FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | 03/27/2006

A new vision from the world’s largest scientific organization

What’s in a corporate or institutional vision statement — that guiding image of an organization’s contribution to society that unites people in a common goal? Institutional identities, inspiration, motivation and much more.

The American Chemical Society (ACS) has just unveiled a new vision statement to mark its 130th anniversary and focus the Society’s future efforts to help members apply chemistry in making life longer, healthier, safer and more satisfying. With more than 158,000 members and an elite portfolio of 34 journals, the ACS is the world’s biggest scientific organization.

ACS President E. Ann Nalley, Ph.D., says the vision statement — “Improving people’s lives through the transforming power of chemistry”— will guide the society’s work for the next 15 years. “We want the vision to be synonymous with chemists and chemistry, to be what we reach for as a society, a profession and an individual practitioner,” Nalley added.

Chemists and chemistry constantly transform lives of people around the world, bringing to market new medicines, more nutritious foods, improved diagnostic tests, and safer and better consumer products of all kinds. Their critical work, however, is seldom obvious to consumers who see the end product, but not the creativity and dedication of the scientists who made it possible.

Madeleine Jacobs, ACS executive director and CEO, said the new vision statement can help non-scientists appreciate the importance of chemistry in everyday life. Like yesterday’s corporate and institutional slogans, ACS’s new vision statement stands to inspire, as well.

“Many scientists grew up with the DuPont vision, ‘Better things for better living through chemistry,’” Jacobs noted. “I know I did, and it was influential in inspiring me to become a chemist. The ACS vision is intended to have the same inspirational and aspirational qualities for both current chemists as well and the next generation of young people who are making career decisions.”

More than 7,000 ACS members contributed detailed suggestions that were used as the basis for creating the vision statement. The statement will appear on the ACS website, documents, letterhead, publications, and at national and regional meetings of the society.

— Michael Woods