The Division of Chemical Education's International Activities

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Chapter 1

The Division of Chemical Education’s International Activities Committee: Insights from Chairs – Past and Present Resa M. Kelly* Department of Chemistry, San José State University, San José, California 95192, United States *E-mail: [email protected].

The purpose of this chapter is to provide an overview of the Division of Chemical Education’s International Activities Committee (DivCHED IAC) and how it differs from the ACS IAC. It includes perspectives of past DivCHED IAC chairs and the present chair, who offer insights into what they believe were the committee’s greatest accomplishments.

ACS IAC International relations are highly valued and at the foundation of many ACS initiatives as the organization looks to enhance connectedness on matters associated with chemistry in a global society. The American Chemical Society (ACS) recognized the importance of international relations through its constitution stating in Article II, Section 3, “the SOCIETY shall cooperate with scientists internationally and shall be concerned with the worldwide application of chemistry to the needs of humanity (1).” As a result, the Committee on International Activities (ACS IAC), formed in 1962, for the purpose of studying and recommending appropriate SOCIETY participation and cooperation in international undertakings pertaining to chemical education, professional activities, and scientific matters of interest to chemists and chemical engineers, and coordinating its efforts with those of other organizations (1). Its primary mission is to assist scientists and engineers worldwide to communicate and collaborate for the good of the chemical and chemically related sciences, chemical engineering, and their practitioners (1). To balance the many global partnerships that network chemists and engineers together, the ACS IAC is divided into © 2018 American Chemical Society Cox and Schatzberg; International Perspectives on Chemistry Education Research and Practice ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2018.

subcommittees representing Africa and the Americas, Europe and the Middle East, and Asia and the Pacific Basin (1). Each subcommittee is responsible for their geographical area and considers ways to facilitate the development of chemistry: research and interactions, and chemistry education in these areas. The subcommittees promote and publicize programs of the ACS and identify and advertise opportunities available to younger chemists (1). In 2017, ACS President Elect, Peter Dorhout challenged the IAC to think about what the ACS will look like in ten years in terms of its global presence and member service. He asked that ACS Local Sections, Divisions, Committees and Chapters coordinate development, structure, delivery and evaluation of their global priorities and interests. He called for the ACS IAC to review ACS membership structures, policies, and activities, engage member global scientific networks and relationships, and to also consider how to engage youth development communities worldwide (1). In addition, the IAC was asked to find ways to disseminate the contributions and successes of its flagship offerings to reach more people.

DivCHED IAC The international activities committee of the Division of Chemical Education was formed two decades after the ACS IAC, specifically to engage and connect the Division with other networks of chemistry educators with global interests. Through these networks, the DivCHED IAC members exchange ideas about chemistry education research and practices that promote equity and diversity in chemistry education. According to the Fall 1982 newsletter of the Division of Chemical Education, the Executive Committee approved the formation of a task force on international activities that was charged with examining “the whole range of international chemical education activities” and to provide recommendations to the Executive Committee for identifying the mission of such a committee (2). The International Chemical Education Activities Committee occurred April 7th, 1984, when a task force was transmuted into a standing committee during an Executive Committee Meeting held at a spring meeting in St. Louis, Missouri (3). The first chair of the committee was Robert C. Brasted. Since Brasted there have been ten chairs of the DivCHED IAC. Brasted passed away in 1988 and to honor his long-time support of activities in international education, particularly those involving developing countries, a first of its kind, travel award was provided to allow a non U.S. chemical education specialist to speak at the Biennial Conference on Chemical Education (BCCE) (4). The award presented and awarded by the DivCHED IAC, consisted of: Economy class air fare from the recipient’s home city to the location of the BCCE, living expenses, a one year membership in DivCHED and a one-year subscription to the Journal of Chemical Education (5). In 1988, the first Robert C. Brasted Memorial Lecture was given by award winner David Waddington of the United Kingdom, who delivered a talk on international cooperation in the development of instruments and curricula for use in developing countries (4, 5). The Brasted Memorial Lectures were administered by the DivCHED IAC, and went on for 2 Cox and Schatzberg; International Perspectives on Chemistry Education Research and Practice ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2018.

several years culminating in 1996. The awardees were: 1988 David Waddington of England; 1990 Aleksandra Kornhauser of Slovenia; 1992 Ernesto Giesbrecht of Brazil; 1994 Krishna Sane of India and the last awardee was Alex Johnstone of Scotland. Several former DivCHED IAC chairs were contacted to learn about the committee’s greatest DivCHED achievements while they served as chair of the committee. This group consists of Loretta Jones (chair: 1989-1991), Zafra Lerman (chair: 1992-1994, 1998-2003), Ram Lerman (chair: 1995-1997), Lucy Eubanks (chair: 2007-2009), Carmen Valdez Gauthier (chair: 2010-2014) and Charles Atwood (chair: 2015-2016). Loretta Jones was a member of DivCHED IAC from 1988 to 2002 and served as chair from 1989 to 1991. During the time that Jones served on the committee, the committee sought international travel funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF). For the 1985 International Conference on Chemical Education (ICCE) sponsored by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC), NSF provided funds for precollege teachers to attend the meeting, but the IAC felt that college level instructors should also be able to apply for funding. The IAC secured Division funds to offer small grants to a few instructors. Jones received one of those grants and thus when she became chair, she was motivated to pursue additional travel grants. For the 1992 ICCE held in Thailand, she and Sylvia Ware wrote a new proposal to NSF to secure grants for all levels of instruction. The proposal was awarded, and they solicited applications, assembled a panel of reviewers from all instructional levels and used the $36,000 award to fund several faculty members from elementary through college levels to travel to Thailand. The award recipients gave presentations at the conference on what they learned at an ACS national or regional meeting. Zafra Lerman chaired DivCHED IAC from 1992 to 1994 and again from 1998 to 2003, while Ram Lamba chaired the committee from 1995 through 1997. Lerman was a member from 1989 to 2013 and appears to be the longest serving member and chair of DivCHED IAC. She recalled that a noteworthy accomplishment during that time was the committee’s work toward advancing relationships with the Cuban Chemical Society. In 1998, with the help of Senator Dick Durbin from Illinois, members of the DivCHED IAC received a license to go to Cuba to attend the third Cuban Chemical Congress. The group delivered lectures and interacted with Cuban chemists and chemical educators. Past President of ACS, Paul Walter, and the head of the Office of International Activities, John Malin, were on the trip and so was Priestly Medal winner, former ACS President and University of Havana alum, Ernest Eliel. In 2001, again with the help of Senator Durbin, the DivCHED IAC got a license to attend the fourth Cuban Chemical Congress and members of DivCHED participated in the chemical education symposia. In 2002, the Cuban Chemical Society had a special chemical education congress in Santiago de Cuba and again DivCHED IAC organized for a large group of more than 20 DivCHED members to attend this special chemical education meeting. Many of the members visited schools and interacted with the community. They were also invited to attend a ceremony honoring Ernest Eliel at the University of Havana. 3 Cox and Schatzberg; International Perspectives on Chemistry Education Research and Practice ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2018.

In 2004, at the ACS National meeting in Orlando, Florida, the IAC joined forces with the ACS IAC. Together they organized a symposium on US-Cuban relations. The ACS IAC supported the travel of two chemists from Cuba and Senator Durbin helped Cuban chemists secure visas. Again, in 2004, the IAC organized another big delegation to the fifth Cuban Chemical Society Congress. The Cubans appreciated its growing relationship with the DivCHED IAC and in a ceremony, they made Ernest Eliel and Zafra Lerman honorary members of the Cuban Chemical Society. In 2006, thirty members of the ACS were on the delegation for the sixth International Cuban Chemical Congress. Ann Nalley, who was the President of the Society that year, also joined the delegation. The IAC’s relationship with Cuba was recognized and applauded by AAAS and members of congress. Under the leadership of Lerman and Lamba, the IAC organized international symposia and workshops at a number of conferences: the PacifiChem Conference in 1995, 2000, and 2005, the ICCE conferences in York, England (1991), Bangkok, Thailand (19992), Brisbane, Australia (1996), Cairo, Egypt (1998), and Budapest, Hungary (2000). In 2002, Lerman delivered a plenary lecture at the ICCE in Beijing, China. Under Lamba’s leadership the committee supported the travel of US chemistry teachers to the ICCE in Brisbane, Australia. In 1994, Lamba was the organizer of the ICCE conference in Puerto Rico and DivCHED and IAC played a role in planning the conference. This was the first time (and only time so far) that a member of the IAC committee has organized such a large and successful ICCE. Sylvia Ware and Lerman received NSF funding to support the travel of fifty US teachers to attend the ICCE. From 1993 to 1995, Lerman and Lamba worked with Joe Lagowski to write a proposal to IUPAC for a CHEMical Research Applied to World Needs (CHEMRAWN) conference on chemistry education, which was approved. CHEMRAWN conferences are designed to identify and focus attention on world needs and to recommend to the global scientific community actions to be taken (7). CHEMRAWN X: The Globalization of Chemical Education: Preparing Chemical Scientists and Engineers for Transnational Industries was planned for Budapest, August 2000, but then it was postponed when CHEMRAWN XII was moved to 2000 (6). The conference was being considered for 2002, but instead a series of mini-CHEMRAWNs with full day sessions of “Chemical Education to Meet World Needs” were held at three different conferences in 2000: ICCE (Budapest), ACS (Washington, DC), and Pacifichem (2000). The mini-conferences were deemed a success, and to date, CHEMRAWN X has not yet been held (7). In 1999, the ACS IAC began to work more closely with DivCHED IAC and thus decided to eliminate its subcommittee on chemical education. Lucy Eubanks was a member of DivCHED IAC from 1985-2006 and chaired the committee from 2007-2009. At this time, the committee was thinking seriously about term limits in hopes of enticing new members to the committee; however, they also recognized that the length, breadth and range of international experiences was important to the committee make-up and wrestled with how best to bring about changes that would be inclusive to new members. One of the most significant accomplishments of the committee during Eubank’s tenure, was the establishment of travel grants for DivCHED ACS members to travel 4 Cox and Schatzberg; International Perspectives on Chemistry Education Research and Practice ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2018.

and participate at international meetings. The committee set the criteria and responsibilities associated with this award, and the award was approved by the Executive Committee. The first award was made in 2008 and was awarded to Tyson A. Miller, and the award is still given out and most recently was awarded to Jack Barbera in 2018. Another notable accomplishment was developing stronger relations between the DivCHED IAC and the ACS IAC. Carmen Valdez Gauthier was a member of DivCHED IAC from 2000 to 2014 and served as chair from 2010 to 2014. She recalls that one of the committee’s noteworthy achievements occurred at the 2007 ACS National meeting in San Diego, where she organized a symposium on International Collaborations between the United States and Mexico. This symposium was the seed for subsequent IAC symposia. Valdez Gauthier participated as a DivCHED member on the trips to Cuba, organized by Lerman, noting that she attended the Santiago de Cuba meeting and the meeting where Ernest Eliel was honored. Both of these events were significant in establishing long lasting friendships between the DivCHED IAC and Cuban colleagues. The committee continued to promote the IAC-Travel Award and established a committee to review the IAC-Travel applications. The development of national and international symposia featuring global relations was another important DivCHED IAC accomplishment. Charles “Butch” Atwood was a member of DivCHED IAC from 2008 to 2016, chaired the committee in 2015 and co-chaired with Resa Kelly in 2016. According to Atwood, the IAC improved relations with the ACS IAC and paved the way for the DivCHED IAC chair to serve as a committee associate of the ACS IAC in 2017. The team of Atwood and Kelly and Joel Harris of the Analytical Division secured an Innovative Project Grant and a Global Innovations Grant in 2016, and with these funds organized a workshop for Cuban chemists in Salt Lake City, Utah. The committee maintained, and enhanced Latin American relations. Specifically, the committee fostered collaborations with chemists and chemical educators in Brazil and Peru. Atwood attended and presented at the Brazilian Chemical Society (SBQ) conference in Goiânia, Brazil, the Federation of Latin America de Quimica (FLAQ) in Peru and the IUPAC meeting in São Paulo, Brazil. He made three visits to Cuba to further relations and enhance Cuban-US relations in chemistry education. In addition, DivCHED IAC worked to expand the DivCHED IAC travel award opening it to a broader group of DivCHED members. I, Resa Kelly, am in my third year serving as chair of the DivCHED IAC, having been a member since 2012. The committee’s work, thus far has been to define the vision and goals of the committee, create electronic platforms for connecting to foreign chemists and chemistry educators, create unique symposium experiences that foster deeper collaborations to other international organizations, and to enhance the participation of all DivCHED IAC members on projects and activities. I continue to serve as a committee associate on the ACS IAC to represent DivCHED’s voice and to find ways that the DivCHED IAC can work with the ACS IAC to foster chemistry education initiatives. In an effort to bridge to other international focused entities within ACS, the Director of International Activities, External Affairs and Communications of ACS, Brad Miller, is invited to attend DivCHED IAC meetings, along with a member of the IUPAC (Marcy Towns). Miller communicates the work of this branch of ACS and informs our committee 5 Cox and Schatzberg; International Perspectives on Chemistry Education Research and Practice ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2018.

of their latest work and endeavors and helps us navigate hurdles and develop our global relations. IUPAC representative Towns relays IUPAC events and updates the committee on their projects and conferences. The vision and goals of DivCHED IAC were constructed and accepted in the spring of 2017. Our newly defined vision is: As the International Activities Committee of the Division of Chemical Education, our aim is to engage and connect with other networks of chemistry educators with global interests. Through these networks, we will exchange ideas about chemistry education research and practices that promote equity and diversity in chemistry education. To accomplish these goals, we will: •

• •

•

Host symposia and events both in and out of the United States, wherein the co-organizers will consist of one veteran DivCHED IAC member, one new DivCHED IAC member and one international ACS DivCHED member. Disseminate information pertaining to international events through our DivCHED website and social media. Support global research interests by offering a yearly travel award in the amount of $2000 to support an ACS DivCHED member to attend international meetings. Promote and arrange collaborations.

With this goal in mind, we have been highly focused on creating symposia events that will attract international presenters, as well as local presenters. While serving as a member of the IAC, I received an Innovative Project Grant (2014) with Peter Mahaffy, a member of the Canadian Society of Chemistry to develop a traveling symposium between conferences in Canada and the U.S. with the hope that dual symposia might enhance relations between chemistry education enthusiasts from the participating societies. It was also hoped that these symposia might become a model for uniting the U.S. with other international chemistry organizations. Unfortunately, this model proved to be difficult to sustain and costly due to the travel funds and conference fees. Thus, IAC members began to reconceptualize the multicultural to focus on specific topics in chemistry education research and practice. We have also examined plans to involve more DivCHED IAC members in the running and organization of the symposia laying out a structure that consists of two organizers, one seasoned to organizing events, a veteran, and one new to the process, all members of DivCHED IAC. In order to extend our reach to people who want to develop global collaborations and partnerships connected to chemistry education research and practice, an online survey was created to better learn the specific needs of these applicants. The survey is housed on the DivCHED IAC’s webpage (http://www.divched.org/committee/international-activities), which has been remodeled to showcase our work and the work of other DivCHED members. Our hope is to help disseminate information about the exciting ways that all Division members are progressing on global projects. To further enhance our 6 Cox and Schatzberg; International Perspectives on Chemistry Education Research and Practice ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2018.

communication, a Facebook group was created that has over 70 members, and I have begun to use Twitter to tweet about international conferences and events, including the travel award winner (@kellygirl7391). One of the biggest barriers to developing international collaborations is the cost associated with traveling to international venues and events. DivCHED IAC has continued to offer the travel award, first created under Eubank’s tenure and modified and strengthened by Valdez Gauthier and Atwood, and we have also secured travel money to assist non-U.S. researchers to attend ACS National meetings through a new endowment from DivCHED IAC member Conrad Bergo. If you, or someone you know, is interested in contributing to the DivCHED IAC, begin by contacting DivCHED’s executive assistant, Heather Johnson ([email protected]) and the DivCHED IAC chair (currently, Kelly; [email protected]). We continue to promote collaborations with Cuba and will be featuring a joint symposium on US-Cuban Relations at the ACS National Meeting in New Orleans in spring of 2018. Unfortunately, due to recent political turmoil affecting the withdrawal of diplomats from the American Embassy in Havana, Cuban chemists can no longer obtain visas to travel to the US. Thus, we are trying to find electronic ways to have them present, such as through video-recorded presentations and question and answer sessions via social media. The IAC is also trying to foster our connections to Latin America through offering a joint symposium at the Congreson Ibero Americano de Química in Lima, Peru in the fall of 2018. A challenge of historical significance to DivCHED IAC and to many DivCHED standing committees is the equitable dissemination of tasks and roles to involve all members. With the inception of term limits in 2014, committee members may serve, at most, three consecutive, three-year terms. Invoking these term limits has allowed for greater diversity in membership and has empowered new members to make exciting contributions. This ACS book, co-edited by DivCHED IAC members, Charlie Cox and Wendy Schatzberg, is one example of new members actively pursuing projects of interest. However, it is important to recognize that DivCHED IAC continues to work to involve all of its members on projects of interest. Barriers to involvement that are consistently reported are that many members hold positions that are demanding of time and provide limited travel support. As we progress, we will continue to explore online venues for having meetings and discussions and promote flexible involvement of our members. In conclusion, the future of the DivCHED IAC appears bright. Its role in promoting international relations in chemistry education is strong and will only get stronger as we continue to deepen cultural understanding and foster global relations in the pursuit of mutual educational interests. We have much to learn from each other as we continue this journey. Onward we go.

7 Cox and Schatzberg; International Perspectives on Chemistry Education Research and Practice ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2018.

References 1.

2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

7.

Committee on International Activities, American Chemical Society. www.acs.org/content/acs/en/about/governance/committees/ international.html. CHED Newsletter, Fall 1982; Division of Chemical Education, Inc., American Chemical Society. CHED Newsletter, Fall 1984; Division of Chemical Education, Inc., American Chemical Society. BCCE Organizing Committee. J. Chem. Educ. 1989, 66 (2), 94–106. DivCHED IAC. J. Chem. Educ. 1995, 72 (6), 491. Malin, J. M. History and Effectiveness of CHEMRAWN Conferences, 1978−2006. http://old.iupac.org/standing/chemrawn/CR_Histrory_ 061027.pdf. CHEMRAWN Committee, International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (1997−2008). http://old.iupac.org/standing/chemrawn.html.

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