Guidelines & Operations Manual
Adopted: August 31, 2005
Revised: January 1, 2008
Revised: January 5, 2019
To be reviewed in 2021
Table of Contents
A. Chair
B. Chair Elect
C. Past Chair
D. Secretary
E. Treasurer
F. Program Chair
G. Councilors
III. Committees
A. Executive
B. Program
C. Membership
D. Finance and Development
E. Nominations
F. Awards
G. Publicity and Communication
H. Newsletter
I. Professional Development Committee
IV. Meetings
A. Executive Committee Meetings
B. General Business Meetings
C. General Meetings at National Meetings
D. Meetings with Other Societies
I. Review Objects and Mission
The objects of the Division of Chemical Toxicology, hereinafter referred to as the “Division”, are the same as those of the AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY, hereinafter referred to as the “SOCIETY”, and additionally are (1) To provide a forum for the meeting, presentation, and discussion of research in the field of chemical toxicology that will bring together those chemists working in fields such as chemical mechanisms of acute and chronic toxicity, chemical carcinogenesis, mutagenesis, and teratogenesis, the nature of DNA, RNA, and protein reactions with highly reactive endogenously produced compounds, the development of pertinent analytical methodology, the identification of mechanisms of toxic chemical formation, the development of appropriate intervention and prevention strategies, the development of mechanism based drugs, and other related subdisciplines as they emerge. (2) To encourage further research into the mechanisms of chemical toxicity. (3) To provide a sound and fundamental scientific basis for risk assessment. (4) To provide a basis for the continuing education of our fellow chemists, related scientists, and students of chemistry in the area of chemical toxicology, and to jointly sponsor, with other SOCIETY divisions, symposia and other programs of mutual interest. And, (5) to increase the public welfare through an elucidation of the connection between chemical structure and biochemical action which results in toxic reactions.
II. Role of Each Officer
A. Chair
The most important function of the Chair is to make sure that the Division maintains its vitality and strength with respect to the Division’s objects and mission. In the past this has been achieved principally by working with the Executive Committee and officers of the Division. It is the responsibility of the Chair to establish meetings of the Executive Committee and to confer regularly with members of the Executive Committee by means of telephone and e-mail with respect to Divisional matters. (See the section below on Meetings, regarding the timing and place of Executive Committee meetings.) It is very important that the Chair delegate responsibility for the various functions of the Division. The more people who are involved in participating and actively running the Division, the stronger the Division will be. Every effort should be made to include a large cross-section of the membership in the leadership of running the Division. At the writing of this Operations Manual, the Division has nearly 1000 members. The relatively rapid growth and strength of the Division can be attributed, principally, to the quality of the divisional leadership, its programming, and its timeliness within the field of Chemistry as a whole. The fact that the leadership of the Division so far has included many of the most prominent scientists in the field has been a major factor in the success of the Division. Many meeting participants and members of the Division have been drawn to this group because of the scientific stature of its leaders.
Toward this end, one of the most important jobs of the Chair is to appoint the committees of the Division and to make decisions in concert with the Executive Committee with regard to new committees that may be needed. Each year, the Chair and the Executive Committee need to review the committee membership and bring new people to the committees.
The Chair should call at least one regular meeting of the Executive Committee to held at the ACS meeting in which the Division is participating by means of a program. Other meetings, if deemed necessary by the Chair or the EC, could be held at another societal meeting or arranged separately. In addition, the Chair should confer by means of the teleconference, or other convenient means, with the committee regularly regarding items of importance. It is important that the Chair, in concert with the Executive Committee and the Program Chair, make decisions regarding the timing of future meetings where programming will be presented. A schedule of tentative meetings as far as 5 years in the future is advisable. The Chair should see to it that these meetings regularly involve either other divisions of the Society or other Societies. In the past, the Division has made a good deal of money by cooperating with at least one other Society on a meeting away from the ACS site. Strong consideration should be given to meetings at other sites and with foreign Societies of like mind.
It is imperative that the Chair maintains frequent contact with the Treasurer and be, at all times, aware of the financial status of the Division. Both the Chair and the Treasurer should make sure that the accounts of the Division are audited annually. The Chair should work with the Executive Committee and delegate to the members of this committee the responsibility of seeking outside sources of income for our awards and our programming.
The Chair will receive a constant set of communications from the ACS national offices and officers. It is important that the Chair be attentive to this and respond appropriately, or delegate an appropriate leader in the Division to respond. Communicating with the national organization can be onerous and the Chair should not feel full burden and responsibility for doing this. The Chair should be responsive to special ACS agendas, particularly as they relate to Division programming and opportunities connected thereto.
B. Chair-Elect
The responsibilities of the Chair-Elect are to attend the annual leadership conferences for officers, to pay particular attention to programming issues within the Division, and to assist the Chair as may be requested by that individual. It is also the responsibility of the Chair-Elect to preside at meetings of the Executive Committee when the Chair is absent, as is specified in the Bylaws of the Division. Additional duties of the Chair-Elect include providing an annual review of the Operations Manual and Bylaws, serving on the Program Committee, familiarizing the new Chair with programming issues, serving on the Finance and Development Committee, representing the Division at the ACS Joint Programming Committee, and working with the Chair to become familiar with all Division Committees.
C. Past Chair
The duties of the Past Chair are principally two, in nature. The most important one is to assist the Chair in such a way as to provide continuity of leadership within the Division. The Past Chair also serves as a member of the Nominating Committee
D. Secretary
The duties of the Secretary include keeping an active role of the Division. The roll is provided by the national organization and is updated several times a year. It is then
important for the Secretary to send the roll, in digital form, to the other officers as may be needed by them. It is also the responsibility of the Secretary to file a yearly report with the ACS. This should be done according to the deadlines established by the national organization. Failure to do so can result in compromised funding from the dues from the national organization. The Secretary is responsible for taking minutes at Executive Committees and the general business meetings of the Division. Once these minutes are put in a more formal form, it is the responsibility of the Secretary to provide them to the members of the Executive Committee and any other individuals who may request them. The Secretary is also responsible for informing the Nominating Committee as to open offices. This should be communicated in May of each year. Once the nominations are secured, it is the responsibility of the Secretary to make up and distribute the ballots electronically to the membership. Immediately after the Fall ACS Meeting, the secretary should initiate the TOXI elections process. This involves contacting each candidate via e-mail and requesting a half-page bio-sketch. Next, the election materials, which consist of a copy of the bio-sketches and the ballot are sent to all of the TOXI membership, also by e-mail (about 1100 members at last count, January 2019). Prior to e-mailing the election materials, coordinate with the TOXI Newsletter Editor. Have the Editor prepare a TOXI Newsletter and forward it to you so you can also include a copy of the Newsletter in the mailing. Count the returned ballots, and have two other Division members assist in counting and verification of the ballots. Then, notify the winners and losers, notify the EC of the election results and remind the Publicity Chair to put the election results on the TOXI website.
Sometime in October, the secretary will receive a request from ACS for the election results, and the names of the TOXI Officers and Councilors for the upcoming year. The deadline for this information is Dec.1, so the election results must be in prior to this date. The Secretary is also responsible for answering all communication requests from the national organization that are related to the Secretary’s office.
The Secretary is responsible for notifying the national organization with respect to changes in officers. It is important that the Secretary be provided with the necessary financial assistance to meet the obligations of that office. Normally, this should principally be related to the expenses of conducting the election; additional requests can be made either to the Treasurer or to the Executive Committee should there be unusual expenses.
It is the responsibility of the Secretary to attend any annual or bi-annual conferences conducted by the national organization for Secretaries of Divisions. Attendance at these meetings should not be at the expense of the individual filling the Secretary’s position.
E. Treasurer
The Treasurer is the Chief Financial Officer of the Division of Chemical Toxicology. It is the responsibility of that individual to be bonded, and for the Chair to ascertain that the Treasurer is bonded. The Treasurer is responsible for setting up the bank accounts for the Division, for receiving income to the Division, and for making disbursements. It is also the responsibility of the Treasurer to see that a financial statement is prepared annually for presentation to the Executive Committee and that the financial report be filed to the national offices of the ACS as stipulated by the national offices. The Treasurer should be a member of the Finance Committee and the Development Committee but not the Chair of these Committees. The Treasurer, in concert with the Finance and Development Committee, should submit the accounts of the Division for yearly audit and report the results to the Executive Committee of the Division.
It is also the responsibility of the Treasurer to attend special meetings for Division Treasurers as organized by the national ACS. The Division shall assure that the Treasurer be provided with the appropriate financial resources, including the hiring of staff, to assure the timely conduct of his/her responsibilities.
F. Program Chair
(See section below on Program Committee)
G. Councilors
The number of Councilors depends upon the size of the Division. At the current time, the Division has two Councilors and two Alternate Councilors. It is the primary responsibility of the Councilors to represent the Division at the national ACS meetings. This means that either the Councilor or the Alternate Councilor should attend every national ACS meeting and be attentive to all of the national issues for which the Council of the ACS is responsible. Since the Council is the chief governing body of the ACS, this task can be somewhat time-consuming and it is therefore suggested that the Councilor and the Alternate Councilor divide the duties and communicate with each other as appropriate. National ACS guidelines require that the expenses for the Councilor at national ACS meetings be paid by the Division. It is imperative that the Councilors bring to the attention of the Division, through the Chair or through the Executive Committee, any special issues that are of concern to the Division. Similarly, should the Division have concerns related to national ACS policy; these should be communicated through the Councilors.
III. Committees
A. Executive Committee (prescribed in Bylaws)
As stipulated in the bylaws of the Division, the Executive Committee consists of all elected officers, including the Councilor and the Alternate Councilor of the Division and the Program Chair, who is a designated officer of the Division. In addition, there are three members of the Executive Committee that are elected at large for three-year terms. The terms are staggered so that a new member of the Executive Committee is elected each year. In nominating members for the position of Executive Committee member-at-large, the Nominating Committee should be mindful of the importance of keeping the leadership both geographically broad, and representative of the many scientific interests and professions that embody the membership of the Division. It is also important when nominating these positions to consider issues of diversity in all respects, and then to think about people who could then be nominated later for other positions as officers of the Division. The other members of the Executive Committee are the Chairs of the major committees of the Division, as appointed by the Chair of the Division. At the present time, this includes the Chairs from the Membership Committee, the Finance and Development Committee, the Program Committee, the Nominations Committee, the Awards Committee, the Editor of the Newsletter, and the Chair of the Publicity and Communication Committee.
The main function of the Executive Committee is to advise the Chair and other officers of the Division with respect to significant decisions and the course of the Division. Perhaps the most important function of the Executive Committee is the appointment of the Program Chair Select, who then becomes the Program Chair. In terms of the success of the Division, the position of Program Chair is one of the most important. As indicated below, the Executive Committee should have at least one meeting per year. Other meetings, if deemed necessary by the Chair or the EC, could be held at another societal meeting or arranged separately. The Chair is responsible for setting the agenda of the Executive Committee meetings.
B. Program Committee (appointed)
As stated above, the Program Committee is one of the most important committees in the DCT. It is responsible for providing the scientific program of the Division, which is the major service of the Division. In this regard, it is important for the Program Committee to identify key scientific developments and plan for meetings even as far as five years ahead. Working with the Executive Committee of the Division and the Chair of the Division, the Program Committee Chair is responsible for appointing a Program Committee that represents the diverse interests of the Division. One person who should be a member of this committee is the Editor and/or an Associate Editor of the journal Chemical Research in Toxicology. The Chair of the Division, or as may be designated, the Chair-Elect of the Division, should be an ad-hoc member of this committee. Ideally, the committee should have a membership of about eight individuals. The Program Chair has the responsibility of calling Program Committee meetings which are held separately from the Executive Committee Meetings. The Program Chair should report to and act as a liaison between the Program and Executive Committees. One meeting of the Program Committee should be held at the national ACS meeting at which the Divisions programs.
In addition to the Program Committee, a new Program Development Committee was initiated in 2018. The purpose of this Committee is to suggest new Program topics several years ahead and to involve younger members of the Division who are eager to serve the Division and help the Program Chair with the preparation of grant applications. This Committee presents an opportunity for encouraging younger members to participate in one of the most important functions of the Division – programming the annual meetings and identifying new talent for filling important leadership positions in the future. The number of members of this committee can vary (12 in 2018), but should include one or two senior members as role models.
It is the responsibility of the Program Chair to attend the annual meetings for Program Chairs which are sponsored by the national office. It is at these meetings that the Program Chair can hear requests from other Divisions with respect to joint programming and make decisions in that regard as are appropriate. As the Program Chair ends his/her respective term, it should be seen that the Program Chair-Select attends this meeting so that this individual can be appropriately trained with respect to the technical issues of programming.
In addition to being attentive to the needs of the ACS concerning programming, the Program Chair and the Program Committee should execute the vision with respect to the future scientific needs of the discipline and the Society. In this regard, consideration of meetings with domestic, international, and foreign societies is desirable and should be pursued.
The balance of the programming in the Division between symposia and contributed presentations should be discussed. It is also important to regularly discuss the issue of the length of presentations and the most desirable format. As originally envisioned by the initial Division officers (Loeppky and Hecht), every attempt was made to emphasize oral presentations. The reason for this is that in an interdisciplinary scientific meeting, much can be learned from the oral presentation. While it is possible to give much programming through poster presentations, often times the venue is not conducive to the wide dissemination of scientific knowledge. This and other issues need to be discussed by the Program Committee and the Executive Committee at regular intervals.
The Program Chairs, past and present, have been developing a program manual which is attached to this document as an appendix.
C. Membership (appointed)
Initially, the objective of the Membership Committee was to increase the membership of the Division and to solicit members from a variety of scientific and public sectors. The original work of the Division in this area was relatively successful and the membership has increased without much effort. More recently, the number of members has been declining slowly. It is the duty of the Membership Committee to ensure, not only that the Division continues and to seek new members, but to communicate with the members by means of a newsletter or by separate mailing to establish what type of activities the Division can run in order to better serve the member’s interests. To bolster efforts to increase membership from industry, the Membership Committee should have at least one member from the industry and should attempt to build a much stronger liaison with this cadre of our membership. The Membership Committee should also take directives from the Chair and be responsive to requests from the national organization with regard to programs offered by them for development and continued maintenance of strong Divisional membership.
D. Finance and Development (appointed)
The Division now faces serious financial strains from programming. To move TOXI into a better financial situation, the Finance and Development Committee now consists of three appointed members the Chair-Elect, the Treasurer, and the Chairs of the Program and Membership Committees. There are two major functions of the Finance and Development Committee. The first, and most important, is to seek ways of raising funds so that the programming of the Division can be maintained. In the past, this has been done in several ways. Individuals running symposia in the Division have been requested to seek external funding to support the symposia, principally from the NIH or industrial sources. The Division has been very successful in raising monies by this means. However, there are more significant fundraising activities to consider, including joint sponsorship of meetings with other societies, such as the International Society for the Study of Xenobiotics (ISSX), and sponsorship of workshops. The Finance Committee should also seek to get contributions from interested industrial partners. This again can best be done by having industrial membership on the committee and seeing that they are well represented on the Executive Committee in the Division.
The other function of the Finance Committee is to ensure that the Treasurer is performing his/her office in accordance with the Bylaws of the Division and that the accounts of the Division are audited regularly and are in good standing. A small sub-committee could easily manage this activity. The committee should, of course, report to the Chair and the Executive Committee of the Division.
E. Nominations (prescribed in Bylaws)
The Nominating Committee consists of three members, one elected each year. The member with the longest tenure on the committee shall serve as Chair.
Each year the Secretary of the Division contacts the members of the Nominating Committee and stipulates the offices that are to be filled. In making the nominations, the committee should be attentive to issues of diversity and look for broad representation within the membership of the division. The nominations should be submitted to the Executive Committee at their meeting which falls during the national ACS meeting. At the business meeting of the general membership, the Chair should open the floor for additional nominations. Once the nominations are closed, the Secretary should be informed as to the nominees and prepare the ballots accordingly.
F. Awards (appointed)
The Awards Committee should consist of at least five members (appointed) and the Chair of this Committee should be one of its members; the position of the Chair should rotate on an annual basis. The Awards Committee has several functions. One of these is to nominate individuals for the Annual Honorary (Keynote) Address at the National meeting of the Division, which is given at the annual meeting. Another function of the committee is to identify and nominate qualified members as ACS Fellows within the early months of every year. The Committee is also charged with arranging the awards for the best graduate student and best post-doctoral presentations at the annual ACS meeting Divisional program. Currently, two awards are given in each area. The Awards Committee also has the responsibility to recommend to the Executive Committee the name of the annual Founders Award, and any new types of awards that they believe should be implemented not later than January 31 of each year. Additionally, the Executive Committee itself should make recommendations to the Awards Committee with respect to additional types of awards.
G. Publicity and Communication (appointed)
At present, the principal role of the Publicity and Communication Committee is to provide the Divisional web page and to ensure that it is current. Ideally, publicity for the Division should be sought in the form of communications through Chemical and Engineering News. Perhaps this can be done in cooperation with the editor of Chemical Research in Toxicology as important papers appear that are worthy of special attention that might fit Chemical and Engineering News or in other journals of interest and relevant to the work of the membership of the Division. These could also be featured in the Newsletter.
H. Newsletter (appointed)
Currently, the newsletter is the responsibility of the Editor of the Newsletter. It is important that the Editor be kept abreast of all of the activities of the Division, and this person is included and informed about programming and other issues. It is desirable to expand the Newsletter function to include several other participants who represent different interests within the Division. It is also desirable to be able to write feature articles for the newsletter so that it is not just an entity for soliciting and providing announcements by the Division.
I. Professional Development Committee
The objectives of this committee are to identify and provide opportunities for enhancing the knowledge and professional skills of the members of the Division, identify resources for enhancing opportunities for interactions with other professionals within and outside of the Division, and to reach out to other Divisions of ACS and beyond with related professional and scientific interests.
IV. Meetings
A. Executive Committee Meetings
Ideally these meetings should be held once per year, and it should be held at the ACS National meeting at which the Division is programming. Other meetings, if deemed necessary by the Chair or the EC, could be held at another societal meeting or arranged separately. The Program Chair should be attentive to the necessity of holding the meeting at this time and not schedule conflicting sessions. The
Bylaws stipulate that certain items should be taken up before they are presented to the membership at the general business meeting. This, and the convenience of the officers, is the principal reason for the timing of the meeting as stipulated. This practice is followed by most other ACS divisions.
B. General Business Meetings
An open general business meeting of the Division should be held at every national ACS meeting that the Division has programming for. Although it has been the practice of the Division to hold this meeting in a rather informal way, sometimes so informal that it has not been recognized as a general business meeting, it is important that time be allotted where appropriate reports can be made, nominations solicited, votes taken, and new business presented, as stipulated in the Division Bylaws. A good time for such a meeting would be in conjunction with the social reception of the Division.
C. General meetings at National meetings
At present, it is the policy of the Division to program at one national ACS meeting per year. As the membership of the Division grows, this policy should be revisited to determine whether semiannual programming is advisable.
D. Meetings with other societies
The national ACS organization has placed increasing emphasis on the importance of division meetings which are jointly sponsored with other scientific societies, both domestic and foreign. The officer and members of the Division should always be attentive to such possibilities.
V. Acknowledgements
The Division wants to gratefully acknowledge the tireless efforts of Dr. Richard Loeppky for his leadership in organizing this operations manual.