American Chemical Society Faculty/Staff and Infrastructure Requirements of the ACS Guidelines Laura Kosbar Cynthia Larive IBM Research UC-Riverside The evolution of the ACS approval process: Moving beyond the 2008 Guidelines ACS Committee on Professional Training April 8, 2013

American Chemical Society 2 Background The ACS guidelines are reviewed regularly to ensure that they –Encourage program excellence –Promote the development of competent chemistry professionals –Respond to changes within the field and new educational paradigms –Recognize the needs/requirements of departments of varying size while maintaining program excellence in all departments

American Chemical Society 3 Purpose of Faculty/Staff and Infrastructure Requirements Faculty and Staff Requirements –Departments should Maintain an energetic and accomplished faculty that covers a range of backgrounds and expertise in the major areas of chemistry Support faculty development to maintain professional competence Provide a sustainable and engaging educational environment for students Infrastructure Requirements –A modern and comprehensive infrastructure is essential for student instruction Lecture and lab space Instrumentation Computational and literature access –Program infrastructure must receive strong institutional support

American Chemical Society 4 ACS Faculty and Staff Requirements 1.Faculty 1.Minimum number of full-time, permanent faculty 2.Minimum percent of faculty holding Ph.D.s 3.Breadth of collective expertise in the major areas of chemistry 4.Faculty diversity 2.Adjunct, Temporary, and Part-Time Faculty 3.Teaching Contact Hours 4.Professional Development 5.Support Staff 6.Student Teaching Assistants 3.

American Chemical Society 5 ACS Infrastructure Requirements 1.Physical Plant 2.Instrumentation 3.Computational Capabilities and Software 4.Chemical Information Resources 5.Chemical Safety Resources 4.

American Chemical Society 6 Faculty and Staff Requirements Minimum Faculty Current ACS requirement: –Minimum of 4 permanent, full-time faculty, 75% holding a PhD –Collective expertise should reflect the breadth of the major areas of modern chemistry Concerns with current requirement: –Difficult to achieve appropriate breath with only 4 full-time faculty –Challenging to meet contact hr limits with only 4 full-time faculty Proposed changes to the guidelines: –Require new programs seeking approval to have 5 full-time faculty Maintain requirement for 75% of faculty to hold a PhD –Currently approved programs would have until 2025 to increase to 5 full-time faculty

American Chemical Society 7 Faculty and Staff Requirements Adjunct, Temporary, and Part-Time Faculty Current ACS Requirement: –Full-time, permanent faculty should teach courses leading to student certification –Excessive reliance on temporary, adjunct or part time faculty in approved programs is discouraged Concerns with current requirement: –Increasing reliance on temporary and part-time faculty Budgetary and economic influences –Difficult to define/limit “excessive” reliance on non-full time faculty Proposed changes to the guidelines: –Defining that “lecture courses leading to certification must be taught by full-time, permanent faculty” Allowing a small percentage of lectures be taught by non-full time/temporary faculty Should exceptions be counted as % of lecture courses or % of individuals?

American Chemical Society 8 Faculty and Staff Requirements Teaching Contact Hours Current ACS requirement: –Maximum of 15 contact hrs/semester or quarter –Allows up to 2 individuals to have up to 17 contact hrs in one semester/quarter if annual average is at or below 15 Concerns with current requirement: –Less flexibility than some departments need –Doesn’t address faculty/staff with exclusive/primarily laboratory responsibilities Proposed changes to the guidelines: –Allow up to 2 individuals to have up to 18 contact hours in one semester/quarter if annual average is at or below 15 –Allow individuals whose primary teaching responsibility is laboratory instruction to have up to 18 contact hours each semester or quarter

American Chemical Society 9 Infrastructure Requirements Instrumentation Current ACS requirement: –Requires an appropriate suite of modern chemical instrumentation and laboratory apparatus –Requires department to own a functioning NMR used by students Concerns with current requirement: –Requirement to own and maintain an NMR difficult for small departments, may limit ability to obtain as broad a distribution of instruments –Access to NMR analysis of student samples potentially similar for on-site or off- campus instruments Proposed changes to the guidelines: –Broaden the scope of the student experience to include at least one instrument from each of five categories: Optical molecular spectroscopy, optical atomic spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, chromatography and separations, and electrochemistry –Require that students must have adequate access to FT-NMR capabilities (on or off site)

American Chemical Society 10 Infrastructure Requirements Chemical Information Resources Previous ACS requirement: –ACS previously required access to Chemical Abstracts This requirement was removed in January of 2013 Concerns with previous requirement: –Rapidly changing access to chemical literature and search capabilities make it difficult to define an “acceptable” set of search tools or databases –Previously focused on database access rather than student’s skills at using and searching the literature Proposed changes to the guidelines: –Replace a requirement for access to specific search tools or databases with greater emphasis on student skills associated with searching the literature –Proposed skills requirement discussed in upcoming presentation

American Chemical Society 11 Faculty and Infrastructure Discussion Questions Faculty –What requirements on faculty are the most critical to maintain an active, diverse, and engaging learning environment for students? –What impacts would be expected from requiring departments to have at least 5 full-time faculty with at least 75% holding PhDs? –What would the impact be of requiring full-time, permanent faculty to teach the bulk of the lecture courses leading to certification, and how should such a requirement be defined (by % of courses, % of faculty teaching lectures, other)? –Should contact hour limits be different for individuals teaching primarily laboratory classes or should ACS define a separate limit for individuals identified as instructors? Infrastructure –How can the guidelines best promote student access and exposure to a broad range of modern chemical instrumentation during their undergraduate career? –Would allowing use of off-site NMR facilities have a significant negative impact on student learning or institutional support?

American Chemical Society 12 Questions for discussion Group 1: –What requirements on faculty are the most critical to maintain an active, diverse, and engaging learning environment for students? –Should contact hour limits be different for individuals teaching primarily laboratory classes or should ACS define a separate limit for individuals identified as instructors? Group 2: –What would the impact be of requiring full-time, permanent faculty to teach the bulk of the lecture courses leading to certification, and how should such a requirement be defined (by % of courses, % of faculty teaching lectures, other)? –Would allowing use of off-site NMR facilities have a significant negative impact on student learning or institutional support? Group 3: –How can the guidelines best promote student access and exposure to a broad range of modern chemical instrumentation during their undergraduate career? –What impacts would be expected from requiring departments to have at least 5 full-time faculty with at least 75% holding PhDs?