Faculty Advisors for ACS Student Communities

• Provide a list of duties to each officer. Consider having them sign a statement confirming that they clearly understand their responsibilities.
• Check periodically that assigned tasks are getting done.
• Set “go/no-go” checks for major events, after which the event is canceled if students have not followed through with the necessary preparations.
• Assign one of your officers the duty of writing a summary after each event and conducting a debriefing session to assess the success of the event.
• For student chapters: make sure that activities are being added to your chapter report as they happen, instead of waiting until the end of the year. 

• Use all available communication tools: email, text, flyer, social media, in-class announcements, bulletin boards. Don’t limit yourself to one method, but also ask your chapter what is their preferred communication mode and focus on those first.
• Advertise events to community members, department chairs, faculty, and staff members. Be sure to advertise to other clubs, student government, student centers, and other departments outside of science.
• Take advantage of on-campus opportunities (radio, newspaper, bulletin boards).
• Promote events to other ACS communities in your area, alumni, colleges and K–12 schools, and industries.
• Have a chapter PR committee or include PR in the job description of one of the officers.

• Keep passwords for websites for your records. The faculty advisor should be the one in charge of passwords.
• Create a new folder for each year to keep in a cloud drive. Upload all forms and paperwork for that year, so that future officers will be able to see what you did.
• Keep a copy of your reports and reviews.

ACS Resources for Students

ACS offers a suite of resources to help students and student groups thrive, including:

• Scholarship Opportunities
• Grants
• Research and Internships
• Graduate School Guidance
• Career Guidance

Describe professional benefits

• Developing communication skills (writing and speaking)
• Developing networking skills
• Assistance in attending ACS meetings

Showcase successful track record

• Publicize your successful events and activities (Tool: ACS PR Guidebook)
• Contact your college or university media relations department to publicize your events in the local newspaper
• Advertise with your school newspaper or radio station
• Use social media
• Get faculty buy-in; the students will see it as important if other faculty members see it as important.

Tailor the activities to the students’ needs

• Survey your student community to find what is important to them
• Design activities that are exciting and attractive
• Allow students to create new activities that highlight their skills
• Develop activities that fit into students’ schedules

• See if your country has an International Chemical Sciences Chapter (ICSC) and find contact information for the officers.
  

• Search for your local section by zip code to find your ACS local section and the contact information for executive board members.
• Each local section has access to an online report of student members, which is grouped by student chapter, the associated faculty advisor, and chapter status. Feel free to ask for this report.

• See if you can sign up for the newsletter. If not, reach out to the leadership to be contacted about upcoming events.
• Ask to promote upcoming student community activities or event highlights in the newsletter or on the website.
• Determine what funding your local section or ICSC may have for student programs and/or activities, or how they can assist in obtaining ACS funding. 
• Ask if your local section or ICSC needs volunteers for their outreach activities or invite them to participate in your activities.
• Offer to host a meeting on your campus.
• Invite a member of the local section or ICSC to speak to your chapter about the benefits of ACS membership, chemistry careers, and/or professional development.
• Check if there is an active Younger Chemists Committee so students can meet current grad students, post docs, and early career professionals.
• Find out if there is a annual Student Research Poster Session, and find out how student members can participate. If one does not exist, offer to assist in organizing one on your campus.
  
• Is there a Science Café series or similar social-based seminar series appropriate for a wide audience? If not, offer to assist your section in organizing one in a common location.
• Offer to split the cost of bringing in a speaker who would be of interest to both communities.
• Find out if student members can serve as a liaison or as an executive board member.

• Offer to host a section meeting on your campus.
• Ask if an event can be hybrid.  
• Ask for event information as early in the academic year as possible so that your student community members can participate in their events.