programs supported on such recommendations are Operation Interface, Project SEED, and the ACS study on Chemistry and the U.S. Economy. With the November meeting, the fifth since 1966, the role of Corporation Associates appears to be undergoing a major change—that of taking a more active role in some of the "crucial problems and alternatives facing chemists and the American
Chemical Society today," Dr. Roberts says. Problems. Keynoting the two-day meeting was Dr. Lewis Branscomb, director of the National Bureau of Standards. The following day and a half saw a hard-hitting series of sessions and candid discussions focusing on problems of chemical professionals in industry. Representatives were briefed on demand for and supply of chemical professionals through the 1970's, respectively, by Dr. Milton Harris and Betty Vetter, executive director of the Scientific Manpower Commission (C&EN, Nov. 15, page 11). Some of the sticky issues confronting chemical professionals in industry were then discussed. Topics included retirement and pension plans, salary administration, sabbaticals and tenure for industry employees, collective bargaining and professional unions, government subsidies to industry, layoffs and how they are handled, corporation responsibility to employees and employee responsibility to corporations, the role of ACS in aiding professionals, and the role of Corporation Associates in aiding ACS. Several ACS officials spoke on roles of the Society, including Executive Director Frederick T. Wall, Membership Division director Robert Henze, David Roethel, manager of Office of Professional Relations, and James Stack, head of Department of Public and Member Relations. As a consequence of the meeting, the format and context of which were enthusiastically received by almost all representatives, the committee was able to formulate a set of recommendations to the ACS Board of Directors for their meeting on Dec. 10 concerning manpower supply and demand, professionals and working conditions, and possible change in the roles of ACS. The Corporation Associates hasn't always been so actively involved in the Society's affairs, however. ACS Corporation Members was originally established in 1910 to raise money to support the financially ailing publications of the Society, especially Chemical Abstracts. In return for annual dues of
$25, a company that belonged to Corporation Members received all the ACS publications free. In addition, the company was able to designate a person to act as a member with all the benefits of individual membership, including voting. The number of Corporation Members gradually grew to about 800 companies and company divisions. But in 1951 the category of Corporation Members was abolished. According to Robert Neuman, secretary to the Committee on Corporation Associates, it was felt that ACS should only have individual members, not companies with member privileges. ACS Corporation Associates was subsequently established in 1952. Dues of $250 a year were still used to help finance Chemical Abstracts and the basic journals that were suffering from the effects of the initial postwar surge of chemical research activity coupled with steady inflation. But for the first time since 1910 the companies had no membership privileges. From 1952 to 1955 Corporation Associates contributed more than $750,000 to help keep Chemical Abstracts a going concern. And in 1955 membership in the new group reached a peak, with 517 members. In 1956 Chemical Abstracts was repriced to make it self-supporting. The Corporation Associates program continued at reduced membership fees—$100 a year—to help support the basic journals only. The number of members remained around 480 until 1961 when another major change occurred—dues were doubled. Membership dropped to 415 in 1962 and has been declining ever since. One major change in the functional evolution of Corporation Associates occurred in 1966 when the objectives of the Corporation Associates program were broadened to the support of ACS programs as a whole, not just the publications programs, and to provide a means of communication between industry and ACS. Since 1966, through the Committee on Corporation Associates, the principal role of the group has been to provide such a liaison. Another area of emphasis has been the improvement of academicindustrial relations. NOV. 22, 1971 C&EN
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ACS News ACS Northeastern Section passes Resolution Proposals for Action for the American Chemical Society on Layoff Practices in the Chemical Industry. The Board of Directors of the Northeastern Section of the American Chemical Society acknowledges the growing concern showed by the Society in the unemployment of its members. Although some actions and reappraisals of position in professional matters have been already initiated, we feel that a more definite stand by the Society is needed in order to minimize the layoffs of chemists and chemical engineers and to prevent their recurrence. In this spirit, it is resolved that: 1. The American Chemical Society deplores the multiple layoffs of chemists and chemical engineers. Chemical companies are encouraged to seek, in times of economic stress, other means of retrenchment than layoffs of chemists and chemical engineers. 2. The American Chemical Society publishes responsible reports in "C&E News" and in local organs of known instances of multiple layoffs of chemists and chemical engineers. In justified cases more detailed reports should follow.
3. The Committee on Professional Relations is urged to expand its investigation of layoffs and to publish its findings. The details about layoffs should be obtained by publicly soliciting such information from the membership and by in-depth interviews with the chemists as well as the management concerned. Among the information gathered, stress should be made on such points as the number of chemists and chemical engineers let go, the basis for their selection, the economic or other causes of the layoffs, the length of notice given, the amount of severance pay, the staggering of the layoffs (if any), help in relocation, and company policy in future contingencies. 4. The Society should publish periodically a listing of employers who failed to conform to rules of conduct toward their employees as set in the "Guidelines for Employers." The name of a company should be taken off such a list once it has demonstrated compliance with the guidelines. 5. Survey articles should be published periodically, reviewing in a fundamental way the changes in the unemployment
situation, giving a breakdown by industry, size of company, size of layoff (an absolute number and percentage of staff) and indicating causative factors, e.g., economic survival, "streamlining," change in R&D philosophy, etc. 6. The Society should offer its services to the chemical companies considering layoffs, with a view of suggesting alternative courses of action. 7. In the event there seems to be a trend in lower employment of chemists and chemical engineers, an independent set of long-term programs should be spearheaded by the American Chemical Society to provide such employment. 8. Studies should be made and published in "C&E News" of hiring and firing practices of the chemical industry in other advanced countries such as France, England, West Germany, and Japan. Then any beneficial experiences and procedures used abroad can be considered for adoption at home. 9. The formation of unemployed chemists' clubs should be encouraged under the sponsorship of the local ACS Professional Relations Committees to demonstrate in practice the fraternal and active interest of the ACS in the welfare of all its members. annually to a member of the section who by "conspicuous scientific achievement through research has made important contributions to man's knowledge and thereby has aided the public appreciation of the profession for which our Society exists."
Six ACS award recipients
Appointments
Stavely
Choppin
Dr. Frederick W. Stavely, retired director of research for Firestone Tire & Rubber, has received the 1971 Charles Goodyear Medal of the ACS Division of Rubber Chemistry. He was honored for his discovery in the 1950's of a synthetic rubber which duplicates all properties of natural rubber. Dr. Gregory R. Choppin, professor and chairman of the chemistry department at Florida State University, Tallahassee, has been given the Southern Chemist Award for 1971. The medal is given each year by the ACS Memphis Section and the Southern Chemist, publication of ACS local sections in the South, to recognize chemists who have made outstanding contributions to chemistry in the South. Dr. Giles B. Cooke, retired, formerly with Crown Cork & Seal, has received the 1971 Maryland Chemist Award. It is given by the ACS Maryland Section to recognize "meritorious achievement in pure or applied chemistry, chemical engineering, or chemical education, of outstanding caliber by a member of the Maryland Section." Dr. Robert Lee Metcalf, professor and head of the zoology department at University of Illinois, has been named to receive the 1971 International Award for Research in Pesticide Chemistry. He will be cited by the ACS Pesticide Chemistry Division next spring in Boston for 38
C&EN NOV. 22, 1971
Cooke
Metcalf
Dr. Melvin Calvin appointed the following to represent the Society at special functions: George H. Heinze, chairman of the North Jersey Section, at the inauguration of Edward J. Bloustein as president of Rutgers—the State University on Nov. 10, New Brunswick, N.J.
Resignation notices
Edsall
Berliner
his contributions to entomology, pesticide chemistry, and methods for studying the environmental impact of pesticide use. The Willard Gibbs Medal for 1972 will go to Dr. John T. Edsall, professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at Harvard, next May in Chicago. The award is given annually by the ACS Chicago Section "to recognize eminent work in and original contributions to pure or applied chemistry." Dr. Edsall is editor of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and former editor of the Journal of Biological Chemistry. Dr. Ernst Berliner, professor of chemistry at Bryn Mawr College, has received the 10th ACS Philadelphia Section Award. The plaque, scroll, and an honorarium go
ACS members who must resign membership at the end of 1971 should do so now by letter to the Executive Director. The Bylaws specify that all who fail to resign by Dec. 31 will be carried on the rolls in 1972 as members and will be responsible for dues. Failure to pay 1972 dues does not constitute a resignation. Payment of reinstatement fee can be avoided only if written resignation is received before the deadline. The program for deferred dues for unemployed members has been extended through 1972. Members under 65 who are unemployed and looking for full-time employment may apply for deferment of 1972 dues and subscriptions. Write Dr. F. T. Wall, Executive Director, ACS, 1155—16th St., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036.
