Department of Chemistry earns distinguished honor

Radford University’s Department of Chemistry was recently added to the American Chemical Society’s (ACS) list of approved institutions, an honor the department has worked diligently for years to attain.

Approved programs must meet rigorous standards established by the ACS, including the quality of the curriculum, facilities, faculty research and teaching load.

"Our department now has the American Chemical Society approval for an already outstanding program,” said Chemistry Department Chair Christine Hermann. “We have strived for more than 20 years for this recognition and are now looking forward to having chemistry graduates with an ACS-certified degree."

Students who graduate from Radford’s chemistry department with the approved curriculum will now receive a special certification from the ACS that will distinguish them among their fellow graduates as they pursue additional training and education or move into the work force.
Long a goal of the department, this designation was not achieved easily.

The construction of the Center for the Sciences, along with the addition of new faculty, helped to meet the standards from the ACS. ACS-approved programs offer a broad-based and rigorous chemistry education that gives students intellectual, experimental and communication skills to become effective scientific professionals. Approved departments are staffed by accomplished faculty, contain a modern and well-maintained infrastructure and provide a coherent chemistry curriculum.

Employers find graduates of approved programs to be better prepared for technical employment. The approval process provides a mechanism for departments to evaluate their program, identify areas of strengths and opportunities for change and leverage support from their institutions and external agencies.