Greetings from the COCTYC!

The Committee on Chemistry in Two-Year Colleges (COCTYC) serves as the executive leadership board of the Two-Year College Chemistry Consortium (2YC3). 2YC3 is a membership organization dedicated to advancing first- and second-year college chemistry education and we welcome all educators in this space. Our mission is to build community, support professional development, and advocate for faculty teaching in the first two years of college chemistry.

The 2YC3 Leadership Board is operating under our modified bylaws, policies, and procedures designed to expand leadership capacity and member engagement to advance our strategic goals—building community, providing professional development, and advocacy—through conferences, webinars, newsletters, networking and resources for chemistry educators.

Welcome to new and continuing 2YC3 Executive Leadership Board members!

Nominations and elections were held in late 2025 and we are excited to announce our newly elected and continuing members of the 2YC3 Leadership Board:

• Lance English (Temple College, TX) - 2026 Chair
• Devin Sonne (Mohawk Valley Community College, NY) - Secretary
• Jonathan Gittins (Delta College, MI) - Treasurer
• Lee McPherson - Webmaster
• Laura Anna (Montgomery College, MD) - Strategic Planning Chair
• Kenneth Friedrich (Portland Community College, WA) - Membership Chair
• Melanie Harvey (Johnson County Community College, KS) - In-person Conference Chair
• Frankie Wood-Black )Northern Oklahoma College, OK) - Advocacy Committee Chair
• Bal Barot (Germanna Community College, VA) - Member-at-Large
• Pam Clevenger (Mississippi College, MS) - Member-at-Large
• Adam Graham, San Juan College (NM) - Member-at-Large

Thank you to past officers!

We are incredibly grateful to our colleagues that have completed their service to the 2YC3 leadership board. 

• Scott Donnelly, Arizona Western College (AZ)
• Tom Higgins, Harold Washington College, City Colleges of Chicago (IL)
• Robert Kojima, San Diego Community College (CA)

Spring 2026 Virtual Webinar Series

The 2YC3-C3-ChemEdX Friday Webinar series continues for Spring 2026. The schedule includes: 

• January 30, 2026: “Group-worthy data tasks that empower every learner,” Presenters: Carmen Bustos-Works (California State University - East Bay) and Cory Antonakos (Diablo Valley College).
• February 20, 2026: “Illuminating Thermochemistry: Incorporating a Multi-Station Thermal Imaging Lab into General Chemistry,” Presenter: Orlando Genovese-Stewart (Montgomery College).
• February 27, 2026: "How the plate got its spots: A chemist tries to help out some artists," Subtitle: “They're still waiting," Presenter: Jerry Godbout (University of New Mexico-Valencia).
• March 13, 2026: “Seasons of Green–The Integration of Green Chemistry for Safety, Labs, Class, and Demos,” Presenter: Jimmy Lowe, PhD (British Columbia Institute of Technology).
• April 24, 2026: “How to Create a more Effective Lab Safety Program,” Presenter: James A. Kaufmann (The Laboratory Safety Institute).

All webinars provide professional development and networking for all chemical educators. Registration is free and open to all. 

We welcome the opportunity to collaborate with other DivCHED committees on professional development opportunities or for potential speakers for our webinar series. Contact Scott.Donnelly@azwestern.edu.

226th 2YC3 Conference, May 29-30, 2026, Montgomery College (MD)

2YC3 will hold our 226th conference May 29-30, 2026, at Montgomery College, Takoma Park-Silver Spring campus (MD). The conference theme, “Teaching with Purpose: Engaging Students in Meaningful Chemistry Experiences,” will bring together chemical educators with a focus on the first two years of college chemistry. The conference planning team invites abstracts for presentations and workshops aligned with conference topics: 

• Meaningful laboratory and hands-on learning experiences
• Strategies to engage today’s students
• Teaching and learning with AI
• Integrating green chemistry and sustainability
• Experiential learning: UREs, CUREs, honors programs and partnerships
• General papers related to chemistry education 

Registration and abstract submissions will be open soon on the 2yc3.org webpage.