The Committee on Chemistry in Two-Year Colleges (COCTYC) is the executive committee governing the Two-Year College Chemistry Consortium (2YC3). 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.
2026 Annual Meeting
The 2026 2YC3 annual meeting was held on May 29–30 at Montgomery College in Silver Spring–Takoma Park, Maryland. Over 80 chemical educators from primarily two-year colleges attended, along with 12 sponsors, and 6 student volunteers. The event was organized by Laura Anna and her staff at Montgomery College and featured 25 oral presentations, 7 workshops, planetarium show, campus tour, and roundtable with recent members of the ACS Two-Year College Community of Practice.
Oral sessions covered topics ranging from active learning and teaching, AI and technology in chemistry education, CUREs and undergraduate research, and alternative assessments. The workshops included integrating artificial intelligence in general chemistry courses, using games to teach nomenclature and formulas, developing student skills in undergraduate research, integrating NMR in the classroom with Nanalysis, expanding formative assessments with the ACS Office of Higher Education, writing and editing exams with the ACS Exams Institute, and risk management and safety education with the ACS Office of Safety Programs.
The meeting received overwhelmingly positive feedback from attendees with over 83% saying they would recommend the conference to peers and that it fulfilled their professional development needs.
C3 Annual Meeting
The College Chemistry Canada Conference (C3) invited 2YC3 to send a member to their annual meeting at Nunavut Arctic College from May 29–June 1. Melanie Harvey represented 2YC3 at the event.
BCCE 2026
Several COCTYC members attended the Biennial Conference on Chemistry Education (BCCE) at the University of Wisconsin–Madison from July 26–30. Laura Anna, Ken Friedrich, and Devin Sonne hosted a Birds-of-a-Feather session to help two-year college faculty connect with colleagues.
Spring 2026 Webinar Series
The 2YC3-C3-ChemEdX webinar series continued with seven presentations throughout the Spring semester.
- January 30, 2026. “Group-worthy data tasks that empower every learner.” Carmen Bustos-Works and Cory Antonakos. California State University–East Bay and Diablo Valley College.
- February 20, 2026. “Illuminating Thermochemistry: Incorporating a multi-station thermal imaging lab into general chemistry.” Orlando Genovese-Stewart. Montgomery College.
- February 27, 2026. “How the plate got its spots: a chemist tries to help out some artists.” Jerry Godbout. University of New Mexico-Valencia.
- March 13, 2026. “Seasons of green–the integration of green chemistry for safety, labs, class, and demos.” Jimmy Lowe. British Columbia Institute of Technology.
- March 20, 2026. “Teaching Green Analytical Chemistry.” Charles Lucy. University of Alberta and University of Victoria.
- April 17, 2026. “From lab bench to soap bench: the chemistry of soap making and the path from academia to entrepreneurship.” Luci Benedict. Luci’s Lather Lab.
- April 24, 2026. “How to create a more effective lab safety program.” James Kaufman. The Laboratory Safety Institute.
Committee Organization
The new elected COCTYC began holding monthly Zoom meetings to maintain the momentum established during our 2025 annual meeting at Johnson County Community College. Agenda items included refining the committee’s bylaws, election procedures, and succession planning, as well as preparing for our 2026 and 2027 annual meetings and BCCE.
2027 Annual Meeting
The 2027 annual meeting is scheduled for May 28–29, 2027 at Georgia State University Perimeter College in Clarkston, Georgia with Vivian Ann Vankai Mativo and Luise Strange de Soria acting as local hosts.
2028 Annual Meeting
The 2028 annual meeting is scheduled for May 19–20, 2028 at Temple College in Temple, Texas with Lance English and Angelica Garza acting as local hosts.
Fall 2026 Webinar Series
The 2YC3-C3-ChemEdX webinar series will continue this Fall with three talks already scheduled and additional presentations expected throughout the semester.
- $1,550 in annual budget
- $5,000 from Strategic Planning fund
Yes. 2YC3 requested DivCHED funding to support the Mailchimp and Zoom accounts used for member communications and to host professional development webinars throughout the academic year.
Additionally, we requested $5,000 from the DivCHED Strategic Planning fund to support up to ten travel awards of $500 each for DivCHED members attending and participating in the 2YC3 annual meeting at College on May 29–30, 2026.
The travel award request has been incorporated into our FIscal Year 2027 budget.
We hosted seven professional development webinars, with plans to expand the series in the coming years. In addition, the funding supported travel awards for ten two-year college faculty members to attend our annual meeting.
Both initiatives have received very positive feedback and have expanded access to discipline-specific professional development for two-year college chemistry faculty that might not otherwise be available.