After two years of work by ACS Safety Programs (Marta Gurmuzyk) and three other subject matter experts (Sue Wiediger, Jenny Bishoff, and Sammye Sigmann) the professional development eLearning course for high school teachers, Foundations for Storing, Organizing and Disposing of Chemicals in Educational Settings has been launched at the ACS Institute. 

While high school teachers are the primary target audience, this free course would be valuable to anyone who manages and uses chemicals in an educational setting - including graduate students! The course provides six lessons and should take ~10 hrs to complete. A certificate of completion and documentation that can be used to obtain continuing education credits are provided. 

1. Introduction 30 minutes 
2. Lesson One – RAMP & Chemical Hazard Information 1.5 hrs 
3. Lesson Two – Chemical Safety Information Sources 1.5 hrs 
4. Lesson Three – The EPA and Unwanted Chemicals 1.0 hr 
5. Lesson Four – Chemical Inventory 1.0 hr 
6. Lesson Five – Chemical Storage 1.5 hrs 
7. Lesson Six – Hazardous Waste - What Teachers Need to Know 2.0 hrs 
8. Next Steps – Prepare Your Action Plan 1.0 hr 

TOTAL 10 hours 

Please check the course out yourself or share the information with high school teachers or others who manage chemicals in educational settings. There is the opportunity to give feedback on every page and we welcome input from anyone interested! 

The DivCHED Safety Committee welcomes anyone interested in safety education. Our vision is of education that embeds accurate chemical safety instruction at all educational levels, and our mission is to provide resources and strategies to chemical and science educators in order to prepare chemists and others to function safely while using chemicals. We meet in conjunction with the Fall and Spring meetings of the ACS. If you are interested in safety education and interested in getting involved, you are welcome to attend our committee meetings, or contact the Committee chair and he will try to connect you with appropriate people and projects.

Members of the Safety Committee work on a range of projects at the intersection of safety and education. These include collaborative projects with other components of the ACS, always with a focus on bringing the education perspective to safety issues, and the safety perspective to educational issues. The DivCHED Safety Committee thanks everyone who responded to last year’s survey. We look forward to better understanding and hopefully serving division members based on the responses. 

The Safety Committee welcomes the idea of symposia at national and regional meetings about safety in education. We will be sponsoring a symposium at the Spring 2023 ACS meeting; if you are interested in organizing a safety symposia please contact Steve Wietstock (swietsto@nd.edu). Some of our members have also presented at regional meetings and we are open to sharing some of those materials if you are developing programming for your area. If there is something you have particular need or interest in, please reach out to the Safety Committee to share your thoughts.

Looking to get more involved in the Division? Want to nominate a colleague for a committee appointment or leadership role? Let us know by completing the “Get-Involved” nomination form. Submissions to the form are shared with the Committee on Personnel & Nominations. Our committee’s purpose is to nominate DivCHED members for committee service and leadership opportunities within the Division. We seek to be inclusive of all members including chemical education practitioners and researchers across all levels of institutions as we try to match qualified individuals to service opportunities that they are interested in, have the appropriate skills to do and will benefit the Division. 

The form allows individuals to share additional information about why you want to become involved in the Division and your qualifications. CPN reviews all submissions on a regular basis. For best consideration, nominations for elected leadership positions should be submitted no later than January 31; interest in Board appointments by June 30 and committee interest by September 30. There may be limited vacancies on some committees, so if you’re not contacted, keep trying! For more information or questions, contact Nominations@divched.org.

Greetings from the Biennial Conference Committee (BCC). It was lovely to see many of you at Purdue University for the 2022 BCCE. The conference was a huge success, with almost 1400 people attending over 100 symposia, over 80 workshops, and 5 poster sessions. Many thanks to Marcy Towns (General Chair), Thom Bussey (Program Co-Chair), Carly Schnoebelen (Program Co-Chair) and their Organizing Team for providing this space and time for chemistry educators to meet and for making the conference such a success! 

Meanwhile, many of our colleagues are working on plans for future BCCEs. The 2024 BCCE Organizing Team (General Chair: Allison Soult) continue their preparations for their meeting at the University of Kentucky (information below); and the University of Wisconsin-Madison was recently selected as the site of the 2026 BCCE. 

Finally, while the 2028 BCCE may seem a long way off, the Biennial Conference Committee is currently looking for potential hosts for that meeting. In fact, Letters of Intent to host the 2028 meeting are due December 15, 2023, with full proposals to be submitted the following spring. There are resources available at https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1_eEzsVftt_FCGn206hFMBXRnWmCOkcAs that provide additional guidance on hosting a BCCE and preparing a proposal. If you have any interest in potentially hosting the 2028 BCCE or have questions about what type of information belongs in a Letter of Intent or full proposal to host the meeting, please feel free to contact either of the BCC Co-Chairs. 

Renée Cole, BCC Co-Chair, renee-cole@uiowa.edu 

MaryKay Orgill, BCC Co-Chair, marykay.orgill@unlv.edu 

2024 Biennial Conference on Chemical Education: 
Distilling Solutions for Chemical Education 

Save the Date: July 28-August 1, 2024. 
Location: University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 

We look forward to welcoming you to our beautiful campus and diverse community. Attendees staying on campus will be staying in modern dorms with full size beds (and Tempur-Pedic mattresses!). Dining will be in Champions Kitchen, which provides a variety of options including vegetarian/vegan options and items in an allergy-free zone. The conference website is now live at http://bcce.divched.org/ and updates will be made as information becomes available. Sponsorship and exhibitor information will be posted soon. 

Want to find out more about Lexington and the surrounding areas? Check out the links below. Whether you like horses, music, outdoors, arts, bourbon, or good food, there is something in Kentucky for you! We look forward to welcoming everyone to Lexington next year. 

Lexington Visitor’s Center https://www.visitlex.com 

Kentucky Tourism https://www.kentuckytourism.com/

SERVICE TO THE ACS DIVISION OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION

Morton Z. Hoffman

March 2023

• Member of ACS since 1956; member of CHED since 1961.
• Presentations (very many) in chemistry education at ACS (and other) regional, national, and international conferences.
• Organizer of chemistry education symposia (many) at ACS (and other) regional, national, and international conferences.
• Organized CHED State-of-the-Art symposia at ACS national meetings on Inorganic Photochemistry (Las Vegas, 1981) and Radiation Chemistry (Seattle, 1983), and edited the respective devoted issues of the Journal of Chemical Education.
• ACS: Society Committee on Education, Task Force on Undergraduate Programming, 1991-2002.
• ACS: President’s Task Force on International Education, 1992.
• Division of Chemical Education: Program Committee, 1980-86, 1992-2004 (Chair, 1999-2001).
• Division of Chemical Education: International Activities Committee, 1993-2013.
• ACS Northeastern Section: Committee on Education, 1993-present (Chair, 1993-97; Co-chair, 2016-present).
• ACS: College Chemistry Consultants Service, 1995-2007 (Member of the Advisory Board, 2001-04).
• Division of Chemical Education: Regional Meetings Committee, 1999-2008 (Chair, 1999-2008).
• ACS: Advisory Board and Editorial Review Panel, General Chemistry Textbook Project, 1999-2004.
• ACS: Society Committee on Education, 2001-2011.
• Division of Chemical Education: Chair-Elect (2004), Chair (2005), Immediate Past Chair (2006).
• Division of Chemical Education: Representative to IUPAC, 2005-2014.
• IUPAC: Committee on Chemistry Education, 2005-2014.
• Division of Chemical Education: Liaison to the ACS International Activities Committee, 2009-2013.

AWARDS AND RECOGNITION

• Phi Beta Kappa, Hunter College, City University of New York, 1955.
• Sigma Xi, University of Michigan, 1959.
• Fellow, The Danforth Foundation, 1970.
• Alumni Association Hall of Fame, Hunter College, City University of New York, 1977.
• Visiting Scholar, Department of Chemistry, University of Michigan-Flint, 1979.
• Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1992.
• Metcalf Cup and Prize for Excellence in Teaching, Boston University, 1994.
• Founding Director, Center for Teaching Excellence, Boston University, 1994-97.
• Henry Hill Award for Outstanding Service, Northeastern Section, American Chemical Society, 1999.
• Chair, Northeastern Section, American Chemical Society, 2002.
• Catalyst Award for Teaching Excellence, American Chemistry Council, 2002.
• John A. Timm Award for Encouraging Young People to Study Chemistry, New England Association of Chemistry Teachers, 2003.
• Sweeny Memorial Lecturer, Lehman College, City University of New York, 2003.
• Leavy Family Lecturer, St. Michael’s College, Colchester, VT, 2005.
• Chair, Division of Chemical Education, American Chemical Society, 2005.
• James Flack Norris Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Teaching of Chemistry, Northeastern Section, American Chemical Society, 2005.
• Outstanding Professional Achievement Award, Alumni Association, Hunter College, City University of New York, 2006.
• Volunteer Service Award, American Chemical Society, 2007.
• Visiting Scientist Award, Western Connecticut Section, American Chemical Society, 2007.
• Fellow, American Chemical Society, 2009.
• Distinguished Contribution to Chemistry Education Award, Committee on Chemistry Education, International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, 2014.
• Fellow, International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, 2014.
• Arno Heyn Memorial Book Prize for Distinguished Service to Publications of the Northeastern Section, American Chemical Society, 2014.
• Zaida C. Morales-Martinez Prize for Outstanding Mentoring of ACS Scholars, American Chemical Society, 2018.