Report from Executive Committee

At the Executive Committee Meeting held during the Fall 2001 ACS Meeting in Chicago, Diane Bunce was appointed to the Board of Publication and Marcy Towns was appointed to the Examinations Institute Board of Trustees.

CHED was one of five divisions recognized for innovative programming and outstanding service to members in 2000 by the ACS Committee on Divisional Activities. The award was received on behalf of the Division by Diane Bunce, 2000 CHED Chair, at the ChemLuminary Awards ceremony at the Chicago meeting. This is the second year in a row in which CHED has been so honored. Ann Cartwright, Member-at-Large, prepared the poster describing Division activities that was displayed at the ceremony.

At the ACS Council meeting, it was announced that LCD projection equipment will be available for the next three ACS National meetings. A survey will be made to find out if LCD, slide, and overhead projectors are each necessary in every meeting room. It was also reported that the ACS Membership Activities Committee is reviewing membership requirements. They will explore ways to make it possible for pre-college chemistry teachers who have not majored in chemistry to become ACS members.

Jerry L. Sarquis, Secretary

Results of the ACS Division of Chemical Education 2001 Election of Officers

Chair-Elect (Chair in 2003)
William R. Robinson, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907

Member-at-Large (2002-2004)
Arlene Russell, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA 90095

Secretary (2002-2004)
Jerry L. Sarquis, Miami University, Oxford, OH 45056

Councilor (2002-2004)
Melanie Cooper, Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29634

Alternate Councilor (2002-2004)
Richard F. Jones, Sinclair Community College, Dayton, OH 45402

Information about membership in the Division may be obtained from the Secretary, whose address is listed in the Information Page on p 1592.

Web Corner, A New Resource for CHED Members

At the August 2001 Chicago ACS meeting, the DivCHED Executive Committee approved the development of an interactive Web Corner on the Division's Web site which we hope to launch in mid-2002. This Web Corner (a working title) will be developed as a resource for Division members particularly interested in the teaching of chemistry at the high school or introductory college levels. While we anticipate it will grow over time, the Web Corner will initially include the two components below.

What's Happening in Your Part of the Country

We will list opportunities for continuing education, meetings or conferences, or other chemical education items of interest to members. Our goal is to apply the speed and ease of present-day Web information transfer to the age-old desire to get information out to those who are interested. This section will be developed with the assistance of the High School Chemistry Committee.

Chem Principles Revisited Online

We will review a specific chemistry topic each month; the review will be accompanied by a virtual mentor who will monitor Q&A and discussion on the topic. The content will be delivered as downloadable reprints of tried-and-true articles initially published in the Secondary School Chemistry Section of the Journal between 1979 and 1996. These reprints will be accompanied by previously-used questions from the Examinations Institute library. Other useful resources will be included, such as insights on how to apply the information to the classroom from folks in the trenches who have already done this, and pointers to related articles that appear in recent or forthcoming issues of the Journal.

Volunteers Needed

To pull this off, we will need help from lots of you! Yes, it's a volunteer effort but one which we hope to structure so it will not be a drain on any one individual. Willing to help?

We need folks to host the site for a month or two; content experts who are willing to serve as online mentors for a month; liaisons with the different arms of the Division (committees, JCE, the Exams Institute); folks connected within their state to feed information to a What's Happening calendar. We can also use members' computer expertise to help work out glitches in the early stages. And don't forget, your creative minds can provide input to and take ownership of new sections not yet imagined.

This Web Corner will provide a tangible bonus for being a DivCHED member as well as a way to help each other in the common quest to improve chemistry education. To volunteer, provide suggestions, or help us name the Web Corner, please email me and include DivCHED Web Corner in the subject line.

Mickey Sarquis, Chair-Elect

CHED Initiatives at ACS Regional Meetings

After providing a divisional presence at three ACS regional meetings in 2000 (Northwest/Rocky Mountain, Western, and Southwest/Southeast), the Division of Chemical Education has expanded its initiative to include all eight meetings in 2001. We can now report on our activities at the four meetings in Spring 2001.

Spring 2001 Regional Meetings

Diane Bunce (Catholic University) and Jerry Bell (ACS) served as our facilitators at the Middle Atlantic Regional Meeting (May 30-June 1) held at Towson University. They hosted a table in the Exhibition Hall at which information and materials from CHED, the ACS Exams Institute, and the Journal of Chemical Education were displayed. About 700 people attended the meeting, many of whom stopped to chat about memberships, subscriptions, and examinations. There was a rich and diverse chemical education program in which Bunce presented the paper, "Engaging Students in Meaningful Chemistry Learning".

At the Central/Great Lakes Regional Meeting in Grand Rapids (June 11-13), Uni Susskind (Oakland Community College) represented CHED at its display table in the exhibition area; the table was close to the meeting rooms, close to the registration area, and close to the coffee and doughnuts. Brian Coppola was a keynote speaker, and the section on Education and Chemistry had sessions on Advanced Placement Chemistry, Middle School Chemistry, Chemistry at Community Colleges, and Computers in Chemistry Laboratories, among many others. There were nearly 800 attendees.

Glenn Crosby (Washington State University) and Morton Hoffman (Boston University) were the CHED representatives at the Northwest Regional Meeting (June 14-17) held at Seattle University, which attracted approximately 700 participants. Crosby gave a plenary lecture ("Future of Science Education") and Hoffman presented two papers in the chemical education symposium ("Back to Basics in the First-Year Quantitative Analysis Laboratory;" "Reading and Writing in the Honors-Level General Chemistry Course"). There was a CHED/Exams Institute/JCE display table with hosts, and materials were provided as well for the high school teachers program.

As CHED facilitator at the Northeast Regional Meeting (June 24-27) at the University of New Hampshire, Hoffman hosted the display table and provided materials to the high school program at which he was a panelist. He gave two papers ("Molecular Science: New Curricular Pathways for the Twenty-first Century," "Back to Basics in the First-Year Quantitative Analysis Laboratory") in the symposium, Change in Chemical Education. He also presented workshops on the ACS College Chemistry Consultants Service (joint with Jerry Mullin, University of New England) and on new strategies for teaching general chemistry. Approximately 600 people were in attendance at the meeting.

Fall 2001 Regional Meetings

The following are CHED facilitators for the Fall 2001 regional meetings, details of which will be reported later. Carol White (Athens Technical College), Southeast Regional Meeting in Savannah (September 23-26); Tom Greenbowe (Iowa State University), Midwest Regional Meeting at the University of Nebraska (October 10-13); Mamie Moy (University of Houston) and Joe Lagowski (University of Texas-Austin), Southwest Regional Meeting in San Antonio (October 17-20); Arlene Russell (UCLA), Western Regional Meeting in Santa Barbara (October 28-31).

Join the Regional Meeting Initiative

If you would like to contribute to the effort to have a chemical education presence at ACS Regional Meetings, contact the committee chair, Mort Hoffman, by email.

Morton Hoffman, Chair: Regional Meetings Task Force