ACS President appoints council to study graduate school

I know, I know, it's a "Worthwhile Canadian Initiative" sort of headline, isn't it? 

From ACS president Bassam Z. Shakhashiri's message to chemists in this week's C&EN:

ACS Presidential Commission On Graduate Education 

I have appointed a commission chaired by electrochemist Larry R. Faulkner, former president of the University of Texas, and comprised of some of the most prominent figures in the chemical sciences, both academic and industrial, to examine the purposes of graduate education and research in the chemical sciences and the needs and aspirations of graduate students (cenm.ag/task). The main charge of the commission is to address two specific questions: 

What are the purposes of graduate education in the chemical sciences?
What steps should be taken to ensure that important societal issues as well as the needs and aspirations of students are addressed in graduate schools? 

To find answers to these and other questions, the commission and its working groups will solicit input through listening sessions at ACS national and regional meetings and will obtain targeted feedback from graduate students, postdoctoral scholars, early-career faculty, underrepresented groups, business groups, institutions of higher education, professional and educational organizations, and international leaders in science and education. Contact the commission directly at graduatecommission@acs.org. 

The commission will develop actionable recommendations that can be adopted or adapted by a variety of graduate educational institutions, federal and state funding agencies, and business and industry. The recommendations are to propose radical changes that will help find ways to best use our country’s vast educational, industrial, and government resources to successfully prepare students for their professional careers to face changing human needs over the next 50 years.

Believe it or not, this is the only really #chemjobs-related item in his entire message. You'd never know that chemist unemployment is near a 20-year high. Sigh.