THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT ASHEVILLE

FACULTY SENATE

Senate Document Number 8411S

Date of Senate Approval 04/28/11

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Statement of Faculty Senate Action:

APC Document 68:     Change requirements for declaring a Major in Chemistry

Effective Date: Fall 2011

1. Delete:  On page 92, under Declaration of Major in Chemistry:

1. complete CHEM 222, 231, 232; MATH 191, 192; PHYS 221; and LSIC 179 or 379.

2. be enrolled in, or have completed CHEM 236, 237 and 380.

3. have an overall GPA of at least 2.00

4. have a GPA of at least 2.30 in a minimum of seven credit hours of course work required for the chemistry major, to include one chemistry lab course.

Add : On page 92, in place of deleted entry:

1. complete CHEM 145 and 231 with a grade of C or higher; MATH 191.

2. be enrolled in, or have completed CHEM 232.

Impact: 

There will be no impact on the staffing and resources in the Department of Chemistry. There should be a positive impact for students who will be able to declare their majors earlier.

Rationale: 

The long list of courses required for declaring a major (including prerequisites-28 credit hours) has prevented many students interested in chemistry from declaring a major until their Junior year. We have simplified this to require only one laboratory and one lecture course beyond the introduction course in chemistry. Including pre-requisites, this allows a student to declare a major in chemistry with 15 hours of required classes. CHEM 145, Quantitative Chemistry Laboratory, is a one-hour lab class; CHEM 231 is Organic Chemistry I.

CHEM 232, Organic Chemistry II, is a course we would anticipate that students interested in a major in chemistry would take in the fall of their Sophomore year, and thus be the appropriate course to be enrolled in at the time of considering the declaration of major.

With the reduction of number of hours and courses required to declare a major in chemistry, it becomes unreasonable to track GPA over such a small set of courses to determine if a student is likely to succeed in Chemistry. We are adding the requirement of a grade of C or better in CHEM 145 and 231 Organic Chemistry I as a measure of likely success as a chemistry major.