A.

The student will take appropriate diagnostic placement exams in English and Mathematics administered by the University.

B.

Chemistry faculty advisors will meet with students to assess appropriate placement in Chemistry courses.

C.

Students planning to take Chemistry 1A are required to pass a diagnostic placement examination. If a passing score is not achieved, students are advised to enroll in Chemistry 4.

A.

Students not taking the Chemistry 1A diagnostic test before classes start will take it in the first laboratory period.

B.

Students must take the appropriate sequence of English, Mathematics and Physics courses in order to succeed as a chemistry major. Progress in these areas will be monitored by Chemistry faculty advisors and appropriate recommendations will be given to students based on their performance in the prerequisite courses.

C.

Students are expected to begin taking required English and Mathematics courses in General Education in the first semester of attendance or have completed them if they are transferring.

D.

Students are expected to develop their competence in eight skill areas. Five of these are transferable skills taken from general education courses and three [the last three] are more specifically aimed at students majoring in Chemistry.

1. Effective Writing
2. Effective Oral Communication
3. Critical Thinking (logic and rhetoric)
4. Problem Solving and Critical Thinking
5. Quantitative Analysis
6. Library and Scientific Information Literacy
7. Computer literacy
8. Laboratory Skills

E.

A capstone project is required of students in Chemistry 125, 141 or 164 to assess students' ability to transfer many of the skills listed above to a selected laboratory project. The projects will require the use of chemical literature, doing a laboratory project, preparing a paper, and presenting the project in a poster presentation format to students, faculty and others. Students will be expected to be able to answer questions orally. Faculty will make a holistic judgment of students= ability to transfer liberal arts skills to the field of chemistry. Also, students will be assigned a grade.

BEYOND GRADUATION

A.

Recent Alumni will be surveyed every three years to determine their satisfaction regarding the quality of their undergraduate education and their preparedness for graduate school and/or their entry level position in industry. They will also be asked to suggest changes for improvements in the curriculum.

B.

All Alumni will be able to inform the Chemistry Department of their successes and concerns in an alumni questionnaire that will be included in any Chemistry Department newsletter. 

CAPSTONE PROJECTS & SENIOR RESEARCH:

Capstone projects and senior research consist of the following components in the chemistry major:

A.

Preparation: Students

1. Explore a specific topic suitable for undergraduate student research or capstone laboratory project in a subdiscipline of chemistry in collaboration with one or more faculty members in the department;
2. Review safety literature and MSDS sheets of chemicals to be used in project.

B.

Execution of Research or Capstone Laboratory Project

As a result of these preparative activities, the student, in collaboration with the faculty member in whose laboratory or class the student:

1. Describes the goals to be achieved in the project
2. Describes and evaluates the experimental design to be used in achieving the project goals;
3. Delineates the protocol to be followed; describes and evaluates experimental controls;
4. Identifies, describes and evaluates specific techniques and instrumentation to be used; gains competence in techniques and/or instrumentation with which he/she is not familiar;
5. Executes prescribed protocol;
6. Records data generated from the experimental protocols; provides charts, tables or graphs which summarize and/or illustrate major results; completes any descriptive and/or inferential statistical treatment of the data in order to assess the certainty associated with the results;
7. Articulates and evaluates interpretations made from the data/results;
8. Articulates and evaluates major conclusions of the experiment or study;
9. Addresses any problems encountered with achieving the project goals
10. Proposes future experiments to improve upon or extend the present work.

 C. Preparation of a Poster
 (Note: Capstone courses will require a Poster. An Oral Presentation and/or written report may be required.)

The student:

1. Constructs a poster using the style and format given in the individual course guidelines. In general, the poster should closely follow the Formal Written Report.
2. Writes with clear, accurate sentence structure using appropriate terminology, spelling, grammar and punctuation.
3. Successfully communicates the research in the Poster to an audience, using the Poster as a visual aid. 

D. Preparation of a Written Report

1. A written report shall conform to the appropriate research journal in the field. For example, the appropriate journal for a project in organic chemistry is Journal of Organic Chemistry. The instructor of the capstone course will identify the appropriate journal.
2. Generally, the report will have a title, abstract, introduction, experimental section, results, discussion and references. The format of each section is described in the respective research journal.
3. Utilizes an approved word processing program to produce hard copies of text for revision, proofreading and final copy.
4. Reviews the paper for a.) logical train of thought, b.) continuity and clarity of transitions between elements of the topic, c.) consistency of style and approach, and d.) balance between elements of the topic consistent with objective of the paper.
5. Writes with clear, accurate sentence structure using appropriate and conventional words, grammar, and punctuation; uses correct verb tense, symbols and abbreviations; avoids jargon, wordiness and repetition.

E. Preparation of an Oral Presentation

The student:

1. Utilizes a format in which the written report serves as the basis for the oral presentation and the Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results and Discussion sections comprise the major portion of the presentation;
2. Uses the appropriate audio-visual aids to illustrate the presentation in a clear and concise manner. Uses supplementary handouts during the presentation where appropriate;
3. Avoids reading the presentation; presents from a list of notes consisting of the main concepts and points to be emphasized;
4. Speaks slowly and clearly, maintaining eye contact with the entire audience; uses appropriate gestures;
5. Repeats difficult or confusing material using different wording and invites questions at points in the presentation which may be confusing;
6. Ends the presentation at the designated time limit which includes a review and emphasis of major points and conclusions of the research;