Bachelor of Arts - Chemistry

The Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry offers an outstanding educational environment for undergraduate and graduate students. The department's mission is to educate, train, and produce versatile chemists and biochemists who understand both the theoretical basis and practical applications of their discipline. Department faculty provide quality instruction across a wide range of sub-disciplines. Degree programs are designed to prepare students for various professional positions (i.e., biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, chemical manufacturing, and other laboratory-based industries), health professions (i.e., medical, pharmacy, and dental school), graduate study, and teaching positions. Students receive significant hands-on experience with modern instrumentation in our relatively small-sized lab classes, and the opportunity to participate in research projects under the direct supervision of faculty. The department houses a variety of state-of-the-art research instrumentation, laboratory facilities, and computational labs. These include a Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) facility, a Mass Spectrometry (MS) facility, a Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) facility, and the Computational Chemistry and Visualization (CCV) laboratory. The Bachelor of Arts in Chemistry program is particularly well-suited for those students whose career goals involve the integration of chemistry with other fields. This program can be combined with another degree or minor to develop the unique synthesis of experience needed for careers in health professions, forensic science, environmental science, regulatory affairs, chemical engineering, patent law, management, sales, marketing, technical writing, scientific journalism, library science, and art restoration. This program also provides excellent preparation for high school science teachers. Students planning to become K–12 chemistry or science teachers should note that additional preparation beyond the major is required to meet the breadth requirements and should consult with the credential advisor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry to review the state-mandated requirements.