Dictionary.com defines the word voluntold comes from combining volunteer with told, as in being told what to do. I began by involvement with ACS by being voluntold by none other than the one and only Janet Bryant, the 2020 recipient of the National Award for Volunteer Service. There is nobody better than Janet at helping launch and grow the career of others by voluntelling them for professional society service. In the past 25 years, her methods of voluntelling others are so persuasive and effective those of us in ACS call it being “Janeted.” Janet has mentored in a variety of volunteer activities at the local, regional (NORM), national, and international levels of the ACS. I have personally observed her impacts on STEM education for hundreds of students she has inspired here in Washington State, and dozens of staff, primarily women in science at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, in addition to the dozens of volunteers serving on ACS national committees and technical divisions. This talk presents the tenets of a good mentor, the mentorship methodology and approach, and detailed pseudo-statistical analysis that correlates the direct relationship between career growth and being voluntold.

Being “Janeted”… a first person’s guide to being “voluntold” and growing your career

ACS Fall 2021

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.