Collaborating with ACS Local Sections
How do I locate my local section?
- Search for your local section by zip code or email the ACS Undergraduate Office to find which local section you are in and the contact information for executive board members. We can also provide a list of other student chapters and faculty advisors in your section or the surrounding area.
- Each local section has access to an online report of student members, which is grouped by student chapter, the associated faculty advisor, and chapter status. Feel free to ask for this report.
How can I interact with my local section if distance is a barrier?
- Offer to host a section meeting on your campus.
- Determine if your local section has resources for virtual conferencing, such as Skype.
- Ask for local section event information as early in the academic year as possible so that chapter members can participate in their events.
What are some possible joint events for chapters and local sections?
- Ask if your local section has an active Younger Chemists Committee to help bridge the gap between older members and student members.
- Try to work with your local section at an ACS Regional Meeting. If your campus is close to a regional meeting site, consider applying for the Undergraduate Programming at ACS Regional Meetings Grant.
- Determine if your local section hosts an annual Undergraduate Poster Session, and find out how student members can participate. If one does not exist, offer to assist your section in organizing one on your campus.
- Does your local section have a Science Café series or other similar social-based seminar series appropriate for a wide audience? If not, offer to assist your section in organizing one in a common location.
- Offer to split the cost of bringing in a speaker who would be of interest to both student members and the local section.
- Develop an end-of-the-year banquet to recognize student achievement.
- Develop creative activities like "Battle of the ChemClubs".
How can I get involved in my local section?
- Contact the section president and ask to be put on the email and newsletter distribution lists.
- Ask that upcoming chapter activities and highlights are included in the local section newsletter and website.
- Determine what funding your local section may have for chapter programs and/or activities, or how your local section can assist in obtaining ACS national funding. Some local sections have fiscal line items to provide this type of funding.
- Ask if your local section needs volunteers for their outreach activities or invite them to participate in your activities.
- Offer to host a section meeting on your campus.
- Invite a local section member to speak to your chapter about the benefits of ACS membership, chemistry careers, and/or professional development.
- Serve on the executive board of your local section.
- Discuss how your chapter can assist the local section to fulfill the student member categories required for the section’s annual report.
How can chapter officers and members get involved in a local section?
- Find out if student members can serve as a liaison to the section or executive board.
- Encourage other members to join the local section and offer to pay nominal local dues. Keep in mind that a student member is automatically registered with a local section. If they have been recorded in an incorrect section, please email to change it.
- Attend local section activities or events. Visit your local section website for more information.
- Work with your local section to develop student-centered programming that fits with student interests and schedules.
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