Now more than ever, the future is ours

As you browse through this report you'll notice it is different. It isn't just about what we accomplished as a Society in 2008. It's about the future.

Specifically, it's about the programs and services that, now more than ever, can help our members enhance their skills and abilities so they can contribute more to the chemistry enterprise in the 21st century. Go to www.acs.org/now where you'll discover dozens of exciting ACS resources that offer opportunities for growth including networking, community outreach, career tools and professional development, career services, Web-based information gathering and much, much more.

Some of these tools and resources have been around for a long time – ACS Career Services got its start more than 70 years ago. Others are recent additions, including:

• The ACS Network kicked off in August 2008. With more than 17,000 users worldwide and growing, the Network is a premier online forum for chemists and other scientists to find colleagues and share ideas as well as content with them.
• Through a collaborative partnership with Harvard Business Publishing, ACS now offers a suite of 42 introductory online business and management skills courses at substantially discounted rates for members and reduced rates for the unemployed.
• The ACS Leadership Institute debuted in January 2009, in Fort Worth, Texas, where, for the first time, delegates received comprehensive leadership training. Leadership courses were also offered at six of the 2008 Regional Meetings.
• ACS Careers Blog features weekly career advice articles written by ACS members and staff. Since it began in late 2007, more than 40,000 people have viewed the blog.
• As an additional enhancement to the careers portfolio, ACS began a series of ACS Careers Industry Forum in 2008 featuring luminaries from the chemical industry speaking about economic and other trends affecting employment.
• "Just Accepted," a new pilot program, gives authors publishing research in ACS Chemical Biology, Biochemistry, Journal of Proteome Research, and Molecular Pharmaceutics the option of having their accepted, unredacted manuscripts published online within three days of acceptance. "Just Accepted" allows the Society to deliver journal content online up to seven weeks faster than in the past.
• Common Chemistry™, a Web-based free access resource, provides accurate and authoritative CAS Registry Numbers and associated substance data for some 7,800 substances of widespread, general public interest. Common Chemistry can be searched free of charge and includes reciprocal links to related chemical information on Wikipedia.

But no matter if they are new or well established; the benefits offered by the ACS have one thing in common: they are robust, relevant and readily available for all of our members to use.

Now more than ever, ACS matters

As we looked back at the past year and contemplated the Society's future, we took a moment to consider another time, another place. And there we found solace...

Seventy five years ago ─ in the depths of the Depression ─ an ACS member wrote about his internal struggle over whether to renew his membership.

Initially, he leaned against it, arguing to himself that he was a busy man who knew all he needed to know about chemistry. And besides, in those hard times why should he pay for what he isn't going to use?

But then, he asked himself, how can I possibly get ahead in my career if I don't have access to all that ACS offers? How will I maintain my status among my peers? How will I stay current on scientific advances?

Like all good scientists, the chemist carefully analyzed the empirical data before reaching a rational decision. And in the end, he renewed, concluding:

"Henceforth, when wakefulness haunts me in the early hours of the morning and I wonder if all of my research has counted for naught, I will turn over to pleasant dreams, happy in the thought that as a member of the American Chemical Society I have made one unquestionable contribution to science."

As we yet again face tough times, the Society is steadfast in its support of our membership.

Now more than ever, ACS and its members are making unquestionable contributions to science. Now more than ever, ACS offers a comprehensive array of vital resources and compelling programs. Now more than ever, ACS matters.