ACS COMMENT

FRANK D. BLUM, CHAIR, 2002, COUNCIL COMMITTEE ON DIVISIONAL ACTIVITIES RUTH A. HATHAWAY, CHAIR, 2003, COUNCIL COMMITTEE ON DIVISIONAL ACTIVITIES YORKE E. RHODES, CHAIR, 2002–03, COUNCIL COMMITTEE ON LOCAL SECTION ACTIVITIES

Within the largest scientific society in the world, there exist two member oriented and organized groups: local sections and divisions. These groups are established through the constitution of the American Chemical Society and are fundamentally different from any other groups within the society.

	Local sections and divisions are also the mechanism through which the members feel that they may have an impact, not just on their local section or divisions, but also on the society as a whole. Thus, our contention is that they are absolutely fundamental to the heart and soul of the society.

ACS is a leading professional society in many ways. One exemplary way is our being a very member-oriented society. This is primarily because our society relies, indeed thrives, on the work and dedication of thousands of volunteers. These volunteers do a variety of tasks for all of us, but primarily, in roles for both divisions and local sections.

Divisions and local sections provide the appropriate venue for members to find connections with other members who have similar professional or geographic interests. These smaller society units are ones that members see as the faces of ACS that they can relate to. Indeed, they are the “small societies” within the larger society. As chairs of the council committees responsible for local sections and divisions, we see the striking similarities in the different units, although to some, they may look very different on the outside.

To a certain extent, local sections and divisions are autonomous creatures and engage in a wide variety of activities ranging from outreach, education, communications, publications, and information transfer. Most of the organization and effort from these groups come from volunteer-member workers. These members have a special degree of “ownership” in the society. They are members who are likely to retain their membership because they believe not only in the society as a whole, but also because of their involvement in the smaller units that fulfill their professional needs.

Local sections and divisions are also the mechanism through which the members feel that they may have an impact, not just on their local section or divisions, but also on the society as a whole. Thus, our contention is that they are absolutely fundamental to the heart and soul of the society. Without them, our society would be totally different.

At the spring ACS national meeting in New Orleans, your local section and division councilors will vote on a petition to change the way local sections and divisions are allocated society funds. The change will allocate 20% of your society membership dues to local sections (11%) and divisions (9%). This will result in a modest increase in allotments to local sections and a significant increase to divisions. Local sections and divisions may have other sources of income, but these proposed funds will help shore up these two major volunteer membership units, provide for some innovative activities to help strengthen the units, and provide stability and a base for operation of the sections and divisions in the future. n

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