ACS Student Affiliates at University of Michigan Use Their Passion for Chemistry to Inspire the Community and Other Students

Abstract

Going from almost zero to more than sixty active members in less than a year, the University of Michigan American Chemical Society Student Affiliate chapter is a success story about revitalizing a struggling chapter. Innovative officer positions, increased delegation of authority, and courage to try new ideas generated this special chemistry. In order to encourage each member to be creative and reach his or her full chapter potential, the officers stressed, ‘Dream of an outstanding activity, and everyone will make it happen.’ Strategically, this philosophy was reinforced by electing members who had spearheaded projects to the new officer positions. In the following article, we will present the events and philosophies that created the strong intra-Student Affiliate and inter-Student Affiliate/community chemical bonds.