Academic Program Review SUMMARY*
Department under review__CHEMISTRY___________________
Date self-study received in Dean’s office August 17, 2011
Date of external consultant’s review
July 28, 2011
Date APR received report
March 2011
APR’S summary of self-study (first two boxes must be completed)
APR’s summary of how the academic program attempts to reach its goals and objectives
and the extent to which those goals and objectives have been achieved.
The primary objective of the faculty and academic staff of the Department of Chemistry is to
provide a high quality education in chemistry and biochemistry for all UW-L students and to strive
toward excellence in teaching. The Department of Chemistry provides courses that are crucial to
several departments and programs and also courses for non-science majors to fulfill the general
education requirement. The Department of Chemistry is constantly modifying its curricula to better
serve a diverse student population by offering course content that relates the fundamental,
traditional knowledge of this field while training students to understand and employ the latest
modern technological innovations. The department is doing an admirable job of delivering a quality
learning experience for UW-L students.
Beyond this primary mission, the Department also pursues the following goals:
1. To develop educational research programs with undergraduate students and maintain adequate
facilities for such activities
2. To forward new knowledge in the areas of chemistry, biochemistry, chemical
education/pedagogy, through scholarly investigations
3. To provide support to the local/regional public, University, and professional chemistry
communities
The department offers several degree options besides the traditional chemistry major and minor.
These include Chemistry major with American Chemical Society (ACS) certification and teacher
certification and two concentrations; one in business and one in environmental science. The
department also offers a popular Biochemistry major and a Dual degree program (3/2) in
Engineering and Chemistry in collaboration with UW-Madison.
APR’s comments including:
Notable Strengths
1. Talented faculty dedicated to student learning and scholarship. The scholarship has
led to publications, increased external support, and improved teaching and student
learning.
2. The Chemistry curriculum is strong and the graduates of this program are very well
prepared for employment and graduate schools. The Department is ranked in the
top 7% of Carnegie Comprehensive Institutions in preparing students to
successfully complete the Ph.D. in Chemistry.
Notable Weaknesses
1. The program is not in compliance with ACS Guidelines, with the noncompliance
identified as a lack of a foundation course in inorganic chemistry.
2. The Department still faces serious physical space and facility limitations.
APR comments on any/all of the six specific components of the self-study (if applicable)
Self Study: Purposes
The primary objective of the faculty and academic staff of the Department of Chemistry is to
provide a high quality education in chemistry and biochemistry for all of UW-L students and to
strive toward excellence in teaching.
Self Study: Curriculum
The department must annually submit curricular reports to maintain national accreditation by the
American Chemical Society (ACS). The program tends to be typical of most modern, international
programs in chemistry. As such, they offer the normal chemistry major and minor, the more
rigorous ACS-Certified chemistry major, and a chemistry major for Teacher Certification
Programs. In addition, the department also provides curriculum for the Biochemistry major.
Self Study: Assessment of Student Learning & Degree of Program Success
The primary way in which program success is assessed is by having senior students take the
annual Chemistry Major Field Test (MFT) offered by the Educational Testing Service (ETS). On
the basis of the Chemistry MFT results, chemistry majors continue to do very well as compared to
national averages. Furthermore, the department has made numerous programmatic changes to
its curriculum as a result of its assessment efforts.
The department has initiated course embedded assessment in General Chemistry (CHM 103).
This work is ongoing, with refinements in assessment activities and changes made to their
General Education offerings, particularly in the laboratory components.
Self Study: Previous Academic Program Review and New Program Initiatives
In 2007 the APR Committee expressed five programmatic recommendations, along with five
related “logistical needs” of the department. The recommendations and responses are below.
Recommendation #1—The development of a 3-5 year strategic plan, which will outline a clear
vision and departmental mission
Due to the fact that the Department is completing a set of important faculty hires in
2009-2011, because there is not yet a revised University strategic plan or permanent
leadership in the CSAH office, the Department has opted to delay significant strategic planning
temporarily
The Department would benefit by developing a 3-5 year strategic plan. The faculty need to
determine where they want the program to be in five years in terms of curriculum, space
requirements, undergraduate research, faculty development, and recruitment and retention of
majors
Recommendation #2—The institution of a thorough curriculum review, with a view toward
modernization of approaches to the delivery of instruction through classroom teaching and
laboratory exercises
This has been accomplished.
Recommendation #3—Increase efforts to increase placement of chemistry and biochemistry
graduates in medical school programs
This has been accomplished.
.
Recommendation #4—Increase involvement by faculty in professional association, including
greater involvement in professional meetings
Largely accomplished.
Recommendation #5—A systematic plan to increase grants-writing and to secure external grants
This has been accomplished.
Logistical need #1—Higher levels of start-up funding for new hires
With all new faculty hires since 2009, beginning tenure track faculty members have received
significantly larger research startup packages than had been the case during the prior program
review.
Logistical need #2—Additional research space for faculty engaged in research
This will not be accomplished until a new science building is constructed.
Logistical need #3—Major investments in its labs, many of which are in disrepair, and in need of
modernization and upgrading
The office of the Dean of the College of Science and Health has been supportive in helping to
assure that lab modernization and supplementary equipment funds are awarded to the
Department on an annual or semi-annual basis—to update and fix lecture and lab spaces, and to
replace broken and failing instrumentation. This and other investments have greatly moved the
department forward in terms of modernization and upgrading of facilities and to accommodate
more students in all courses.
Logistical need #4—Systematic support by the University to help the department promote grant
writing among both its research and teaching faculty
The university’s Office of Sponsored Research makes faculty aware of potential grant
opportunities. A new grant writer was hired into that office in 2010 to aid in proofreading science
faculty member’s proposals. Office staff members also assist with faculty grant proposal
submissions.
Logistical need #5—Significant increase in the Department’s annual operating budget (Evidence
shows that the operating budget of the UWL Chemistry Department is substantially below
comparable departments around the country.)
The College office approved an increased S+E budget for the department that was more in line
with comparable departments in 2009. Additionally, the department was granted access to some
GQ+A funds for supplies and equipment and travel to support its newer (GQ+A) faculty members.
The 2009-2010 fiscal year was the first that the department had access to this increased funding.
This increase has helped greatly in providing more departmental autonomy in repairing and
replacing older or broken equipment and in assuring that the teaching laboratories remain well
equipped to meet UW-L student’s needs.
Self Study: Personnel
The Chemistry Department now consists of approximately 26 full time instructional faculty and
staff, plus 2 non-instructional classified staff members. Among the instructional staff, 18 positions
(69%) are tenure track faculty and 8 (31%) are full-time instructional academic staff (IAS)
members. An additional part-time IAS position makes up the balance and allows the department to
increase course enrollments as needed. Well over half (12) of the 18 tenure track faculty now
have tenure, and no retirements are planned for the near future. One of the 8 IAS members plans
to retire after the Spring 2012 semester.
The members of this Department have numerous strengths, and their scientific backgrounds
encompass a wide breadth of knowledge. Most faculty members maintain active research
programs and engage undergraduate students in their projects. The support staff is also excellent
and is essential to the smooth operation of the Department. Over the short-term (2-4 years) the
department has adequate personnel to cover basic needs and program goals of the Department in
Cowley Hall. If growth in Chemistry enrollments continues beyond this time period, it may be
necessary to request one or more additional faculty lines.
Self Study: Support for Achieving Academic Program Goals (Resources)
With a laboratory intensive curriculum and a research active faculty, the physical facilities in
Cowley Hall are absolutely critical to its program goals. Currently, the Department still faces
serious physical space and facility limitations, and these can likely only be overcome with major
renovation dollars, such as the proposed future addition to, or new construction of, a Cowley Hall
science building. Recent laboratory modernization projects that were successfully completed
were extremely helpful in correcting many deficiencies.
Improvements in the overall efficiency of course scheduling, and major changes made to lab/room
schedules allowed the department to accommodate over 100 additional students in General
Chemistry I and II courses. Because of acute shortage of laboratory space the department is
unable to accommodate any more students in its courses until the proposed new Cowley Hall
Science building project is completed.
External Reviewer Recommendations
APR’s Comments on External Reviewer (if applicable)
The Committee on Professional Training for the ACS had only one comment which was the
noncompliance issue of a foundation course in inorganic chemistry. The department is working on
this and will submit a report to the Committee by June 15, 2012.
Department’s response to the Reviewer Recommendations
APR’s Comments on the Department’s Response (if applicable)
The department has a plan to deal with the noncompliance issue. The department curriculum
committee and inorganic chemists will develop an appropriate course and determine how best to
fit it into the existing curricula for our various majors. Once complete, they will then ask ACS-CPT
members for their informal opinions on the acceptability of our plan. Finally, they will seek UW-L
Undergraduate Curriculum Committee (UCC) support for the new course and modified
departmental curricula as soon as possible, and before submitting our required materials to the
ACS-CPT.
Dean’s Letter
APR’s Comments on Dean’s Letter (if applicable)
APR’s Recommendations (must be completed)
Recommendations:
Major:
1. Bring the department into compliance with ACS Guidelines.*
2. The Department should continue to make a strong case for a resolution of the
serious physical space and facility limitations. These can likely only be overcome
with major renovation dollars, such as the proposed future addition to, or new
construction of, a Cowley Hall science building.
3. The department needs to develop a strategic plan and create a mission statement.
This was a recommendation in the previous APR report and is now overdue.
Minor:
1. The department should formally assess the first student learning outcome for the
chemistry program (“effectively communicate scientific knowledge both in oral and
written forms using the language, concepts and models of chemistry”) with direct
measure of assessment.
2. To continue the search for a new chemistry faculty member who will be one of the
college’s STEP educators overseeing the teacher certification program in
secondary education in chemistry.
3. The department should address relatively low numbers of students graduating with
B.S. in Chemistry with ACS Certification.*
4. The APR committee would recommend that the review of the Biochemistry major
be included with the next regularly scheduled review for the Chemistry major.
* A new ACS Certified Chemistry major has been proposed. The new major includes a
foundation course in inorganic chemistry and includes the course work and
experiences necessary to satisfy the requirements for ACS certification.
x No serious areas to address – review in next regularly scheduled cycle
□ Some areas to address – review in next regularly scheduled cycle
□ Some areas to address – department should submit short report on progress to Fac
Senate/Provost’s Office in 3 years
* APR’s report to faculty senate will consist of this completed form in electronic form.