A Plea for Why You Should Join the Early Career Members Committee

As an early career professional, how many committees you have been asked to be a part of? How many are you currently serving on? What about subcommittees? How many of these committees or subcommittees were your choice, and how many were you just added to? I am thinking about quite a lot of committees for myself! However, I am a huge committee nerd! I honestly love being on committees because I think if you are willing to serve and passionate, then you have a chance to make a big difference. So, I'd like to use this month's column to tell you about how awesome the ASA, CSSA, and SSSA (ACS) Early Career Members Committee is and how hard the committee is working for you.

The ACS Early Career Members Committee is a vital part of the three Societies and has members that are within seven years of their terminal degree. I have been a part of the committee for almost five years; however, my time is quickly coming to an end, which means I won't be getting that sweet early career discount on conference registration. Boo! During my time on the committee, I was a CSSA representative from 2019–2020, vice‐president in 2021, president in 2022, and past president in 2023. I was a member of the CSSA Early Career Awards Committee in 2019–2020 and chair of the committee in 2021.

Being a part of the Early Career Members Committee has allowed me to learn about the inner workings of the Societies and meet other early career members as well as a lot of the Society staff. I honestly believe this committee has and can continue to make a difference in the Societies. It offers a place for early career members to come together and talk about issues that are pertinent to them and work to make changes from a policy level if needed. The sessions the committee puts on at the Annual Meeting have helped me realize that we are not alone at this time in our lives. If we are brave enough to network with others, we can connect with other early career professionals whom we can rely on and relate to more than we ever thought we could. Below you can find some more detailed information about what the Early Career Members Committee does and is responsible for.

Early Career Members Committee Responsibilities

Appointment to the Early Career Members Committee is a three‐year term unless elected to higher appointments. Responsibilities include:

• Representing early career members within ACS but also on federal policy happenings.
• Developing early career sessions for the ACS Annual Meeting.
• Developing input and recommendations for Early Career Professional Awards.
  • Committee members may also serve on the award selection committee for their respective Society.
• Preparing monthly articles for CSA News magazine on matters relevant to early career members.
• Developing and obtaining recommendations on avenues to better serve early career members in their respective Societies and as a whole.
• Attending two‐thirds of meetings yearly.
• Failure to meet this requirement will result in removal from the committee by the current chair.

I hope you will consider being more involved in the Societies from an early career standpoint or check out some of the other amazing ACS committees. No matter where you are in your career, you have a voice that matters and can make an impact if you decide to use it.

I hope you will consider being more involved in the Societies from an early career standpoint or check out some of the other amazing ACS committees. No matter where you are in your career, you have a voice that matters and can make an impact if you decide to use it.