Chemistry is the science that examines and works toward understanding changes in matter. Chemistry has been described as the central science because matter includes the entire physical world, such as the things we use, the food we eat, and even ourselves. Correlating the insights of chemistry with physics, mathematics, and molecular biology opens vistas that excite and offer opportunities to better the entire world.

Chemists as scientists must be knowledgeable in fact and theory for solving scientific problems and also capable of providing a public understanding of their work, including potential problems as well as benefits.

Chemists as people must be broadly educated in order to understand themselves and their society. The liberal arts as offered in the general education curriculum is imperative if a chemist is to be both truly human and truly scientific.

The department is on the list of approved schools of the American Chemical Society (ACS) and offers a chemistry major that meets the chemistry background required by many fields.

Consonant with these ideas, the Department of Chemistry has established the following objectives to help its students develop into mature scientists:

•To provide a course of study of sufficient rigor and depth to enable our graduates who complete our ACS chemistry major to compete successfully with their peers of similar ability in graduate school or research positions.

•To provide programs of study for professional goals in addition to the traditional positions as chemists.

•To provide an atmosphere of learning so that students will want to remain lifelong learners, thereby remaining competent in their field, however that may change after graduation, and be able to move into new areas as opportunities arise.

•To encourage students to take a broad view of their education and to integrate outside study areas with the sciences.

•To present the excitement of chemistry to non-science majors as an example of the methodology of the natural sciences in examining the world around us. The presentation of major concepts underlying the changes in matter, the opportunity to examine change in the physical world, and the reflection of the implications and limitations of science in our society will enhance the ability of non-science persons to make better value judgments concerning science questions in their own endeavors.