Hullo everyone!
As promised (but delivered much later than intended) I'm writing this to introduce myself as the current Chair of the Chemistry Education Division. I'm an Education-focused Senior Lecturer at the School of Chemistry, University of Sydney. I've been an RACI member since I first joined the Tasmanian Branch in 2011 as an Honours student (my research then and afterward has focused on Chemistry Education in various forms at the tertiary level). Across my time in the RACI I have contributed to the Tas Branch as the crystal-growing competition coordinator, volunteered for the titration competition, and have been a general committee member, early career representative and now Chair for the Chemistry Education Division since about 2016. Part of my drive for contributing to the RACI across these roles is the strong belief that Education is a core tenet of the RACI's mission as our national society whether this takes the form of professional development and training for those in industry, education and outreach experiences for students of all ages who may choose to pursue chemistry as a field in their future, or contributing to outreach and education efforts to the broader general public.
While I will be handing over the Chair position of the Chemistry Education Division to A/Prof. Dino Spagnoli (UWA) in 2025, I'd be delighted to hear from those who have signed up to be within the Division's interest list. One of the biggest hurdles we've faced (and now might be addressed) is having a clear line of communication to the broader membership. Outside of this discussion space or emailing me directly (chemed.div@raci.org.au), the next two opportunities for this include:
- A Discipline-day Workshop to be held at the upcoming Australian Conference for Science and Mathematics Education (Canberra, Sept 18-20). More information here: ACSME 2024 - ACDS
- Our upcoming AGM to be held November 7th 5-6pm (Sydney time). This meeting has already been circulated within the MyRACI space (there should have been a message sent to your MyRACI inbox already) and more information can be found here: RACI Chemistry Education Division AGM 2024
Cheers,
Reyne
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Reyne Pullen
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