Chemistry - B.S.
Steven Damo, Ph.D., Discipline Coordinator
Chemistry is important, both as an area in liberal education and as a professional field. Fisk's chemistry program is on the approved list of the American Chemical Society (ACS). Its faculty members are active in research in different areas of chemistry, especially in biomedical, computational, and environmental research. Students often collaborate in these projects.
The chemistry discipline offers both undergraduate and graduate programs. The undergraduate offerings are designed to serve three types of students: those who intend to pursue chemistry as a profession or to do graduate work in chemistry; those who need training in chemistry as part of their preparation for professional fields such as medicine, dentistry, nursing, and secondary school teaching; and those who wish a knowledge of chemistry as part of a liberal education. Students intending to major in chemistry should consult with a member of the chemistry faculty regarding a program of study.
The program in Chemistry has the following goals:
- To provide a challenging curriculum with effective methods for teachers to teach and students to learn chemistry.
- To prepare students for graduate study, professional training or careers in industry, education and government through study and research.
Learning Outcomes
Upon completion of the chemistry major, the student will:
- Demonstrate knowledge of CORE principles and theories of chemistry;
- Integrate the use of chemistry with other sciences and apply knowledge, theory, technology and instrumentation of chemistry to solve real life problems;
- Demonstrate knowledge and practice of technical and safety skills in the laboratory; and
- Demonstrate oral and written communication skills relevant to chemistry research.
- Departmental honors in chemistry are awarded to exceptional graduating seniors. In addition to Fisk University’s requirement for a minimum cumulative grade- point average of 3.3 in chemistry courses, chemistry majors must also have participated in senior research in CHEM 355 and/or 356 and must be examined on an honors thesis based on this research.
Chemistry major programs are designed to meet American Chemical Society standards, which do not permit reduced credit hours in chemistry. Consequently, the chemistry discipline does not enter into joint major agreements with other disciplines.
Major Requirements
Requirements for the chemistry major, in addition to the University degree requirements outlined within this Bulletin, are:
Courses in Chemistry
At least 42 credits for the B.S. degree, including the following (with variations as authorized by the department):
Note:
CHEM 316: required for ACS curriculum
NSCI 361 and NSCI 361L: required for ACS accreditation
CHEM 501 and CHEM 502: Qualified seniors should take the graduate Chemistry Colloquium.
The remaining hours in chemistry, sufficient to reach the required total, should be chosen in consultation with the discipline’s faculty.
Required Cognates [20 credits]:
MATH Elective: beyond Calculus II
MATH Elective, NSCI 360 and CSCI 110: An additional 4-credit mathematics or computer science course approved by the chemistry faculty.
Mathematics requirement
In lieu of CORE mathematics course (CORE 131), chemistry majors meet the mathematics requirement by means of the cognate coursework in mathematics described above.
General Electives
Chemistry majors are advised to include, among their general elective coursework, additional study in mathematics and computer science.
Suggested Program Plan
(Recommendations for B.S. noted in parentheses where different)
First Year, Fall Semester [16 credits]
First Year, Spring Semester [17 credits]
Second Year, Fall Semester [15-16 credits]
| CORE E Social Science Elective | 3-4 |
| CHEM 233 | ORGANIC CHEMISTRY I | 3 |
| CHEM 203 | EXPERIMENTS IN ORGANIC CHEMISTRY I | 1 |
| PHYS 130 | UNIVERSITY PHYSICS I | 3 |
| PHYS 130L | EXPERIMENTS IN GENERAL PHYSICS I | 1 |
| | |
| SPAN 200 | INTENSIVE INTERMEDIATE SPANISH | 3 |
| Or | |
| FREN 200 | INTENSIVE INTERMEDIATE FRENCH | 4 |
Second Year, Spring Semester [16-17 credits]
| CORE 260 | HUMANITIES: THOUGHT AND EXPERIENCE | 3 |
| CHEM 234 | ORGANIC CHEMISTRY II | 3 |
| CHEM 206 | EXPERIMENTS IN ORGANIC AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY | 2 |
| CORE A: Cultural Exposure | 3-4 |
| PHYS 140 | UNIVERSITY PHYSICS II | 3 |
| PHYS 140L | EXPERIMENTS IN GENERAL PHYSICS II | 1 |
Third Year, Fall Semester [17 credits]
| CORE C, The Creative Arts | 3 |
| CHEM 341 | PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY I | 3 |
| CORE 201 | INTRODUCTION TO BUSINESS AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP | 3 |
MATH COG.
| | 4 |
MATH COG.: An approved cognate course in mathematics or related subject
CORE B:
Third Year, Spring Semester [15 credits]
CORE D:
| Natural Science Elective(s) | 4 |
| Or | |
| General Elective | 4 |
| | |
| CHEM 342 | PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY II | 3 |
| CORE 360 | THE WORLD AND ITS PEOPLES | 3 |
| | |
| CHEM 356 | SENIOR RESEARCH | 3 |
| Or | |
CHEM
| Elective | 3 |
Fourth Year, Fall Semester [14.5 credits]
Fourth Year, Spring Semester [10.5 credits]
| CHEM 502 | Chemical Colloquium | 0.5 |
| CHEM 316 | INORGANIC CHEMISTRY | 4 |
| | |
| General Electives and/or CHEM electives | 6 |
CORE Curriculum Requirements
The cafeteria style CORE curriculum will be chosen from one of the courses in each of the following groups, A-E.
GROUP A (Choose one of the following):
GROUP B (Choose one of the following):
GROUP C (Choose one of the following):
GROUP D (Choose CORE 240 or any two science courses from the list below):
GROUP E (Choose one of the following):
Total Credit Hours: 120