Chairs out/in messages to members

At the changing of the year, it’s also time for the changing of the guard. Traditionally, our outgoing and incoming Section Chairs provide their retrospective and prospective views (respectively and respectfully).

First, Tabbetha Bohak, outgoing Chair:

What a whirlwind of a year it was! It has been a great honor and privilege to serve as Chair of the St Louis Section ACS for 2023. The year was packed with wonderful and successful events and programming — Cocktails and Coffee with Chemists networking events, St Louis and Midwest award symposia/banquets, the Section Award banquet, Chemistry Merit badge clinics, outreach events, Careers Day event, discussion groups, and more.

Of note, we hosted the Midwest/Great Lakes Joint Regional meeting this year. We had 929 attendees, 44 booth at the Expo, 26 special symposia, 18 oral technical session, 17 poster sessions and over 600 abstracts submitted. The feedback we received was overwhelmingly positive! The venue and expo were well received, and the quality of the talks was outstanding — I heard excitement about the science and the expo booths from many people that I talked to. We couldn’t have pulled this off without the hard work and dedication of all our section members, but especially Suzy, Leah, Jeff, Lisa and Jeramia.

None of the successes this year would have been possible with the support of an amazing Steering Committee, Board of Directors, volunteers and members. I thank everyone for showing their support with their attendance at our events, bringing in new members, and their ideas for improving our outreach.

I deeply value my interactions with the members of ACS and remain continually inspired by the accomplishments of our section members, their dedication to our mission, and theirsupport for fellow members. I look forward to the exciting events our new chair, Jim Bashkin, has in store for us. I am confident that he will lead us running through 2024 and serenade us with his successes at this time next year.

Cheers,
Tabbetha

And now, Jim Bashkin, incoming Chair:

Welcome to the New Year, everyone. It is an honor to serve as Local Section Chair for 2024, and I arrive on the heels of a successful 2023 campaign for our organization. Thanks to all those who made that success possible. However, it must be acknowledged that recent job losses in the region significantly impacted our chemists and chemistry. The new Chair-elect, Elizabeth Bergman, and I hope to help with those problems. Having gone through an involuntary separation, I know what this is like and how personal it can feel, no matter how much we are told to feel otherwise.

The continued networking events, Coffee and Cocktails with Chemists, run by Rhonda Woerndle and Brian Kamusinga, are advertised on Meetup and don’t require ACS membership. They offer networking opportunities for chemists of all types and rove around the region to serve all.

The ACS offers many job search and skills training tools. Elizabeth will take point in marshaling our resources, including our many experienced members and officers, to highlight the opportunities.

After the excitement and stress of the Regional Meeting last fall, we can regroup and refocus on our strategic plan, which was designed as a grassroots effort to improve the Section for its members.

I will keep this short because, perhaps like some of you, I am still recovering from a respiratory illness and am not up to full strength yet. However, I look forward to seeing you at events all over the region, sharing your passion for chemistry and your joy in what you do, and offering help when I can. Please do not hesitate to contact me with suggestions or comments.

Sincerely,
Jim Bashkin