The Committee on Chemistry in Two-Year Colleges (COCTYC) is the executive committee governing the Two-Year College Chemistry Consortium (2YC3). 2YC3 is an external membership organization with a vision to Advance first- and second-year college chemistry education and support the mission to Build community, support professional development and advocate for first and second-year college chemistry faculty. The COCTYC facilitates 2YC3 strategic goals of 1) Building community; 2) Professional Development; and 3) Advocate by coordinating professional development conferences, and webinars along with publishing newsletters and providing online resources for chemical educators teaching the first two years of college chemistry.
ACS Staff liaison to 2YC3 Executive Board
The 2YC3 Executive Committee (COCTYC) now has an ACS staff liaison, Dr. Ashlie Wrenne, Two-Year College Program Director in the Office of Higher Education. We are excited about the opportunity to better connect and support the activities of 2YC3 with the ACS Office of Higher Education.
Fall 2025 Webinar Series
- The 2YC3-C3-ChemEdX webinar series continued with four presentations throughout the Fall semester. Presenters and topics.
- October 17, 2025 “Understanding, developing, and implementing laboratory safety and safety culture in a two-year colleges”, Presenter: Dwayne F. Henry (Montgomery College, MD)
- October 31, 2025: “Standing on the shoulders of giants – the power of mentorship”, Presenter: Carla Pretorius (Simon Fraser University, Canada)
- November 14, 2025: “From Textbook to Tank Farm: Teaching Chemistry with Real-World Applications”, Presenter: Nicole Stephens (Homeland Energy Solutions)
- December 5, 2025: “The Grocery Store as Chemistry Educator”, Presenter: Scott Donnelly (Arizona Western College)
Fall 2025 elections for the 2YC3 Executive Leadership Board
Nominations and elections were held in November-December 2025 for vacant positions on the 2YC3 Leadership Board. Thanks to Melanie Harvey for facilitating the election ballot. Voter turnout was 30% (152 eligible members on voting roster).
New members elected:
- Bal Barot, Germanna Community College (VA)
- Pam Clevenger, Mississippi College (MS)
- Lance English, Temple College (TX)
- Adam Graham, San Juan College (NM)
- Devin Sonne, Mohawk Valley Community College (NY)
- Frankie Wood-Black, Northern Oklahoma College (OK)
Continuing members:
- Laura Anna, Montgomery College (MD)
- Kenneth Friedrich, Portland Community College (WA)
- Jonathan Gittings, Treasurer, Delta College (MI)
- Melanie Harvey, Johnson County Community College (KS)
- Lee McPherson, Webmaster
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)
1) Spring 2026 Virtual Webinar Series
The 2YC3-C3-ChemEdX Friday Webinar series will continue for Spring 2026. Current 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 presentations are on a Friday starting at 11:00 Pacific time (= noon Mountain = 1:00pm Central = 2:00pm Eastern).
These webinars, co-sponsored by ChemEd Xchange and College Chemistry Canada (C3), provide timely 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.
2) 226th 2YC3 Conference, May 29-30, 2026, Montgomery College (MD)
2YC3 will hold our 226th conference May 29-20, 2026, at Montgomery College, Takoma Park-Silver Spring campus (MD). The theme of the conference is “Teaching with Purpose: Engaging Students in Meaningful Chemistry Experiences.” 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
3) College Chemistry Canada Conference (C3), Nunavut Arctic College, May 29-June 1, 2026
The C3 organization has invited a 2YC3 representative to attend and represent 2YC3.
4) BCCE 2026, University of Wisconsin – Madison, July 2026
- Birds of a Feather session: Meet & Greet Networking with 2YC3 (proposed / abstract submitted by Laura Anna, Lance English, and Ken Friedrich).
- Birds of a Feather session: ACS 2YC Recognition Program (proposed / abstract submitted by Aslie Wrenne and Laura Anna).
- As the BCCE technical program develops, 2YC3 will also promote sessions that may have particular relevance for faculty teaching in the first two years of college chemistry.
5) Future 2YC3 Conferences
Our goal is to host at least one in-person 2YC3 conference annually along with having a presence at larger chemical education conferences such as BCCE. We are in the planning stages for the following events:
Dates and host sites for future 2YC3 conferences:
- May 29-30, 2026, Montgomery College, MD (confirmed)
- May 28-29, 2027, Georgia Perimeter College, Atlanta, GA (confirmed)
- May 28-29, 2028, Temple College, Temple, TX (confirmed)
These proposed activities align with the 2YC3 Strategic planning goals to 1) Build community, 2) Professional Development and 3) Advocate. They also align with DivCHED Strategic Planning goals of 1) Engagement & Inclusivity, 2) Professional Development and 3) Identifying & Communicating Value to members of DivCHED that also teach in the first and second year of chemistry space.
Yes. 2YC3 requested DivCHED funding for the 2026 budget year to support the MailChimp and Zoom accounts which are used for communication with members and professional development webinars throughout the academic year.