I. Duties of the Secretary (DIC Bylaws §III.2.b):
It shall be the duty of the Secretary to keep a record of the
proceedings of the Division and of the Executive Committee; to
maintain a list of members; to send to members such notices as
the business of the Division may require, and to carry out all
the duties outlined in the Constitution and Bylaws of the SOCIETY.
He/she shall submit a report to the Division at its annual meeting.
At least two weeks before each regular meeting of the SOCIETY,
the Secretary shall send to each member in good standing abstracts
of papers to be presented before the Division at the meeting and,
from time to time, he/she shall forward to each member any such
newsletters or other items of information deemed desirable by
the Chairman or Executive Committee of the Division for maintaining
interest in inorganic chemistry. The Secretary shall also maintain
a Procedural Manual. This Procedural Manual shall spell out the
detailed responsibilities for all officers, members of the Executive
Committee, and Chairmen of Committees, and shall describe time
schedules and methods for maintaining continuity, among other
responsibilities.
(§III.5.b) The term of office of the Secretary shall
be three years or until his/her successor is notified of election.
The term of office of the SecretaryElect shall be one year,
after which he/she shall assume the position of Secretary.
(§V.1.g) Tellers Committee. The Secretary of the Division
shall be the Chairman of this Committee, and he shall appoint
two other Division members to serve on this Committee until the
close of the calendar year. (This committee certifies the annual
election, which the Secretary runs and then counts the ballots.)
II. Budget for the Secretary
The DIC normally provides a travel budget ($1200 in 1996) and
a function budget ($1200 secretarial/supplies and $600 www/computer
in 1996, $600 total in 1998) for the Secretary.
III. Chronology of Duties
The timely functions of the Secretary are:
JANUARY/FEBRUARY
1. Begin Secretary's Annual Report, usually due sometime
around March 15. The Division will not receive its annual allocation
until the Annual Reports are submitted.
2. Make Arrangements for the Saturday night Executive Committee
Dinner to be held at the Spring National ACS Meeting. (~30
people, $40/per)
3. Contact the DIC Treasurer to get the annual allotment
of funds to provide an assistant to the Secretary. Allotment
in 1996 was $1,750/year ($1200 secretarial/ $550 for www), but
was $600 in 1998.
MARCH
1. Send Meeting Agenda, time, place, and any relevant enclosures
(such as minutes of the last meeting, reports, etc.) to all the
Executive Committee members for the Executive Committee Meeting
at the Spring National ACS Meeting. Include dinner information
and RSVP forms as appropriate. Councilors should arrange themselves
for Alternate Councilors to replace them. Prior to the meeting
a mailing that includes some yellow cards that allow an Alternate
Councilor to represent a Councilor at the Council meeting. Bring
the yellow card to the Exec Comm meeting, sign it as the authorized
signer, and give it to the Alternate. He/she will have to present
it to enter the Council meeting.
2. Invite Divisional Award Winners to the Saturday night
dinner. The list is printed in the Preliminary Meeting issue
of C&EN.
3. Write Social Hour Sponsors (currently Mike Strem, Strem Chemical; Barry Arkles, Gelest, Inc.; Joe Richmond, Springer) and invite them to the Saturday night dinner.
Also determine whether they want to update their ad pieces in
the May Newsletter.
4. Send Subdivision membership requests (returned with ballots)
to the ACS Membership Department in Columbus for updating subdivision
membership lists.
5. File District of Columbia Tax Form, which will be sent
to the Secretary by a DC law firm (William J. Butler, Esq., 888
17th St. NW #1000, Washington, D.C. 20006; ph: (202) 298-6161).
Filing is done in alternate years. There is a $25 annual corporation
fee, which the Secretary can pay directly and get reimbursement
from the Treasurer.
APRIL
1. Write up the minutes of the Executive Committee Meeting and
circulate by e-mail.
MAY
1. Prepare Newsletter and send to ACS for inclusion with
the "separates" (the blue book of Abstracts). The current
contact person at ACS is Mr. Julian Oteyza.
2. Send out Room reservation and Social Hour Request Forms.
These forms will be part of a tabbed, spiral-bound book that
you should receive from ACS in late April or early May. The rooms
required for the Fall meeting are: (1) The Saturday PM Executive
Committee Meeting. (2) The Tuesday afternoon Divisional Business
Meeting (usually held in one of the session rooms immediately
following the last talk of the afternoon). (3) Social hour from
6-8 PM on Sunday. (4) Social hour from 6:30-8:30 PM on Tuesday.
Both social hours are held in conjunction with Poster Sessions.
3. Order Separates for the Divisional membership. The
order form is in the spiral-bound book. Order 25 extra copies
for the Secretary.
4. Order Plaques and Pins for the outgoing Chair and, if
necessary, outgoing Treasurer, Secretary, or Program Chair. The
order form will be sent to you by ACS.
JUNE/JULY
1. Make Arrangements for the Saturday night Executive Committee
Dinner to be held at the Fall National ACS Meeting. Check
with Inorganic Synthesis people.
2. Write to our social hour sponsors (currently Mike Strem
at Strem Chemical and Barry Arkles at Gelest, Inc.) to determine
whether they want to update their ad pieces in the Ballot Newsletter.
Also invite NSF Program Director for Inorganic, Bioinorganic
and Organometallic Chemistry.
AUGUST
1. Send Meeting Agenda, and any relevant enclosures (such
as minutes of the last meeting, reports, etc.) to all the Executive
Committee members for the Executive Committee Meeting at the Spring
National ACS Meeting. Include dinner information and RSVP forms
as appropriate.
2. Contact the Secretary of Inorganic Syntheses and provide
him/her with details about the Saturday night dinner at the Fall
Meeting. We invite their editorial board members to attend the
dinner, at the expense of Inorganic Syntheses. Ask the Secretary
to provide you with a count of dinner attendees by whatever deadline
you require.
3. Write to our social hour sponsors (currently Mike Strem at
Strem Chemical, Barry Arkles at Gelest, Inc., Joe Richmond at
Springer) and invite them to the Saturday night dinner. Consider
inviting the NSF Program Director for Inorganic, Bioinorganic
and Organometallic Chemistry.
4. DIC Fall Membership Meeting. Note that for any business
conducted at this meeting (such as dues increases), there is always
a quorum because of bylaw VII.4. "The members who
are present at any properly called meeting of the Division shall
constitute a quorum for the conduct of business".
5. Get the Slate of Candidates from the Chair-Elect (who
is the Chair of the Nominations Committee) for the Fall election,
to be approved at the Executive Committee Meeting. Prepare post-dated
letters to the candidates requesting the biographical sketches
that will be in the Ballot Newsletter. Note: Receipt of these
bios is one of the major bottlenecks in getting the election underway!
You should arrange to send the bio requests immediately following
approval of the slate of candidates.
6. Arrange with ACS concerning the production of the Ballot
Newsletter. Contact Ms. Wendy Torosian. If the printing
and mailing is to be done by ACS in Washington (my recommendation),
establish deadlines. If the printing and mailing is to be done
locally, contact your print and mail facilities and arrange Nonprofit
Mailing permit.
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER/NOVEMBER
1. Prepare Ballot Newsletter once all biographical information
has been received.
2. Monitor the election process: Make certain that the
Ballot Newsletter gets printed and mailed, that a procedure is
established to count ballots (including verification of DIC and
Subdivision membership), and establish a Teller's Committee to
certify the election results. The members of the Teller's Committee
must be DIC members; most Secretaries have used three or four
of his/her inorganic colleagues.
3. Write to our social hour sponsors (currently Mike Strem at
Strem Chemical, Barry Arkles at Gelest, Inc. and Joe Richmond
at Springer) to determine whether they want to update their ad
pieces in the January Newsletter.
DECEMBER
1. Organize Teller's Committee and Certify Election
results to ACS.
2. Notify Election winners and losers. Form letters are
in the files. Note that each receives a list of documents.
3. Update the List of past successful and unsuccessful
candidates, and the list of symposia.
4. Prepare New DIC Stationery for the Division. Two reams
of letterhead is sufficient, but this has been done recently by
simply making the disk version of the letterhead available to
the Chair, Chair-Elect, and Treasurer.
5. Prepare Newsletter and send to ACS for inclusion with the "separates" (the blue book of Abstracts). Julian Oteyza is the abstract book editor, and is in charge of producing
separates for divisions that want them. You should get the "separates
order form" from the agenda book and send it to him. In
addition to printing separates, Julian also mails them to division
members (upon request), so a "label order form" needs
to be done at the same time.
6. Room Reservation and Social Hour Request Forms. These forms will be part of a tabbed, yellow, spiral-bound book (National Meeting Program Agenda Book) that you should get from ACS in late November or early December. It tells deadlines for ordering things for national meetings, such as separates and committee meeting rooms. These books are generally mailed to program chairs (not Secretaries) by meetings dept. staffer Latisha Best (l_best@acs.org). Be sure to request it.
The rooms required for the Spring meeting are: (1) The Saturday PM Executive Committee Meeting. (2) Social hour from 6-8 PM on Sunday. (3) Social hour from 6:30-8:30 PM on Tuesday. Both social hours are held in conjunction with Poster Sessions.
Paula Groves (p_groves@acs.org) is the manager of meetings, and you should get the "request for committee meeting room" form from the agenda book and send your request to her.
Try to stick to their deadlines as much as possible, because
they are firm. The ACS departmental fax number is (202) 872-6128.
Any of the above forms can be sent to that number.
7. Order Separates for the Divisional Membership. The
order form is in the spiral-bound book. Order 25 extra copies
for the Secretary.