Continuity Dinner
St Louis Section–ACS
The Continuity Dinner is a fancier-than-usual Board Meeting, held each December to mark the official passing of the gavel from the outgoing to the incoming Chair. This event is often held at a different venue than our regular monthly Board Meetings. We eat a little better, drink a little more, dress a little nicer, and often welcome members we haven’t seen around for awhile.
The Continuity Dinner for 2008 was held on December 11th at CJ Muggs in Webster Groves. This year, some important business was conducted during the General Meeting: amendments to the Bylaws passed by a vote of 22–0. The changes, previously reviewed by the ACS Committee on Constitution and Bylaws (C&B), must now be submitted to C&B with a report of the notification to members and the final vote. ACS staff will notify the local section when the certification is complete and the new bylaws can take effect. One of the major features of this change in the bylaws was to allow us, if we choose, to conduct our local section elections electronically.
Keith Stine congratulates webmaster Eric Ressner, the 2009 Distinguished Service Award winner.
Two other orders of business set this night apart from the ordinary. This night, the winner of the Distinguished Service Award is announced, though informally, because the award is not actually presented until the Recognition Night Banquet during Chemical Progress Week. But if you promise not to tell, we can reveal that this year’s winner is Eric Ressner, your sincerely surprised and honored webmaster.
Jeff Cornelius recaps the year, with some personal recollections thrown in, in his Henry Godt Memorial Lecture.
And the Henry Godt Memorial Lecture is delivered by a “secret speaker,” whose identity is known only to him/herself and the Chair, until the Chair reveals it with a great show of suspense. The lecture memorializes Henry Godt, the first winner of the Distinguished Service Award, and the first to give a year-in-review talk at Continuity Dinner. Obviously that first talk was not a memorial to Henry, but the series he inaugurated came to its present name while Henry was still very much alive.
This year’s secret speaker was Jeff Cornelius, and you can read his secret speech here.
Bill Doub becomes the next Chair, taking over from Keith Stine, who becomes Immediate Past Chair and is not completely free of duties yet. He will write the annual report, prepare an address to be presented at Recognition Night, and organize the next section picnic, in June.
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