As the chairperson of an ACS approved program, I hope that you’ll be excited to hear some of the new initiatives that are coming out of the ACS Office of Professional Training (OPT) and the Committee on Professional Training (CPT):

1. We now have a new logo for ACS approved programs.  This logo can be used on your websites to advertise to students that your chemistry program is approved by the ACS.  Students can also use this image on their posters (or slides) when presenting at local, national, or international meetings.   I’ve attached a full color version in two formats, but we can also provide others if requested (black and white, other formats etc.)
2. We are currently interested in recruiting faculty members to act as visiting associates for CPT.  Visiting associates perform short (1.2 day) site visits to institutions that are seeking approval.  We typically send out teams of 2 and the site visits occur about 3 times/academic year.  We’re asking you, as chairs of approved programs to forward this message to your faculty members.  If they are interested in participating, or knowing more about the responsibilities of acting as a visiting associate, please have them complete this form: https://fs12.formsite.com/acs_cpt/VisitingAssociate/index.html

We’ll also be moving forward with more interactive webinars and tutorials as well as reaching out to the community for thoughts regarding the upcoming revision of ACS Guidelines for Approved Programs.  If you have any questions or comments for us, please feel free to contact me.