Welcome from the President

Greetings! Welcome back to another school year! I am looking forward to a great year with my students, as well as a productive year as President of AACT. This past July the governing board met at the American Chemical Society (ACS) headquarters in Washington DC, and came up with great ideas to provide members with more resources and support in the years to come. Here’s a few meeting highlights:

• AACT will create two new committees: Nominations and Awards, and Membership Services.
• We’re launching a Regional Ambassadors Program, which we hope to expand in the coming years. If you are interested in volunteering, please let us know!
• We spent a large portion of the meeting discussing ways to expand outreach and support for elementary and middle school teachers of chemistry. How can we help K-8 teachers better improve their chemistry curriculum, and foster the love of chemistry in their students? Our elementary and middle school ambassadors have some wonderful ideas! Keep checking back.
• We also focused on new teacher support. How can we as an association help them succeed their first year? While there are many great resources on teachchemistry.org, including webinars and articles in Chemistry Solutions, what else can we do?

On a personal note, it is an honor to be President of AACT. This is such a wonderful organization, and the educators here are great people! I am excited to be working for and with all of you this year!

2016-2017 AACT Governing Board. Back row from left: Rebecca Field, Roxi Allen, Adam Boyd, Scott Hawkins. Front row from left: Jenn Parsons, Sherri Rukes, Jenelle Ball, Regis Goode, Diane Krone, Barbara Sitzman. (Not pictured: Sarah Paquette).

Scott is a 21-year veteran of teaching who has spent the last 17 years teaching Honors and AP Chemistry. He has been a member of AACT since September 2014, and currently serves as the President of the AACT governing board. Follow him on Twitter @hawkins_chem.