The Regional Meetings Committee (RMC) is charged by the Division to:
1. Provide oversight of the ACS Division of Chemical Education Region Awards, which includes the development and maintenance of Award Guidelines, participation in the selection and presentation of the Region Award winners;
2. Ensure that a Chemical Education Program is part of each Regional Meeting; and
3. Promote the purpose and work of the ACS Division of Chemical Education.
Our committee’s activities strongly align with the following goals in the Division’s Strategic Plan:
Professional Development (Goal 2) - Engage chemistry educators and education researchers at all levels in a wide range of high-quality, accessible learning experiences.
Identifying & Communicating Value (Goal 3) - Build and communicate the unique benefits and role of DivCHED
- Revised Operational Documents-The committee made additional changes to the Operations Manual and the Primary Responsibilities of RMC Members.
- Regional Awards - Six of the ten ACS Regions reported meetings in the Report Period, providing opportunities to recognize and reward excellence in high school chemistry.
- 2025 Midwest Region Award for Excellence in High School Teaching - Collin Mayhan, Helias Catholic High School, Jefferson City, MO
- 2025 Northeast Region Award for Excellence in High School Teaching - Jerusha Vogel, Greenwich High School, Greenwich, CT
- 2025 Rocky Mountain Region Award for Excellence in High School Teaching - Awardee information for this region was not available at the time of this report.
- 2025 Southeast Region Award for Excellence in High School Teaching - Michael Bruno, Ph.D., North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, Durham, NC
- 2025 Southwest Region Award for Excellence in High School Teaching - Heather Burgess, James E. Taylor High School, Katy, TX
- 2025 Western Region Award for Excellence in High School Teaching - Zeynep Araci, Ph.D, BASIS Independent Fremont Upper School, Fremont, CA
- Vote to approve revised Operations Manual and Primary Responsibilities of RMC Chair.
- Continue to work with ACS staff to develop a better system for processing of regional and national awards including a central location to post awardee information.
- Revisit the current regional meeting funding model to consider alternative ways funds can better promote the purpose and work of the division at regional meetings.
$2,000
Funds were allocated to support chemical education programming at regional meetings, with the RMC responsible for evaluating requests for sponsorship. Although multiple regional meetings expressed interest in receiving funds, no formal requests were submitted.
No activities were funded under this allocation, as no formal requests were submitted. An important outcome of this experience is that it highlighted the need to revise the funding process to better support regional meetings in the future.