Welcome to the homepage for the South Texas Section of the American Chemical Society.

''The 2009 Fall schedule is set. To view the information for our September meeting, click on the schedule tab.

Our spring 2009 schedule:

Our fall 2009 schedule:

The 2009 Local Section Officers:
Chair: Dr. Ludivina Avila; STC
Chair-Elect: Dr. Gregory A. Moehring; TAMU-K
Vice Chair: Dr. H. Justin Moore; UTB-TSC
Secretary/Treasurer: Dr. Celia Flores-Feist; UTB-TSC

COUNSILORS REPORT- Spring 2009

Members of the South Texas Section,

The Council of the American Chemical Society met on Wednesday, March 25th , at the Salt Lake City national meeting. As the Councilor for this section, I was in attendance.

Overall, nearly 11,000 people registered for the meeting, which is down somewhat from the last few Spring national meetings. How much of this was due to the economy and how much to the location is anyone's guess. Whatever the reason, it was within the range which had been anticipated.

Two candidates for President-elect were chosen, Nancy Jackson and Cheryl Martin. They will appear on the Fall ballot, along with any petition candidates who qualify. A petition to change the timeline for national elections was presented to Council for consideration only. It is expected that the petition will be voted on by Council at the Washington, D.C., national meeting.

Finances were an important topic. While ACS operations had a net profit of almost $10 million last year, the Society’s unrestricted assets dropped from $212 million to $60 million. There were two main reasons for this. The obvious one was the drop in the stock markets, decreasing the value of the assets in those accounts. A second significant reason was that the reserves for pension funds had to be increased; as yields on investments go down, the amount in reserves needs to be increased. In this second case, the money is still in the Society, just moved from unrestricted assets to the pension fund reserves. The potential for such a scenario was recognized over a year ago, and the Society has switched current and future pension accounts from defined benefits accounts to defined contribution.

A second financial topic was the setting of dues for next year. The dues escalator, which relates dues increases to some Consumer Price Index, called for a $5 increase in dues (from the current $140 to $145). After considerable debate, the Council voted 348 to 70 to accept the full dues increase.

Membership in ACS dropped from 160,000 at the end to 2007 to 154,000 at the end of 2008. About half of this drop was an actual decrease in membership, while the other half was due to removal from the membership rolls of Emeritus Members (who do not pay dues) whom the Society could not contact and who are presumed deceased. This 4% drop in membership is less than most professional societies experienced last year.

A special topic discussed at the meeting was how to attract and retain members. Councilors presented a variety of suggestions and concerns. Because of time constraints, only 30 minutes was allotted to the discussion, but it could easily have run twice that long if time had been available. There will likely be reports and further articles on this topic in ACS publications in the future.

The Member Network continues to expand. ACS is encouraging members to join the network. When fully implemented, members will be able to fill in a profile of professional and related interests and to search for other members who hold similar interests. See the ACS website for further information on current and planned features of the Member Network.

Much of the Council’s activity was in matters of indirect effect on the local section and its members. For those who are interested, a summary of Council actions should also appear in C&E News shortly.

Sincerely,

Tom Hays

Local Section Councilor