Local Section News.
Joliet Local Section is a Provider of Professional Development Certificate:
Many certified teachers in Illinois must engage in professional development activities in order to renew their certificates.  Numerous types of activities will generate credit, and several forms of credit can be earned.  Among the creditable activities are workshops, institutes, seminars, symposia, conferences, and other similar training events.  Obviously, these are not activities undertaken by individual teachers on their own behalf and directed by them. Rather, they are planned, structured, and conducted by some entity and attended by individual teachers.
 
These entities include training organizations, institutions, school districts, regional offices of education, firms, teacher unions and professional associations, universities or colleges, and others.  For purposes of this system, they are all referred to as "providers," and they must satisfy certain requirements, and follow specified procedures for obtaining approval to offer professional development activities that will generate credit.  The credit they offer will be either continuing education units (CEU's) or continuing professional development units (CPDU's).

CARUS CELEBRATES NATIONAL CHEMISTRY WEEK WITH LOCAL SCHOOLS

LaSalle/Peru, IL. – Carus Chemical Company, a member of the American Chemical Society (ACS), observed National Chemistry Week by visiting schools in LaSalle County. This annual celebration is an opportunity for children of all ages to have fun learning about the benefits of chemistry and the necessity of chemicals to everyday life.  The 2002 theme of National Chemistry Week was "Chemistry Keeps Us Clean."  Carus Chemical is a leading manufacturer of manganese-based chemicals used in many environmental applications, such as drinking water purification, wastewater treatment, and hazardous site clean up.  Carus employees celebrated the annual event by traveling to junior high classrooms in the Illinois Valley and presenting chemistry demonstrations.

Carus employees demonstrated the wonders of chemistry with several exciting hands-on experiments, including "The Disappearing Rainbow" and "The Soap Bubble Mystery."  The Carus employees also taught students how to test the drinking water in the school water fountains and in their own homes.  Carus made chemistry demonstrations to more than 700 students at seven local junior high schools.  The presentation included information about chemical laboratory safety, careers in the sciences, and how better grades in school results in better pay in the work world.

National Chemistry Week is an outreach program of the American Chemical Society and is aimed at enhancing the public’s awareness of the contributions of chemistry to our everyday lives and the nation’s economy.  ACS local sections, industries, educators, and promoters of chemistry awareness celebrate National Chemistry Week nationwide.  Please visit chemistry.org/ncw for more information on NCW events, or call 202-872-4458 or 6097. Related information can be found at acs.org/education/curriculum/chemmatt.html.
The American Chemical Society is the world’s largest scientific society with a
membership of more than 163,000 chemists and chemical engineers.  The Society publishes
scientific journals and databases, convenes major research conferences, and provides
educational, science policy, and career programs in chemistry.

Carus Chemical Company, founded in LaSalle, Illinois in 1915, is the world’s leading manufacturer of potassium permanganate, which is used mainly for environmental applications: to improve the quality of drinking water, to treat municipal and industrial wastewater, in air purification systems, and in the remediation (clean-up) of contaminated sites.  Carus is a long-standing member of the American Chemistry Council and participates in the industry’s award-winning Responsible Care® initiative: making life better, healthier, and safer through chemistry.


Joliet Local Section Receives Grant

November 12, 2002

Dear Salim;

ACS Board of Directors approved $150,000 in stop-gap funding for financially needy local sections and divisions in 2002.  The Board asked the Local Section Activities Committee to carry out a process to award $75,000 to local sections this year.  We have received your proposal and
LSAC has completed its review process and this letter is to send your local section good news!

Thank you for submitting your proposal for special funding. I am pleased to inform you that the Joliet Local Section has been awarded $3,000!  A check will be sent to your Secretary or Secretary-treasurer, within the next week. An interim report on the use and impact of these supplemental funds by your local section will be due by May 1, 2003 and a final report by November 3, 2003.  Please note that the funds may not be used to support honoraria or
stipends for speakers/trainers/program coordinators, nor may the money be used for meals, except for guests.
Congratulations on submitting a winning proposal.  LSAC looks forward to hearing about the success of your proposed activities. Please help us document the success and impact of your activities and programs so that we might share those ideas with other local sections should this opportunity be presented to LSAC again in the future.

Should you have any questions regarding this special funding, please contact Martha Lester, Assistant Director of the ACS Department of Local Section and Community Activities, at m_lester@acs.org or 1-800-227-5558, ext. 4085. Martha's office is coordinating the disbursement of funds to you.  Thus she will be able to answer most inquiries immediately.  In the event that you have broader inquiries, Martha will refer them to me or other LSAC members
as appropriate.

Sincerely,

Yorke E. Rhodes, Chair
Local Section Activities Committee


The Joliet section of the ACS has need of participants in an education committee to set up programs for area high school teachers and students and to recruit them as ACS section affiliates. The progam will include area analysts and manufacturers who make use of chemical methods, and area colleges/universities with active chemistry programs. The objective is to expose the high schoolers and their teachers to the following:

- the fascinations of the molecular world

- useful learning directions for high schoolers/teachers to follow

- educational contacts

- job opportunities for chemists in chemical and non-chemical industries

- mentoring to students and teachers

- the utility of the American Chemical Society and ACS programs

The relocation of some manufacturing facilities to southern states or to Asian or Mexican locales from Kankakee, Will and neighboring counties has not boded well for area chemists or, for that matter, our children and the children of our extended families. We cannot change those events but we can provide learning opportunities to area youngsters, to improve their opportunities. A real benefit to these youngsters can be constructed from our experience and knowledge of chemistry and the businesses of chemistry.

If you are interested, mail or telefax your name, address, and contact information to:
 
Dr. Salim M. Diab
Phone: 815-740-3855
University of St. Francis
Fax: 815-740-4285
Joliet, IL 60435
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e-mail: sdiab@stfrancis.edu
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