Greetings from hot Tucson, Arizona! I hope that you found time this summer to reconnect with family and friends, as well as with colleagues at the various in-person meetings with a focus on chemistry education that took place in these past months. In fact, as I write this, I look forward to attending the 2022 BCCE at Purdue University in West Lafayette, IN! They are expecting close to 1300 attendees, and I am excited by the conference’s rich programming. I want to thank Marcy Towns, General Chair of the Conference, and the organizing team for the amazing work they have done to ensure we have a safe and productive meeting. If you missed the BCCE or want to continue interacting and sharing your work on chemical education with other members, don’t miss the fall ACS national meeting in Chicago and start thinking about the spring 2023 national meeting in Indianapolis. Volunteers and elected leaders in the DivCHED have been working diligently on a wide variety of tasks, from conference programming to governance, to create diverse learning opportunities for all. Highlighted below you can find some of the many ways in which DivCHED members contribute their time and talents to advance our mission. Please be sure to read the entirety of our newsletter for more detailed information about your Division of Chemical Education.
Sincerely,
Vicente Talanquer
vicente@arizona.edu
Endowment of the George C. Pimentel Award in Chemical Education!
This summer, the DivCHED Executive Committee voted to provide the necessary resources to endow the George C. Pimentel Award in Chemical Education. This award recognizes outstanding contributions to chemical education and has been in place since 1952. Nominations for the 2024 award will be accepted next year.
Chicago (Fall 2022) Governance Meetings
As we did for the spring 2022 meeting, all CHED Governance Meetings will be virtual for the fall 2022 national meeting. Governance committees will convene the weekend of August 19-21, 2022. Committees will meet at their long-standing “regular” times, using the Chicago central time zone. Please click here for information on how to register to receive the zoom link(s) for the committee meetings you wish to attend, including our social hour. The CHED social will be held on virtually on Sunday, August 21 from 6-7 pm (central).
AACT Representative
Congratulations to Michael Mury on his appointment to the AACT (American Association of Chemistry Teachers) Governing Board! He has taught high school chemistry for a total of 11 years in Baltimore City, Washington DC, rural North Carolina, and rural Florida in public, charter, and private schools. He will serve as a representative for the 2022-2023 cycle.
Awards
Many well-deserved congratulations to our Immediate Past Chair Stacey Lowery Bretz who is to receive the 2022 James Flack Norris Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Teaching of Chemistry. Stacey is being recognized for “her holistic approach to chemistry education, including the combination of excellence in teaching practice, efforts to promote Chemistry Education Research (CER) nationally, contributions to a wide variety of educational materials, and her role as an exceptional mentor to graduate students and postdocs.”
Many congratulations also to Professor Bassam Shakhashiri who has been awarded the DivCHED 2022 Outstanding Service to the Division Award for his varied and continuous contributions to advancing chemistry education and the goals of our division at all educational levels..
CHED Elections
The Division of Chemical Education will be holding elections this fall. Please read the information from Dan King, our CHED Secretary, for details on the ballot and how to vote.