It’s been a long time coming . . .

This year, the American Chemical Society Committee on Committees (ConC) is celebrating its 50th anniversary. Learning that, and now as chair of ConC, I was curious about how the committee was formed. So, this past summer, I did a little research.Did you know the proposal for a Committee on Committees came about by a feeling among a group of councilors that the ACS Council should have a voice in determining the composition of its own committees? The petitioners included then ACS President-Elect William J. Bailey and three other ACS Board members, who felt there was a pressing need for a group with the continuing responsibility for reviewing the structure and functions of council committees. I was surprised to find out that the petition failed (112–92) during a contentious council meeting in 1974, held in Chicago. The petition went before the council again the following year and was approved on April 3 in the Biltmore Bowl of the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles and was ratified by mail ballot of the ACS membership that fall. Time has surely changed.While time has changed, the vision of ConC has thrived. ConC continues to work with the ACS Board and Council to shape the present and future of our committees. The ACS committee system has evolved over the past 149 years, from its initial three committees to the 31 council-related committees of today. Over the past few years, ConC has been reviewing the council-related committee structure and appointment process as it strives to fulfill