ACS MEWS
Society evaluates structure, performance Member participation essential if ACS is to keep pace with rapid changes in social conditions of the past two years President Cairns has already cov ered the need for greater participation by the Council in Society affairs. Speaking for myself and the other members of the Board, I assure you that we heartily endorse this concept, and I welcome the opportunity to tell you a little more about the importance of this sort of cooperative action. You are all aware that the ACS Con stitution describes the Board as "the legal representative of the Society," which is "to have, hold, and administer all properties, funds and affairs of the Society." Further, the Constitution says the Council is to "act as an advi sory body in matters pertaining to the general management of the Society." I can assure you we are anxious to get all of your advice, but my experi ence tells me we need more—we need your active help and participation in the many affairs of the Society. We also need a clearer understanding of what the members need, their hopes and aspirations for themselves as chemists and as part of the Society. This is especially true in these times of hectic change. All of you, through our local sections and divisions, are in a position to help considerably in ascer taining these desires and hopes and needs. You are also in a better position to explain many of the actions of this Society which are the joint efforts in most cases of the Board and this Coun cil and which frequently tend to puz zle some of our membership. In this respect ACS is no different from any organization, whether it be govern ment, corporate, or university, because you are fully aware that any decisions on the part of top management always seem to leave a certain amount of puz zlement.
Ed. note: In his report to the ACS Council at San Francisco, Dr. Milton Harris, Chairman of the Board, discussed a variety of programs and plans of the Society which are important to all members. A slightly condensed version of his report, which followed those of Presi dent Robert W. Cairns and the other officers of the Society, is presented here for the informa tion of all members.
I
Milton Harris Times of hectic change Incidentally, in order to help you in this task, we have developed the pro gram of sending you informal reports after each Board meeting. We hope these are useful. I'm sure they can be made more meaningful. We wel come suggestions. As to a few specifics: That ACS is in the middle of a thorough examina tion of its structure will not come as a surprise to you. I know of no organ ization today which hasn't had to ex amine carefully in great depth its fi nancial structure and performance as a result of rapidly changing social conditions in the past two years. The Society is in good, sound financial con dition. It has long operated well in the black. But early in 1967 we no ticed an unhappy trend that we were beginning to face a considerable defi cit. Your Finance Committee, under the chairmanship of one of the hardest working members of the Board, Dr. Charles L. Thomas, dug into this prob lem, made an intensive study with the help of the Treasurer and the Control ler, and on the basis of its findings the Board asked the staff to put into effect substantial economies in 1967 and to revise the 1968 budget drastically. The extent of this revision is indicated by the fact that the proposed expendi tures were cut by almost $2 million. These cutbacks are never pleasant, being accompanied by curtailment of programs which people think are im portant, but I am confident that they
were accomplished at a minimum cost to efficiency and staff morale. Γ11 take this opportunity to commend a num ber of people who performed this task: Dr. Thomas; Dr. Byron Riegel, who performed yeoman service for Chemical Abstracts Service, where much had to be done; and Dr. Charles Overberger, who handled another dif ficult task in the area of the primary publications. Even more, I commend the staff, who took on this burden in an objective and constructive way. It was accomplished through their ef forts. I am satisfied they did it in a way that I think strengthened the whole internal structure of the per manent staff of this Society. Just a word about our budget, par ticularly as it relates to dues-supported activities. These activities include a myriad of things which are sometimes known to our members, sometimes not—chemistry and public affairs, pub lic information, professional relations, membership affairs, education, and a whole host of others. It is not gener ally recognized that our dues finance only about half of these activities. The remainder of the financial sup port comes from a great number of sources: from investments, primary publication, national meetings, and even more than I seem to know. With the changing scene it is not clear how long we are going to be able to continue this practice. A dis couraging development occurred some months ago when the Internal Reve nue Service announced that net in come earned by organizations such as ACS from the sale of advertising would be taxed. I had a statement to make on that, but since we have been here the Senate has passed a bill that would reverse the 1RS ruling and it is our hope this will not become a problem. Be that as it may, the Board at its De cember meeting had authorized es tablishment of a joint Board-Council committee on future ACS requirements related to dues. This committee has been charged with reviewing duessupported activities and making rec ommendations as to our future needs. The committee is chaired by Dr. Paul N. Craig, a member of this Council, and consists of six councilors and two directors. In connection with finances, one bit of background may be of interest to you. In 1959 a 10-year financial plan was presented and formulated for this organization. This plan is still operating, and I doubt if there exists today another organization any place in industry or elsewhere that is oper ating on a plan which was formulated 10 years ago. This is especially true in our university world. ACS is not the only organization that has to re-examine its financial APRIL 22, 1968 C&EN
51
picture. Colleges and universities are having difficulty today, with increasing enrollments, rising costs, and most of all a drastic leveling-off in federal support. Our Board Committee on Grants and Fellowships under the chairmanship of Dr. John C. Sheehan, and with the aid of Dr. Robert E. Henze who manages our Petroleum Research Fund program, has given thought to this problem and has initiated efforts to strengthen starter grant programs to aid beginning investigators. I want to emphasize that they are giving special attention to graduate students who are nearing completion of Ph.D. work and who may be hurt by the changing federal pattern of research support. At the time this work was started there appeared to be a crisis. Now the crisis has been complicated in a matter of weeks or months by new draft regulations. We don't know what the final result is going to be, but we are cognizant of the drastic needs in the academic community and are trying to provide means of providing assistance during this emergency period. Another important program is that of our Corporation Associates, which was reactivated by Dr. Cairns during his term as President-Elect last year. The group comprises 300 corporations which have a real interest in the affairs of the Society and related affairs of chemistry and chemists. The Corporation Associates have singled out for intensive study the problems of the academic-industrial interface, including those of providing better manpower for industry and greater support for the academic world. They are studying important aspects of our information systems as they relate to industry and are working closely with the CAS group. They are concerned with a study of chemistry's impact on our economy, which you have heard about before. At the Council meeting last Septem-
ber we announced establishment of a new Office of Planning and Information Systems with Dr. Richard L. Kenyon as director. A National Science Foundation report has recommended that ACS accept responsibility for developing a national chemical information system. This is a natural consequence of the Society's leadership in the area of information, including secondary publications, primary publications, and especially national meetings. Studies in all of these areas are now under way or soon will be. Meanwhile, as Past-President Overberger mentioned to you, steps are being taken to further our relations with institutions all over the world to encourage participation in an international chemical information network. Chemical Abstracts Service has very important experimental programs going on with The Chemical Society of London and with the International Documentation Society for Chemistry in Germany. But perhaps most important, through the leadership of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, an international body which comprises all western European countries plus the United States, Canada, Japan, and Turkey, we have been encouraged to start a truly international information system which will have a distributing function but also an input function. The core of the entire project is our wonderful Chemical Abstracts Service. Ultimately it is our hope that the tremendous burden we now carry in this area will be one that is truly shared in the world of chemistry. All of these activities are part of our rapidly changing structure, affecting not only this Society but society in general. I don't think ACS will succeed unless it has the informed support of all its membership and especially of this body. For this reason our Board Committee on Public, Professional, and Member Relations, under the leadership of Dr. William E. Han-
ford, is now reappraising the entire Society system of member communication and looking for improved methods of determining member opinion and desires. At the Chicago meeting of the Council last September I mentioned the decision of the Board to strengthen the management structure of the Society by appointing a permanent chief executive officer. As Dr. Cairns has said, the Society has been living for a good many years on borrowed time, as far as total management is concerned. The Society now has four separate, competent individuals reporting directly to the Board. This means that the actual head of the organization is the Chairman of the Board. This just isn't the proper way to do business. Every organization needs a head who is around all the time. We do not intend to detract from the responsibilities for policy and general guidance vested in the Chairman of the Board and President, but we do aim to give them an arm and to give the staff an opportunity to focus staff operations in the leadership of one individual. To this end a committee under the chairmanship of Dr. Ralph Connor, former Chairman of the Board, has been studying the problem for a number of months with a view to making suggestions. In addition to Dr. Connor, the committee consists of another former Board Chairman, Dr. Louis P. Hammett; a Past-President, Dr. Overberger; Dr. Cairns; and Dr. Herman S. Bloch, a member of this Council. I am a member ex officio. The committee has presented a report to the Board that was approved in principle at the Board meeting Sunday. A slightly revised version will be made available for general discussion at the September meeting of ACS. Important now is that every member feel an integral part of ACS and all of us must seek effective means of making him feel just that.
ACS Short Courses-summer sessions Course
Photochemistry; Dr. Howard Zimmerman, Dr. James N. Pitts, Jr., and Dr. John S. Swehton; two days; required text: J. G. Calvert and J. N. Pitts, Jr., "Photochemistry," Wiley, New York, 1966
Where
Rochester, N.Y.
When
June 14-15
Sponsor
Rochester Section
Fee
$50; with text $69.50
Content
The course will cove cover the descriptive, quantitative, and mechanistic aspects of modern organic and physical photochemistry. Included in the topics are: descriptive and molecular details pertinent to practical and mechanistic organic photochemistry—including molecular orbital theory as needed; photochemistry from the physical chemist's viewpoint; and experimental techniques with emphasis on the smaller organic molecules. A minimum of a bachelor's degree in chemistry is assumed. It is important that registrants be familiar with organic molecules and the usual "electron pushing" used in organic chemistry.
52 C&EN APRIL 22, 1968
Course
Chemical Bonding in Organometallic Compounds; Dr. Robert West and Dr. Paul M. Treichel; three days; no textbook required
Where
New Brunswick, N.J.
When
June ia-21
Sponsor
North Jersey Section
Fee
$75
Content
concerr The course is concerned with the nature of bonding in organometallic compounds and other aspects of organometallic chemistry. Topics: acidity of hydrocarbons and relative reactivity of organoalkali compounds; the nature of anionradicals; structure and bonding in electron-deficient metal alkyls; dative pi-bonding in compounds of Group IV elements; bonding in metallocenes, arene metal complexes and metal carbonyls; transition metal alkyls and the stability of the metal-carbon sigma bond; bonding olefins to transition metals. The course is on the first year graduate level and requires a general familiarity with elementary chemical bonding theory.
Course
Introduction to Organometallic Chemistry; Dr. E. C. Ashby and Dr. R. B. King; two days; no textbook required
Where
Bethlehem, Pa.
When
June 28-29
Sponsor
Lehigh Valley Section
Fee
$45
Content
désigne for nonspecialists in organometallic chemistry with recent B.S. or Ph.D. degrees. Discussion The course is designed begins on an introductory level covering bonding concepts in organometallic compounds, structure, basic preparations and reactions, and industrial applications, and progresses to a consideration of some of the more recent developments in organometallic chemistry. The course should be of special interest to organic chemists interested in synthesis and reaction mechanism, polymer chemists interested in catalysis, and inorganic chemists interested in bonding, structure, and all phases of transition metal chemistry.
Course
Modern Theory off Acids and Bases; Dr. Ralph G. Pearson; one day; no textbook required
Where
Washington, D.C.
When
July 20
Sponsor
Chemical Society of Washington
Fee
$35
Content
The course will cover generalized acids and bases and the complexes formed between them. Coordination compounds, inorganic molecules, organic molecules, charge-transfer complexes, hydrogen-bonded complexes, and free radical complexes will be considered. The principle of hard and soft acids and bases will be introduced and will be applied to inorganic and organic chemistry. A B.S. or Ph.D. in chemistry plus recent activity in the chemical field will be sufficient background for the course.
Remarks
Complete information about each course, about housing near the course sites, and about discounts for full-time students may be obtained by using the coupon below. There is no deadline for registration—applications are accepted as long as there is room in each session, including the period after the cancellation deadline. Early enrollment is strongly encouraged, however, to allow sufficient time for precourse study. ACS Short Courses are open to all—it is not necessary to be a member of the local section or an ACS member. A person requiring employer authorization should enroll without payment. However, if he then does not receive authorization, he must cancel before the cancellation deadline or else be personally responsible for payment of the fee.
Education Office American Chemical Society 1155—16th St., N.W. Washington, D.C. 20036 Please send me information on the indicated course(s): Photochemistry, Rochester Chemical Bonding, New Brunswick
Organometallics, Bethlehem Acids and Bases, Washington
Please enroll me in the indicated course(s): Photochemistry, Rochester, June 14-15; cancellation deadline June 3 registration only, $50 registration plus text, $69.50 ο Ό
Chemical Bonding, New Brunswick, June 19-21; cancellation deadline June 5 registration, $75 Organometallics, Bethlehem, June 28-29; cancellation deadline June 14 registration, $45 Acids and Bases, Washington, July 20; cancellation deadline July 8 registration, $35
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