Are you feeling abandoned by your local section?

[jonnap]

When I first joined ACS after college 11 years ago, I started to receive newsletters every month from my local section and was able to attend a meeting here and there.  But in the last few years, the section in an effort to save money has tried to use the internet/email as the main source of communication.  This is a great idea except it hasn't worked.  I have never received an email and the website as of Aug. still has information on the April meeting!

[Previous Community Member]

One way to avoid this is to become active in your local section! Aside from that, try maintaining a good relationship with someone who is active- a business, personal or otherwise. Lastly, contact someone on the inside directly- you should be able to find an executive council member and find out what's going on. Perhaps they just don't have your correct e-mail address or something simple. While they should make every effort to keep you members apprised of what's going on, sometimes simple mistakes are made and you certainly don't want to fall between the cracks- so to speak.

Best of luck!

Paul

Paul Shin, Ph.D.

Chair-Elect (2009)

Chair (2010)

Chair, Educational Affairs Committee

Southern California Section of the American Chemical Society (SCALACS)

Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, CSUN

California State University

18111 Nordhoff St

Northridge, CA 91330

818-677-6887 office

818-677-4068 fax

www.csun.edu/chemistry/Facilities.html

www.AlchemEDU.org

[markobri]

At the Washington, DC National Meeting the topic of electronic communications at local section was discussed by the Technology Tools and Operations (TTO) subcommittee of the Local Section Activities Committee.   TTO plans to develop a best practices guide for local section electronic communications.  In addtion to outlining best practices, the guide will also identifty potential issues associated with the transition from hard copy to electronic communications and how local sections can minimize potential consequences. 

In response to the immediate question about feeling abandoned, I recommend that you contact the local section chair and newslettter editor and let them know that you are not receiving section communications.  Re-engaging with the section may be easier than you think (I noticed you, your chair and chair elect share the same employer)

[jonnap]

Abandoned was a bit harsh but I was rushed and couldn't think of a better word.  I wanted to get some feedback from anyone else who might be experiencing the same difficulties that my section is experiencing.  Yes, the section chair is my co-worker.  We were just discussing this problem the other day which is why I posted this question.

[Lesmcquire]

As local sections switch to electronic communications it is important to update your e-mail address with the national ACS.  You can do this at:

https://portal.acs.org/portal/acs/corg/coldfusionapp?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=mapp_addrupdate_page