Message from the Chair..........

Another Banner Year!

Two of our faculty, Jason Halfen and Steve Drucker have received major recognitions and one of our students, Lori Scardino has made the USA Today Academic First team! We continue to have one of the best cohorts of teacher-scholars anywhere.

We are running full blast into our new chemistry curriculum. Oh the old favorites are still there, but classes and labs have been redesigned to maximize hands-on learning and maximize flexibility so our students have time for undergraduate research projects, study abroad and internships. We also hope it will allow us the time to offer interesting specialty courses for majors and non-majors alike. In that vein, have just approved a new general education course in Chemistry of Climate and are on our way to developing an advanced Polymer Chemistry course.

Our new Bruker 400 MHZ nmr is running beautifully and the autosampler
is allowing us to incorporate nmr spectroscopy into many different labs.
We have a software license that allows students to process and analyze
their spectral data anywhere on campus. No more lines waiting for one's
turn on the nmr computer! We are hoping to have our web-based user
interface up soon for even more flexibility. Our new LC-TOF mass
spectrometer is now running and we are all lining up to use it. It will
allow us to determine masses of protein-sized molecules as well as exact
masses of small organics for elemental analysis. The possibilities are
endless.

On the horizon...it seems very possible that our interdisciplinary Material Science Center may attract significant new funding with a nanoscience focus. What an opportunity this could be for our students and faculty...Stay tuned.

Our thanks once again to our alums. Your accomplishments continue to be a source of pride to us. If we look good, it's only because YOU look good. Your gifits help us weather the ups and downs of state funding and improve the experiences of our students. Please be sure to check out this sampling of what your financial gifts have helped us accomplish this year alone.

And finally, please note that this Homecoming Weekend Friday Oct. 5th and Saturday Oct. 6th 2007 we will be hosting a 50th Anniversary extravaganza at the wonderful new revitalized downtown restaurant Stella Blues. We will also have an open house and other programming in Phillips Hall. More information will be forthcoming so mark your calendar!

Scott C. Hartsel

Professor and Chair of Chemistry