About the ACS Committee on Professional Training

A resolution of the ACS Council established the Committee on Professional Training in 1936, and the Committee published the first edition of the guidelines for approval of undergraduate programs in 1939. In 1968, the Committee became a Joint Committee of the ACS Board and Council, reporting to both. In 1979, the Society codified the responsibilities of the CPT in ACS Bylaw III, 3, (h):

1. The SOCIETY shall sponsor an activity for the approval of undergraduate professional programs in chemistry. The Committee on Professional Training, constituted as an Other Joint Board-Council Committee under this Bylaw, shall act for the Board and Council in the formulation and implementation of the approval program with published criteria and/or guidelines, as well as published evaluation policies and procedures.
2. The goals of the approval program shall be inter alia:

• promoting and assisting in the development of high standards of excellence in all aspects of postsecondary chemical education, and undertaking studies important to their maintenance,
• collecting and making available information concerning trends and developments in modern chemical education, and
• cooperating with SOCIETY and other professional and educational groups having mutual interests and concerns.

3. Institutions may petition for review of adverse evaluation decisions to an established Appeals Board consisting of three members of the SOCIETY, not members of the Committee, appointed jointly by the President and the Chair of the Board.