Concentrations (abbreviations):

CHMA        ACS-certified Chemistry Major

CHMB        Biochemistry Major

CHMN        Applied Chemistry Major

Catalog Program Listings:

CHMA: The A.C.S. concentration is intended to prepare students for graduate school or to pursue chemistry as a profession in industry. Within this concentration, the student may choose from options of Chemistry or Environmental Chemistry. Both curricula are approved by the American Chemical Society.

CHMN: The Applied Chemistry concentration is intended to serve pre-professional students and those who do not intend to pursue graduate study in chemistry.

CHMB: The Biochemistry concentration is intended to serve pre-professional students and those who wish to pursue graduate work at the chemistry-biology interface.

B.S. Chemistry Assessment Indicators:

ETS Chemistry Field Exam

Chemistry Department Exit Survey

TTU Enrolled Student Survey

Alumni Contacts

American Chemical Society (ACS) General Chemistry Exam 2000 (Brief form)

Chemistry B.S. Student Learning Outcomes:

Learning Outcome I (cohort = CHMA, CHMB, CHMN):

Senior chemistry majors in all three concentrations will be able to demonstrate a mastery of factual knowledge comprehensively across the four principal areas of chemistry (organic, inorganic, physical, and analytical), and be able analyze and solve problems, understand relationships, and interpret scientific facts and data.  This mastery should exceed the national average for CHMA majors as demonstrated on the ETS Chemistry Field Exam. 

Assessment method: 

Student Performance on the national ETS Chemistry Field Exam in the four branches of chemistry referred to as subscores 1 through 4.

Results:

Scores of senior chemistry majors on the ETS Major Field Achievement Test were slightly below the national average for the years 1997 through 2002. In May 2003 we exceeded the national average for the first time. See See Figure 1

Action Plan for 2005-06 in light of results

In order to continue to succeed in this outcome, the department will continue action reported from 2004, but in addition will take the following actions. First, we will devote our annual in-house chem ed workshop for faculty to encourage faculty to use test items and examples in their upper division chemistry classes that integrate the 5 branches of chemistry and provide a continual review of previous content. Laboratory equipment purchased by Technology Access Funds will be used in part by upper division chemistry students to provide an FTIR instrument to upper division students. A CCLI/NSF proposal will be authored to obtain an ICP unit for upper division student labs. We will stress the importance of the ETS exit exam to our students. Many in the past have not taken the test seriously.  

Learning Outcome II (cohort =CHMA, CHMB, CHMN)

Senior chemistry majors in all three concentrations will be able to demonstrate a high level of critical thinking and reasoning ability within the context of the chemical discipline.

Assessment:  

Senior performance on the ETS Chemistry Field Exam -Assessment Indicator #2 (Critical Thinking and Reasoning Ability)

Results:

This is a new learning outcome in 2005-06 made available by the availability of this Assessment Indicator on the ETS Exam. 

Learning Outcome III (cohort =CHMB)

Senior chemistry majors in the biochemistry concentration will be able to demonstrate a mastery of modern factual knowledge in the biochemistry sub-discipline.

Assessment: 

Senior performance on the ETS Chemistry Field Exam -Assessment indicator #1 (Biochemistry)

Results:

We are making use of this assessment indicator for the first time in 2005-06.  For the previous three years we have relied on the ACS Biochemistry Exam. 

Learning Outcome IV (cohort =CHMA, CHMB, CHMN)

Junior and Senior Chemistry majors in all concentrations will be able to demonstrate proficiency in using computers to solve problems in chemistry.

Assessment: 

We monitor the responses of junior and senior chemistry majors on the Enrolled Student Survey Item #14, where students are asked how often they have worked an assignment where a computer was used. On the 2001 and 2004 Survey, this became Item #22, and all levels (freshmen through seniors) of chemistry majors were used in the averaging. Also the normalization changed from 1999 to 2001.

Results:

While chemistry majors rated fairly high, they rated significantly lower than the university as a whole. Chem majors above the sophomore level scored a 3.39 compared to the university 3.69 in 1997. In the 1999 survey chemistry majors had risen to nearly equal to the university as a whole, scoring a 3.70 compared to the 3.76 of the university. The department plans to continue using the Enrolled Student Survey as noted above, and will consider successful completion of this goal when the chem major score exceeds the university average.

In 2001 and 2004, looking at freshmen through seniors on Item #22, chemistry students scored 2.50 and 2.42, while the University scored 2.58 in 2004. We are still significantly below the university average.

Action Plan for 2005-06

We will continue to promote the use of email, the WebCT, and computer-based assignments as supplemental aids to instruction. We will continue to use OWL online homework in general chemistry and will begin to implement this type of system in upper division courses. More new experiments will be implemented based on modern computer-interfaced instrumentation. A new team-taught course in computational chemistry will be added to the curriculum in collaboration with Chemical Engineering, using the expertise of Dr. Titus Albu, our new computational physical chemist .  

Learning Outcome V (cohort =CHMA)

Graduates of the BS Chem in the ACS concentration will be successful in gaining entrance into high quality graduate schools in chemistry, admission to professional schools, and securing quality careers in the chemical sciences.

Assessment:               

The departmental chair and chemistry major advisor maintains contacts with alumni to track where our majors have ended up.

Results:

See Data Table: TTU Chemistry B.S. Graduates. Where are they now?

Action Plans for 2005-06

We will continue to make career options more available to students through expanded board space in high traffic hallways for postings of relevant coop and intern experiences, graduate school posters, and some types of job postings. Dr. Titus Albu has been formally put in charge of this.

Learning Outcome VI (cohort =CHMA, CHMB)

Senior chemistry majors in the ACS and biochemistry concentrations by the time of graduation will be able to demonstrate ability to integrate chemical knowledge in the successful conduct of undergraduate research projects as well as work well in team-based research. 

Assessment:

The department monitors junior and senior chemistry major responses to the Enrolled Student Survey. Item 64 asks students to rate opportunities for practicum, co-op, or intern experience in their major (No corresponding Item is available in the 2001/2004 surveys) this Item was replaced by Item 17 (Planning projects), and Item 24 (Defining problems) in the 2001/2004 surveys.  Item 47 asks students to rate how TTU added their ability to work cooperatively in a group (This became Item 25 in 2001/2004). We also monitor the number and quality of undergraduate student poster presentations at regional and national meetings, and student responses to the chemistry major Exit Survey, which ask about opportunities for undergraduate research. 

Results:

Item 64 asked students to rate opportunities for practicum, co-op, or intern experience in their major. Chemistry majors rated weak in this area relative to other TTU students as well as on an absolute scale.

Item 17 (planning projects), chem students scored 2.48/2.52 in 2001/2004, compared to the University 2.49 in 2004.

Item 24 (defining problems), chem students scored 2.57/2.61 in 2001/2004, compared to the University 2.48 in 2004.

Item 47 asked students to rate how TTU added their ability to work cooperatively in a group. While chemistry majors rated fairly high, they rated lower than the university as a whole. The corresponding item #25 (working in groups) had chem majors at 2.28/2.39 in 2001/2004 compared to the university 2.47 in 2004.

Internal exit surveys of the graduating senior chemistry majors frequently mention a lack of opportunity or knowledge about undergraduate research opportunities.

Action plans for 2005-06

We will continue to take an active role in promoting involvement of every serious undergraduate major in an undergraduate research project with a faculty member. Faculty will routinely give research seminars in our regular seminar program. Students will be kept informed about summer research activities in government, industrial and academic research laboratories. Faculty will be encouraged to help their students apply for coop and internship experiences, and apply for Chapter 606 funds for undergraduate research projects. We will take advantage of the Jackson/Swindell Undergraduate Research Award program that recently reached endowment level. Finally, we will proceed with the planned establishment of a faculty release time bank to accrue release time from teaching for faculty who involve undergraduate students in research projects.

Learning Outcome VII (cohort =CHMA, CHMB, CHMN, )

Students completing the main sequence general chemistry CHEM1110/1120 will be able to demonstrate a thorough knowledge of general chemistry as evidenced by an average score of 53 on the national ACS General Chemistry Exam 2000 (Brief Form). 

Assessment:

The ACS General Chemistry Exam 2000 (brief form) is administered by our department at the end of every Spring semestser to all students in the Chem1120 class.

Results:

The average score was 50 in Spring 2000, 51.75 in Spring 2001, 48.4 in Spring 2002, 50 in Spring 2003, and 53 in Spring 2004. The department feels that our students should be able to outperform the established norms (47.7% average score) on this exam by several percentage points on a consistent basis  The resulting 53 was the highest yet achieved by freshmen chem students, being attributed directly to the first year of use of OWL online homework.

Action Plan for 2005-06:

In order to firmly establish this goal as a trend, the department will continue its prior actions, plus several new features. Another guided-inquiry experiment. will be included in lab We will complete installation of 6 new PC's in the main freshman lab. We will produce and implement video prelab lecturing online for freshmen lab, which will better prepare each student to enter the lab and gain comprehension of their experience. We will use OWL Online Web-based Learning another year to give graded electronic homework in the large general chemistry sections.

B.S. Chemistry Program Outcomes:

Note: 2005-2006 Chemistry Program Goals and Learning Outcomes and Assessments are also deposited at the TTU Strategic Planning Website., but the numbering of goals there will be different.

 

Program Goal I :

(Chem Dept. Unit Goal) To increase external funding by 5% per year to improve quality of instrumentation necessary for education and research.

Assessment method and Results :

The success of this goal will be determined directly by the total amount of external funds activated each year by the department. The four-year total research funding level in the department 1998-2002 was $484K. Our target is a research funding level which is 20% larger than over the previous 4-year period. ($184K was raised in 2004-05 alone)

Action Plan for 2005-06

Grant writing by the faculty will be strongly encouraged. NSF-CCLI instructional grants will be submitted in order to obtain needed laboratory equipment to be used in research and teaching laboratories. Release time from teaching will be given to faculty receiving external funding for research. The faculty release time bank will be implemented to give faculty hours for grant writing, involvement of students in research, extensive service activities, and so forth.

Program Goal II:

(Chem Dept Unit Goal) We will vigorously participate in the P-16 initiative through developing a website for the Upper Cumberland Science Teachers Association.

 Assessment method and Results :

The signal of success will be to see at least 20 science teachers attend the summer P-16 conference at TTU. In our first venture, we had an attendance of 10 teachers. Follow this link to see the newly developing website of the UCSTA.

Action Plan for 2005-06

The Upper Cumberland Teachers Council has been established through the College of Arts and Sciences to address the P-16 initiative. This is an umbrella group for 5 discipline specific groups including science teachers. We will cooperate to plan and implement a summer conference in June 2005 and specifically use the Web as a vehicle for this project to succeed.

Program Goal III:

(Çhem Dept Unit Goal) We will work with TBR to fully implement the RODP Add-on Endorsement program in chemistry.

 Assessment method and Results :

The offering of all five RODP courses for Add-on Endorsement in chemistry will signal success. TTU chemistry has already offered 2 of the five courses that form the Add-on Endorsement of high school chem teachers.

Action Plan for 2005-06

We will work with TBR to insure that the remaining three courses are offered at TBR institutions and that the on-ground lab dilemma will be solved.

Program Goal IV:

(B.S. Chemistry Program Goal) To implement the $1M Capital Campaign to Endow Undergraduate Research Scholarships for B.S. Biochemistry and Health Science Preprofessional Majors

 Assessment method and Results :

Raising of 1 million dollars by 2010.

Action Plan for 2005-06

The goal is to make a concerted effort with help from TTU Office of University Development to build a $1 Million Endowment for undergraduate research scholarships to enhance the development of preprofessional health science and biochemistry students. Justification: The Chemistry Department has played a vital role over many years in training health science preprofessional students who have subsequently competed very well in their respective graduate schools. Because the Chemistry Department so greatly benefits from the success of the prehealth program, we feel strongly led to do whatever we can to augment this program through a major funding campaign. We have lacked scholarships to attract the many preprofessional health science majors to TTU. An ongoing fundraising effort is needed in order to enhance our ability to attract exceptional students into the preprofessional health science programs. The campaign focus is to raise money for scholarships that incorporate participation in undergraduate research as a fundamental goal. The element of research tied to a scholarship will greatly assist students in developing the critical thinking skills needed to pass the important admissions exams such as MCAT, PCAT, etc. Such experience will also open to the student many other career opportunities as well as strengthen their candidacy to graduate schools including professional schools. Personnel resources: A full-time development officer for the College of Arts and Sciences is needed to really see success of this effort. Faculty efforts alone cannot carry the burden of this task.

Program Goal V:

(Chem Dept Unit Goal) To establish a Chemistry Department Advisory Board

 Assessment method and Results :

Gaining the active participation of 10 members of this board will be the signal of success

Action Plan for 2005-06

We will offer our laboratory facilities for use by interns from TTU working on projects at Fleetguard for which no failicities exist at Fleetguard. We will recruit 10 alums successful in academia, business, and industry to participate in this board. A Homecoming Board meeting in Nov 2006 will be planned for the first meeting of this board.

Program Goal VI:

(B.S. Program Goal) Complete Project GenChem2005: To totally integrate Web-based learning into the General Chemistry Lecture and Laboratory Program using WebCT and other electronic homework facilities. Web-based streaming video of pre-lab lectures would be produced and implemented such that students would be prepared to enter the laboratory. This would affect CHEM1110-1120, enrolling 1000 students per year.

 Assessment method and Results :

Achievement of all of the above stated objectives followed by a thorough evaluation of student performance resulting in increased performance on a lab practicuum.

Action Plan for 2005-06

We are nearing completion of this goal. Instructional technology will continue to be added to provide an active learning component to these large enrollment sections of general chemistry. This will aid student academic performance and in turn aid retention of students. Thus we will use OWL online homework for a second year. Through the renovation of FH233, we will incorporate the Personal Response System (personal clickers) in large lectures to interact with students, giving pop quizzes, taking attendance, and providing interactive feedback with students during lecture. We will produce video prelab lectures to be delivered online so that students may be prepared to enter the lab prior to the lab period. A staff member with an B.S. chemistry degree will be recruited to serve as General Chemistry Laboratory Coordinator. This person would be charged with overseeing the general chemistry lab program: deploying and monitoring electronic homework on the Web for 1000 students, assigning and training TA's, scheduling limited laboratory equipment resources, updating lab manuals, keeping lab equipment in working order, running the WebCT site for all the labs which administers pre-lab instuction and testing of students, and maintaining grade records for multiple section. This will be placed into the hands of a full-time staff person who could oversee the entire program in a more coherent fashion.

 

Summary of Assessment Instruments Used

 

Chemistry Department Planning Process

Each Spring and Fall the Chemistry Department administers the ETS Chemistry Field Exam and the Chemistry Department Exit Survey to its graduating seniors.  The Enrolled Student Survey is administered by the University on a 2-3 year basis to a representative set of all students, and results are made available on the Web through the Office of Institutional Research.  The chemistry major academic advisor and the chair maintains contacts with alumni and tabulates their career status.   The Chair also tabulates the student presentation titles for the annual report bibliography. The Chair typically includes these assessment data in the annual report submitted to the College of Arts and Sciences in June.  This annual report is also distributed among the faculty for comments in the Summer.   All of these data are retained on file in the main chemistry departmental office.

Goal-setting in the Chemistry Department proceeds as follows. The Chair informally polls the faculty by anonymous surveys to formulate both student outcome goals and strategic goals for the department. Early in the Spring semester, (usually at the 1st Spring biweekly meeting) the Chair makes a recommendation to the faculty a list of learning goals and strategic goals formulated in consultation with the Departmental Executive Committee and by informal polling. Also the Chair makes available to the faculty the data from these various instruments.   At this time the faculty have an opportunity to discuss and reflect on these data, and decisions are made by consensus as to whether to retain a  goal, modify a goal, or include additional goals.  Both Student Learning Outcomes and Strategic Program Goals are formulated simultaneously. These goals are set for the academic year beginning the following Fall, and they are input into the TTU Strategic Planning Website in May, along with progress on goals from the current academic year. 

The Chair also holds a discussion with and receives input from the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences in the Spring, at which time the current year goals are discussed, and assessment results from previous cycles are presented. 

Examples of Success Stories

Anecdote I. Our monitorization of freshmen chemistry students' performance on the ACS General Chemistry Exam led to the conclusion that our students need more consistent practice at problem solving. Since assigning, collecting, and grading homework for 600 or more students was impractical, we opted for an online solution. In Fall of 2003 our Chem1110 students began to do homework online through OWL (Online Web-based Learning) authored by University of Massachusetts, Amherst. That year we were able to top the 50% mark by three points for the first time. (The nationally established average is 47.7%) Numerous other actions have been taken to improve student performance with limited success, but the OWL appears to be the major factor in improvement.

Anecdote II. Senior chemistry majors taking the ETS Chemistry Field exam have performed consistently better each year. See Figure I. This has been the result of actions taken over several years based on assessment data: i) We revamped our curriculum in Chem3410/3420, quantitative analysis, which had historically shown low performance on the ETS Exam; ii) we have hosted faculty-led evening study sessions with our seniors toattempt to consolidate their understanding accross the curriculum and thus improve their performance on not only the exit exam, but on GRE, MCAT, and PCAT exams; iii) we encouraged faculty to insert content and examples from other branches of chemistry into their courses so that students were continually reinforcing their learning breadth.

Figure I