TheFest
ULube
The Chemistry Department
1980l[ewsle,tter
Texas Tech Ilniverslty
Lubbock,Texas
An annualletterof informationfor and aboutthe Graduatesand
other friendsof the ChemistryDepartmentof TexasTechUniversity.
Editedand Producedby
GaryL. Blackmerand HenryJ. Shine
To our readers:
emistry Departmentthat is to be sentto its graduatesand
iation with the department.We hope you will find
a look at
to hear from many of you about
Sincerely,
Dept,of Chemistry
,'1'.,;,,,Ohairman,
This newsletterwill be the first of a continuingseries.lts purposeis to bring newsof the Departmentto its
graduatesand otherfriendsand to obtainnewsof and from them.
Becausethis is the first in the series, it seemsappropriateto review briefly the developmenlof the
Departmentsothat we canplaceits currentpositionmoreclearlyin perspective.
Yesteryeor
TexasTech is itselfa youngUniversity.lts doors
werefirst openedin 1925.Chemistrywas one of the
of what was then calledTexas
originaldepartments
ical College.The Departmentwas f irst
Technolog
housedin partof the basement
of the Administration
B u i l d i n gr,e m a i n i ntgh e r eu n t i lt h e " o l d " G h e m i s t r y
Building was ready for occr.rpancy
on January 1,
1929. Many of you will have spent all of your
" c h e m i s t r yt i m e " i n t h e o l d b u i l d i n g a n d w i l l
rememberthe collonadedf ront with its molded
frescoesand, of course, the tabulation of the
elements incorporatedin the stone work. This
buildingoriginallyhousednot only Chemistry,but
also Geology,Physics,and Biology.The building
was turnedover to Chemistryentirelyin 1951, and
wasrenovatedin the period1956-1957.
For manyyearsthe ChemistryDepartmentwas,in
fact, the Departmentof Chemistry and Chemical
whlch was at
ChemicalEngineering,
Engineering.
first an option in the Departmentof Mechanical
Engineering,was addedto the ChemistryDepart'
mentin 1933.This unionlasteduntil 1959whentwo
separatedepartmentswere createdand in 1960the
movedinto its
Department
of ChemicalEngineering
Complex.Someof
own quartersin the Engineering
you may rememberthe largeChemicalEngineering
Unit OperationsLaboratoryin the basementof the
building.This,in shorttime becamethe Department
of Chemistryreadingroom, but our hopesthat it
might eventuallyhouse the UnlversityLibrary's
chemistry holdiogs, and, in fact, serve as the
ChemistryLibrary,havenot beenrealized.
. Duringits earlyyearsemphasisin the Chemistry
studies,
Departmentwas placedon undergraduate
eventhoughthe f irst Mastersdegreewasawardedin
of Dr. Joe Dennisas
1932.With the appointment
head in the Departmentbeganits deliberatemove
towardgraduatetraining.The year1950alsomarked
the authorizationby the Board of Regents(then
Todoy
called Board of Directors)for offering the Ph.D.
degreein Chemistry.
Steady progresstook place durirrg the period
1950-1965
in buildinga highlycompetent
department
and graduatesense.The
in both the undergraduate
"department"had by the mid 1960'slong outgrown
the availablespace.In fact, for more yearsthan we
chemistrylaboratories
!iketo rememberthef reshman
"X" buildings,furnishedwith
wereheldin so-called
benchesand lockersmade for the most part in the
Department'sown carpentryshop. Planningfor an
additionto the bulldingwas begun in the 1960's.
to be
lnitially,a small additlonwas contemplated
devotedto graduateprograms.tsut,by goodfortune
and the powerfulargumentsof the then head, Dr.
Joe Dennis, authorizationwas given for the
construction
of a larger,fully functioningaddition,
one that was indeed larger than the existing
wasstartedin the fall of 1968
building.Construction
and completedin late 1970,resultingin a beautiful,
with
spaciousbuildingto the southof but connected
. o w ,t h e " n e w " b u i l d i n g
t h eo l dc h e m i s t rby u i l d i n gN
housesall of the researchlaboratories,most of the
laboratories
and most of
upper-classundergraduate
houses
all of
the facultyoffices.The "old" building
(nomore('X" buildings!),
thefreshmanlaboratories
and our tried and trustedOrganicChemistry341long knownas "Aggie Organlc".The old building
also houses the electronic,machine and glassblowingshops,and the lectureroomsof long, long
usage. The old, large C101 which for years
resoundedwith the lecturesin freshmanchemistry
still resounds(but not so f requently)under the
designationof C112, and the organic chemistry
battfefield,the C2 of yesteryear,is now C15, also
used not so frequently.The new buildinghas two
bright,colorful,mediumsizedlecturerooms,and a
is
large,beautiful lecturehall. Muchof our classwork
in thoserooms.
conducted
Now,whqt of the foculty?
How far shall we go back?The departmentbeganin 1925with three
members(Dr. ThorntonRead,head,oneassociate
and oneassistantprofessor).
The Departmentnow has23
facultyand 28 teachingassistants.
What happenedin between,and what newsof someof the Department's
stalwarts?Dr. R.C.Goodwinbecameheadin 1930and after beingsuccessively
Deanot the GraduateSchool
(1938),Deanof Arts and Sciences(1950),and President(1959)retired in 1966.Dr. Goodwinnow lives in
Gainesville,Fla. How manygraduatesremembersighingwith reliefat survivingthe rigor of Dr. Goodwin's
organiccourse?In 1926two menjoinedthe departmentwhoalsowereto staywith it (asProfessors
emeritus)
forover50 years:Dr. William C. Craigand Mr. William M. Slagle.Dr. Craig,responsible
alsofor designing
the periodictablein the facadeof the old building,livesin a resthomein Hereford,Texas.Mr. Sla_gle
passed
awayin Lubbockin 1977.Dr. Joe Denniswho loinedthe Departmentin 1941and wasits headfrom 1950-1969
retiredin 1976.He and Mrs. Dennisstill maketheir homein Lubbock.Miss MargretStuartretiredthis year
(1979)after servingin our Departmentfor 33 years.Thesetwo membersof our Departmentare knownto
cluntlessgraduatesnot only for their yearsof teachingbut alsofor their work on the Pre-medicalAdvisory
Committeeof whicheachwas,in turn, the Chairman.Each,we are pleasedto say, is still a frequentvisitorto
the Department.For years"the" ChemicalEngineeringpart of our ioint departmentconsistedof two menProfs. A.G. Oberg (1939)and Jules Renard (1951),and each eventually retired from the separate
Departmentof ChemicalEngineering.Prof. Renard(whostill hashis small laboratoryand office in our old
building)and Mrs. Renardlive in Lubbock.Prof. Oberg died in a car accidentin 1977.That colorful
personality,Dr. M.F. Slubbs,who "ran" the freshmanprogramin the period 1963-1968
(afterreturning
from New MexicoSchoolof Mines)recentlyretired(forthe third lime) fromthe Universityof Albuquerqueat
the age of 80. Dr. and Mrs. Stubbslive in Albuquerque(whenthey are not travelingto variousparts of the
country! ).
TheDeportmentTodoy
The faculty today are, understandably, more
numerousthan in the formativeyears,and heavily
oriented toward research. The 23 members are
divided according to their research and teaching
specialtiesamong five divisionsand the freshman
program.They are listedin the followingaccording
to their divisionalong with the date of joining the
Department.
AnalyticalChemistry:Dr. G.L. Bla6kmer(1971),
D r . R . G .R e k e r s( 1 9 5 5 )a, n d D r . W . H . S m i t h( 1 9 7 6 ) .
, r. D.B.
B i o c h e m s t r yD: r . J . A . A n d e r s o n( 1 9 6 1 )D
Knaff (1976),Dr. J.S. Sevall (1974),and Dr. P.S.
Song(1965).
InorganicChemistry:Dr. R.A. Holwerda(19741,
D r . J . L . M i l l s ( 1 9 7 0 )a, n d D r . R . E .M i t c h e l l( 1 9 6 6 ) .
OrganicChemistry:Dr. J.A. Adamcik(1957),Dr.
, r . J . L . K i c e ( 1 9 7 5 )D
, r. J.N.
R . A . B a r t s c h( 1 9 7 4 ) D
, r . H . J . S h i n e( 1 9 5 4 )a
, nd Dr. R.L.
M a r x ( 1 9 6 7 )D
Willer(1978).
PhysicalChemistry:Dr. W.G. Davies(1979),Dr.
A.L. Draper (1959),Dr. R.L. Redington(1967),and
D r . R . E .W i l d e ( 1 9 6 3 ) .
UndergraduatePrograms: Dr. W.B. Guerrant
(1968)andDr. C.M. McPherson(1960).
Welch Professor:Dr. G.W. Robinson(1976). .
The current chairmanof the Departmentis Dr.
John L. Kice who came to the Department as
chairman following the term of Dr. H.J. Shine
(1969-1975).
Two members of the faculty hold
l i f e t i m ed i s t i n g u i s h epdr o f e s s o r s h i pDsr, . H . J . S h i n e
and Dr. P.S. Song, as Paul Whitfield Horn
Professors.
Theseprofessorships
were establishedin
the Universityin the name of its first president.
There are currently 13 Horn Professorsin the
University.The Welch Professorship
wasestablished
as an endowedChair of Chemistrywith a gift of
$1,000,000by the RobertA. Welch Foundationof
Houston.The incomefrom this investedendowment
supports the Welch Professor. The first Welch
Professor(1970-1975)
was the distinguishedorganic
chemist,CharlesW. Shoppee,F.R.S.,who retiredin
1975 and returned to his home in Australia. The
presentWelch Professor,Dr. G. Wilse Robinson,is
particulardistinguished
for hiswork in spectroscopy,
ly now picosecond
spectroscopy.
Working with the faculty in research are 63
graduate students of whom 28 are teaching
assistantsand 35 researchassistants.There are also
eight post-doctoralfellows in the Department,who
are here from variousparts of the world: England
(1), Hong Kong (1),lsrael(1),Korea (1),Foland(2),
a n dt h e U . S . A .( 2 ) .
The heart of the Departmentis kept beatingby an
indispensable
staff, made up of three full-timeand
five half-time secretaries,three store room personnel, four electronics
and machineshoptechnicians,
a
glass-blower,
and a businessmanager.
The life-bloodof the Departmentis, of course,its
students.The Department,as from its early years,is
one of the central departmentsof the University,
serving approximately5,250 non-majorseach year,
in programsfrom Arts and Sciencesand most of the
other Collegesof the University.The large enrollmentsare in freshmanchemistry,chemistryfor prenursing and similar students, and in organic
chemistry.The Department'saim is to providethese
studentswith the best possibleinstruction,and this
is why all of the facultyteach in the undergraduate
program.Oneof the faculty(Dr. Mitchell)devotesa
major part of his time to organizingthe freshman
program,and another(Dr. Willer) devotesfull time
to organizingthe laboratoryworkfor the main course
in organicchemistry.
On the undergraduatechemistry-rnajorside, the
Departmenthas approximately120 majorsspanning
the freshman-senioryears. Our majors have no
difficultyfinding jobs in the chemicalindustryor in
going on to graduateschool.In recentyearsthe Departmentinstitutedresearchcoursesin chemistryfor
undergraduates,
and this has caught on very well
among them. Currently 41 students are doing
undergraduate research.Pre-professional(dentistry,
medicine,pharmacy)studentsare an importantpart
of our undergraduateprogram,and two membersof
the faculty (Drs. Blackmerand Knaff) serveon the
pre-professional
advisorycommittee.
As mentionedbefore,the Departmentis heavily
committedto researchin a wide spectrumof topics.
This year (1979)members of the Department are
carrying out researchsupported by individually
obtained grants f rom a variety of private and
government agencies, amounting to a total of
$633,900.The costs of doing chemistry, whether
instructional or research, has increased in giant
steps in recentyears.Cost of chemicals(particularly
those based on the oil industry), glassware (particularlystandardtaper ware) and equipmenthave
soared.The Department'sdependenceon non-State
sourcesof supportis even morecriticalnow than in
earlieryears.
Departmentof Chemistry
TexasTech University
Lubbock,Texas79409
We would be very pleased to hear from the Department's
graduates.Sendus your updatedaddressand descriptionof what
you are now doing professionally
or otherwise.lf there is a
particularinquiryyou may havefor newsof the Department,let
us haveit please.
Name:
with Department):
Dateof Graduation(orAssociation
Address:
CurrentPosition:
Itemof newsfor us:
Inquiryof newsfrom us:
Prof.H.J. Shine,Editor
SendResponseto:
Dept.of Chemistry
TexasTechUniversity
Lubbock,Texas79409
ln Appreciotion
We certainlyappreciatethe generousgifts whichsomeof you have
givento the ChemistryDepartment
in the form of scholarships
and undesignated
contributions.
lt costsa
lot of moneyto attend schooland
some needy young chemistrystudent could sure use any assistance
that you might give.The education
of a chemist takes a lot of time,
money,and effort, but we feel this
is a very worthyendeavor.
The students,faculty and staff
appreciateany assistance,mone,
tary or otherwise, that you can
give. lf you desire to contribute,
you can work directly through the
ChemistryDepartmentor through
the Office of Development,Texas
TechUniversity.