Demystify: 

Thank you, Kim. I could have never imagined my life path after that phone call from you back in 2011 when you were organizing the team to respond to the CSB recommendation. Thank you for including me on that project.

To everyone -

It is true that I really wanted to reach out to the secondary educators because as Kim said they do not have the resources or time to get to the National meetings and I want to involve them as much as possible in ACS activities. There is already a mechanism at SERMACS targeting this group as they have a High School Teachers program all day on Saturday (maybe that is something all regions do?). The time available in the Saturday program to add anything new is very slim and so Marilyn Sikes (HS day organizer) and I met at the SF Spring meeting and we came up with the Friday offering. I will also be doing a rotation on Saturday with the teachers.

I must give the General Chair of SERMACS, Jordan Poler, a large amount of credit. He reached out to all our faculty (and likely other universities in the southeast) early in the process asking for us to get involved. His goal with SERMACS this year was to make it the biggest and best ever. I answered his email and asked what I could do to include more safety programing. When we first talked, I told him about the workshop Marilyn and I envisioned and he also wanted a symposium. During our conversation, the new ACS policy on including safety in the journals came up. He had not been aware of this policy and decided that incorporating a safety statement into the undergraduate posters could be trend setting and he wanted SERMACS to take the lead on this. The poster programing folks wrote a wonderful statement saying why all accepted posters would be expected to include safety information. So now, all of the students submitting to SERMACS know about the new ACS policy and are on their way to incorporating this concept into their thinking for when they are in graduate school writing articles. The statement went out to students with their poster acceptance. Read it here.
http://www.sermacs2017.org/attend/

As Kim said, having speakers primarily from the southeast was important to the organizers and so Mark and I targeted them.

To Debbie's point, I too am extremely fortunate to have a Chair and Dean that not only value safety, but support me in my ACS and local outreach activities. We are to the point in my department where it would be difficult for a student to graduate without having learned the concepts of risk assessment and performed at least one. I have infiltrated 3 courses so far where risk assessment is a graded part of the course. However, it is not perfect. Changing the culture takes much work and time and I still feel like I have not made nearly enough progress in our classes. This spring my Dean supported me so that I could present a workshop for HS Teachers with a stipend, lunch, and they also received some professional development credit. All of these things are important in order to attract HS teachers to invest their time.

Monique, one factor that allows some of us more flexibility is our classification in the academic world. Being faculty, I am expected to do service work (including service to the profession). I am also allowed the freedom to do scholarly work though it is not required in my position. These activities are taken into account in annual reviews. It is not as easy for those in staff positions.

It was not hard to get the programing into SERMACS and things just seemed to fall into place (actually ballooned on me). It did take time and effort and will take some of my own money, but I am close to the event and able to support myself for some of the financial burden. I made it a priority because I think it is so important that the momentum CHAS and CCS have created be maintained and built on as fast as we can. I will also say that having been in academics all my career, I have learned to ignore the people that love to say, "It can't be done" or "They won't pay for that". I have found that for me the biggest obstacle to most things is getting started. It never hurts to ask for anything, because there is usually at least 50-50 change you get a yes!

Thanks are also in order for the support received from CHAS, CCS, and the ACS HS Office for SERMACS 2017! Reach out to your Local Section Leaders and Regional organizers - I bet they will welcome you as well. As we are trying to teach our students, networking is so important. Building on what Harry said, CHAS has so many people who give their all to our mission. I am honored to be in this Division.

Thanks to everyone.
Sammye
(sorry for the length)

Monique,

Just a quick word to make sure we don't miss why this SERMACS symposium is so important�?|and it's really connected to your question.  Notice that this meeting is in Charlotte.  I think all the speakers, except Ralph, are from the South.  We have many members who have limited travel budgets or can't travel far, because their isn't a cadre of instructors to fill in for them during the academic year, or have jobs that don't lend themselves to a lot of flexibility. Note that the audience for this is secondary education teachers. Regional meetings become one of the few professional development avenues they and similar groups have. They limit their attendance to a couple of days and get back home. What Sammye, et al, are doing is presenting an avenue for people who fit into that category to connect. 

Well done Sammye!

Kim

On Sep 29, 2017, at 11:17 AM, Debbie M. Decker <dmdecker**At_Symbol_Here**UCDAVIS.EDU> wrote:

I'm blessed with an institution which values my continued professional development and supports my work on behalf of the Society.  It hasn't always been that way.  Early in my career, it was obvious to me that if I wanted to attend meetings, I wasn't going to be supported to just "go" - I had to present a paper or be involved in meeting planning or similar.  Even then, it was a struggle to get support.  I'm not in an economic position to self-fund attendance.

While I'd love to go to SERMACS, I can't make the business case for institutional support so will have to miss.

Hope this helps,
Debbie

Debbie M. Decker, CCHO, ACS Fellow
Past Chair, Division of Chemical Health and Safety
University of California, Davis
(530)754-7964
(530)304-6728
dmdecker**At_Symbol_Here**ucdavis.edu

Birkett's hypothesis: "Any chemical reaction 
that proceeds smoothly under normal conditions, 
can proceed violently in the presence of an idiot."




-----Original Message-----
From: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety [mailto:DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU] On Behalf Of Harry Elston
Sent: Friday, September 29, 2017 7:06 AM
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] CHAS programming at SERMACS

Monique et al.:

Some (if not many) of the leaders and attendees to national and regional meetings will do so on their own dimes or with limited travel funds.   

It has many names:  Sacrificial leadership, technical tithing, or just plain leadership.  In plain speak, leaders (as opposed to managers) must be willing to do whatever it takes to get the job done.  If that means sacrificing time, talent or treasure, they do it.  While time/money does play a role, that role is subservient to doing what is right and must be done.

Max DuPree had a lot to say about leadership:  "The first job of a leader is to define reality.  The last is to say, 'thank you.'" In between the two, the leader must become a servant and a debtor."  Some of us learned that from military experience, others from Max or from the Scouting program "Woodbadge," and still others figured it out on their own.  The bottom line is that leadership, in any field, requires sacrifice.

One of the unique qualities that sets DCHAS apart from other professional organizations is that we have many leaders in the division. It is one of the reasons why us geezers have been around so long.

Harry


-----Original Message-----
From: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety [mailto:DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU] On Behalf Of Wilhelm, Monique
Sent: Thursday, September 28, 2017 11:37 AM
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] CHAS programming at SERMACS

How do so many of you get the time off and money to go to so many kinds of meetings?  This looks like a great one to attend.

Monique Wilhelm
Laboratory Manager
Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry
University of Michigan ' Flint


-----Original Message-----
From: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety [mailto:DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU] On Behalf Of Secretary, ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety
Sent: Thursday, September 28, 2017 8:11 AM
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU
Subject: [DCHAS-L] CHAS programming at SERMACS

From: "Sammye B. Sigmann" <sigmannsb**At_Symbol_Here**appstate.edu>
Re: CHAS programming at SERMACS

All - If you are attending the Southeastern Regional Meeting (SERMACS) this fall, please consider attending the Friday morning symposium organized by Mark Lassiter and myself, "Learning Laboratory Safety Through Storytelling" - Sponsored by CHAS.  Bob Hill is our Keynote speaker and we hope to have an audience engaging panel discussion after his concluding talk. 

SERMACS wil be held November 7 to 11 in Charlotte, NC.

http://www.sermacs2017.org

November 10th, 2017
Sheraton Charlotte Hotel

Learning Laboratory Safety Through Storytelling (Oral) M. Lassiter, S. B. Sigmann, Organizers, Presiding

9:00 Introductory Remarks.
9:05 . The story of chemical safety in the 20th century. R. Stuart
9:25 . The unique training opportunity of story. M. Lassiter
9:45 . How does an EHS professional engage their audience?. M.B. Koza
10:05 . Using learning points to create a sound safety baseline. K.W. Kretchman
10:40 . A series of unfortunate events: A personal story. S.B. Sigmann
11:00 . Stories of laboratory incidents teach us lessons about safety. R.H. Hill
11:40 Panel Discussion.

I have also organized a workshop "Improving Chemical Safety in Schools" on Friday aimed primarily as Secondary Ed folks (teachers, administrators, museums, etc.), but anyone can register.  We have a cap set at 25 due to room size (same room as the morning session) and there is a $5 registration fee. Lunch is included.  This 2 hour workshop is co-sponsored by CHAS, CCS, and the ACS High School Office.  

Thanks and let me know if you have any questions about either event.
Sammye

--
******************************************************************************
We, the willing, led by the unknowing, are doing the impossible for the ungrateful. We have done so much, for so long, with so little, we are now qualified to do everything with nothing. Teresa Arnoldparaphrased from Konstantin Josef Jire�?ek (1854 ' 1918)

Samuella B. Sigmann, MS, NRCC-CHO
Senior Lecturer/Safety Committee Chair/Director of Stockroom A. R. Smith Department of Chemistry Appalachian State University
525 Rivers Street
Boone, NC 28608
Phone: 828 262 2755
Fax: 828 262 6558
Email: sigmannsb**At_Symbol_Here**appstate.edu


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