The Chemistry Department at Fort Lewis College provides modern chemical skills and knowledge for students preparing for careers in areas such as environmental analysis, biotechnology, teaching, medicine, pollution control, and engineering. It also offers certification by the American Chemical Society for students completing the ACS-certified curriculum.

We are proud to be one of five departments at Fort Lewis College to be named a Program of Excellence by the Colorado Commission on Higher Education, recognizing our program as one of the best in the State.  Fort Lewis College ranks in the top 10 in the National Science Foundation's Mountain Region in the number of graduates who would eventually go on to earn a PhD in Chemistry.

Our Students Come First

Our department is devoted to providing students with the best possible education, through a combination of quality teaching, involvement with the scientific community through research, and focus on students.  The Department's teaching philosophy requires that students and faculty work in close, informal relationships that minimize competition and hierarchy and promote discovery and critical thinking with a free, fearless exchange of ideas and assistance.   The Departmental culture fosters high retention. As we have learned from our students, our open door policy and accessibility of faculty strongly contributes to the Department’s ability to retain students.

Our Graduates are Well Prepared

Graduates of the Department of Chemistry are well prepared for the day they leave Fort Lewis College. They are successful entrants to medical, graduate and professional schools, as well directly into the workforce.

With the national resurgence of attention to undergraduate research (in virtually all empirical fields), the Department explicitly places two boundaries on its research efforts, namely, (1) that the primary goal of undergraduate research is education, and (2) that teaching excellence must not be compromised by the various extracurricular demands created by faculty research activities. That said, we believe that undergraduate research opportunities and the highly personalized learning environment are essential reasons that Fort Lewis College students rise from ordinary high school backgrounds to excel in their scientific careers.  Many participate in research jointly with faculty members, both during the school year, and in our summer undergraduate research program.  

Hands-on experience with modern instruments requires providing lab stations dedicated to major instruments, strategically located to be accessible for use by students in several courses. The interactive, small group projects found in all lab courses requires a lab format that permits students to cluster for planning, then simultaneously work on several aspects of the project, move to instrument stations as needed and compile and evaluate results. These laboratory formats allow students to develop within the framework of a modern scientific workplace, with collaborative teamwork and integration of techniques.  During the past 15 years, our students have had success in acquiring jobs in industry, and continuing on to nationally recognized graduate programs.

Our Mission

The Chemistry Department has a major responsibility for providing fundamental chemistry instruction for students majoring in geology, engineering, physics, biology and agriculture, and for other students preparing for careers in teaching, health delivery and environmental science/policy. Much of the first two years of the curriculum is designed to meet this service need rigorously and efficiently, with major emphasis on examples and applications drawn from the various fields. Furthermore, the Department seeks to deliver this service function in a student-friendly manner so that chemistry will not create an unnecessary academic barrier between students and their career goals.

The teaching philosophy of the Chemistry Department contains the following fundamental elements: 

• Discovery cultivates intellectual excitement, the strongest life-long motivation for learning.
• Hands-on work with modern instrumentation and techniques combined with solving real chemistry problems provides the best preparation for post-graduate careers and graduate or professional schools.
• Interactive learning and research collaborations increase the overall learning effectiveness while developing the cooperative skills needed in today’s technical workplaces.
• Undergraduate research, including capstone projects, is an effective vehicle for integrating the first three elements; namely, discovery combined with hands-on experience and workplace collaborations contributes a sense of belonging to the larger scientific enterprise.

The Department of Chemistry's Learning Outcomes

Graduates with a Chemistry degree from Fort Lewis College have demonstrated that they can:*

• Clearly communicate complex chemical concepts in written and oral forms (senior thesis and public seminar, laboratory reports)
• Apply fundamental and complex concepts from multiple sub-disciplines in new situations (ACS standardized exams, senior thesis and seminar, undergraduate research)
• Demonstrate working knowledge of instrumentation and laboratory techniques (laboratory and research reports, undergraduate research, alumni career success, proven record of admission to graduate schools)
• Competently enter the workforce or graduate school (GRE scores, alumni career success, proved record of admission to graduate schools)
  
  *Assessment methods listed in parentheses