1. Since at least the 1940’s, the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry (and its predecessors) has maintained an active student laboratory research program. The department has received continuous research support from the Robert A. Welch Foundation since 1960, now totaling nearly $2.5M, in addition to various other research grants. The department received the university’s first endowed professorship, the M. E. “Mac” Pruitt Professorship in Chemistry in the early 1980’s, to support the research efforts of the Pruitt Professor. Every full-time professor has a Ph.D. and laboratory research space, and an active research program. One result of this 60-70-year commitment to research is that graduates from the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry have earned over 105 Ph.D.s in chemistry, biochemistry, and related disciplines. The department’s annual research budget, including salaries for faculty and students and supplies, but excluding any base salaries, is around $60,000.
2. A major focus of the department is preparation of students to enter health professions. As part of this preparation, these students shadow physicians and dentists, they work in pharmacies, they observe surgeries. Many go on medical missions where they can actually treat patients by injecting medication or pulling teeth. The meet regularly as part of the Christian Medical and Dental Association to hear testimonies from practicing doctors and dentists and professional school students about how their faith has impacted their profession and vice versa. These students take a medical ethics class that forces them to think about some of the toughest life and death decisions that lie before them, but in a setting where they are safe and have time to consider all aspects of these decisions. All of these research activities make these students more knowledgeable about the discipline they have chosen, and allow them to more fully commit to the path before them or perhaps to change course before they go too far down this path. Graduates from this department have earned over 160 professional doctoral degrees in the health care field.
3. For students from this department who do not enter graduate or professional schools, they primarily enter the workforce as chemists or biochemists. For these students, the availability of a degree from this department that is approved by the American Chemical Society (ACS) may make the difference in the kind of job for which they can apply. Some employers will not consider entry-level chemists or biochemists whose bachelors degrees are not approved by the ACS. For this reason, the ACU Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry in 1971 sought and received ACS accreditation, making it probably the first such accreditation of any department at ACU. The standards that are required by the ACS ensure that graduates with-ACS approved degrees have completed rigorous classes in chemistry and biochemistry that force them to explore the chemical literature, create a product using what they have learned from the chemical literature, and express the results of their research in written and oral formats. Students completing these programs are ideally suited to enter the chemical profession and be successful. M.E. “Mac” Pruitt rose to the level of vice-president for research at Dow with a BS degree from ACC as his only formal training. Many others have followed in his footsteps to enjoy successful careers in various industries and government.
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