Assessment Plan for Chemistry

Department Statement of Purpose (Mission)

The department of chemistry and physics seeks to provide classroom education and laboratory training in the fields of chemistry and physics so that our graduates may be competitive in a broad range of professional careers, including the health sciences, education, business engineering, as well as industrial, academic, and governmental research. For those students that are not science majors it is our mission to provide exposure to the process of doing science, a broad knowledge of the fields of chemistry and physics and the applications of these sciences to everyday life. The department is also dedicated to the continued growth of scientific and educational knowledge through faculty and student research and serving the community through outreach efforts to local elementary and high schools, industry and government.

Program Objectives

1. Provide training and opportunities for students to learn the knowledge and skills necessary to pursue professional careers, attend graduate school, or become secondary education teachers in chemistry.

2. Foster the scientific and professional development of faculty and students by supporting faculty research programs.

3. Contribute to the science component of the general education curriculum of the university and college.

4. Provide supportive course work for allied areas such as education, engineering, math and computer science, and health sciences.

5. Provide professional service based on facility expertise to local elementary and high schools, industry and government.

Student Outcomes

Students should be able to:

1. Communicate scientific reasoning, concepts, solutions and experimental results.

2. Identify, find, and use information appropriate to the sub-disciplines of chemistry from common reference materials and peer-reviewed literature.

3. Complete assignments that require complex reasoning and higher-order problem solving skills.

4. To operate effectively in collaborative work environments.

5. Employ appropriate laboratory safety procedures.

6. Apply ethical conduct in the areas of chemical handling, citation of other's work, and data management.

7. Apply their understanding of terminology, concepts, and theories from the five chemical sub-disciplines to solve problems.

 

Curriculum Map

Table 1: Student outcomes mapped to core chemistry courses taken by all graduating majors

	1400, 1410, 1450, 1460, 2400, 2410	2450, 2460, 2650	1600, 2600	3240, 3241	3600	4200, 4210	4365	Thesis
Communicate scientific reasoning, concepts, solutions and experimental results.	K	K, A	A	A	A, S	S	S	S
Identify, find, and use information appropriate to the sub‐disciplines of chemistry from common reference materials and peer‐reviewed literature.	K	K, A		A	A, S	S	S	S
Complete assignments that require complex reasoning and higher‐order problem solving skills.		K		K		K, A	S	S
To operate effectively in collaborative work environments.	K	K, A	A	A		S	S
Employ appropriate laboratory safety procedures.	K	K	A	A		S	S	S
Apply ethical conduct in the areas of chemical handling, citation of other's work, and data management	K	K	A	A	A, S	S	S	S
Apply their understanding of terminology, concepts, and theories from the five chemical sub‐disciplines to solve problems.	K	K, A		A		S	S	S

K = Knowledge/Comprehension; A= Application/Analysis; S = Synthesis/Evaluation