The Chemistry Department anticipates that our two new campus locations (Eastview and Pinnacle) will be up and running within the next year.

We envision improved safety measures within our labs. Standard safety and emergency procedures that are used by staff, instructors, and students at all campuses are major priorities. We hope to have functional safety equipment such as eyewashes, showers, and hoods at all campuses. We will keep our chemical supply lists and Material Safety Data Sheets current.

We want to form a closer alliance with UT, Austin with the formation of a Peer Teaching Assistant Program. In this program, students interested in science education can work as peer teachers for students at ACC.

More full-time professors are needed. We would also like to have more technical lab support. Lab safety and ease of operation would be greatly improved with a larger technical staff.

The Chemistry Department would like to have more technological support. We want more computers and room for the computers. In conjunction, we would like to have programs that simulate concepts taught in the lectures and labs (for example, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance and Infrared simulation programs, and programs which illustrate mechanisms in organic reactions). These programs would greatly enhance student learning and would be less expensive than the actual equipment.

Another important aim is labs that are equipped with reasonably state-of-the-art equipment, such as computer-driven Gas Chromatographs and Infrared Spectrophotometers. This equipment would be maintained with adequate funds or with service contracts.

There will need to be more rooms for labs. Out of necessity, some of our labs operate with too many students. Labs with smaller numbers of students are desirable because of increased safety and increased learning opportunities. Also, some of our lab rooms are shared with biology. This compromises both safety and the general learning experience for students of both disciplines. Providing separate facilities is a goal we are working toward.

We envision a chemistry department empowered to budget for big-ticket equipment over several years, able to write and pass out their own lab materials, and also able to schedule and staff their own discipline.

We look forward to a higher percentage of students successfully completing our courses and more students successfully transferring to four-year colleges. We hope to obtain with greater ease, information about the success of our transferring students from these institutions.