A Brief History Of The Chemistry Department

by

Carl H. Snyder, Professor of Chemistry Emeritus

Current segment: 1972-1977 -- Reaching Critical Mass . . . But With More To Be Done; Progress Continues

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1972-1977

Reaching Critical Mass . . . But With More To Be Done

Harry Schultz's tenure as Chair (June, 1972 until his retirement from the University at the end of the 1983-84 academic year) began with a department comprising 15 full- and 7 part-time faculty. Part-time chemistry faculty are identified with italics: Of the part-time faculty, Drost-Hansen, Gropp and Man would become full-time in 1974, 1978 and 1979, respectively. Schultz and Criss's 1986 "History of the Chemistry Department. 1926-1985" sums up the teaching status of the department (p, 26): "For the 1972-73 year, 15.5 full-time faculty met 42 different classes and supervised 96 different lab-room units . . . ." (Since Man, a part-time member of the department, also taught, he was counted as the additional half of a full-time faculty member.) Except for S. Fox, all those on the list have been described in earlier segments of this history. Sidney Fox joined the University in 1964 to head the Institute for Molecular and Cellular Biology. Along with Kaoru Harada (see the 1959-68 segment), Fox became a part-time member of the Chemistry Department.

As part of his vision for the department, Schultz began assembling both a departmental history and a record of current events. In October, 1977, this evolved into the first issue of UMCHEM, one of the principal sources of this work. The first six issues contain a history of the department from the beginning of the University to 1972, when Schultz assumed the chair. After a gap of about 5 years, the history continues with the 1977 publication of the first UMCHEM, but only as a diary of then-current events reported annually in each issue. For the years the years of the gap, 1972-1977 -- from the last of the historical narratives to the first of the annual diaries -- the document "History of Chemistry Department. 1926-1985" by Schultz and Criss represents the only readily available source. (This Schultz-Criss history was prepared for a time-capsule buried on campus by the local chapter of Sigma Xi in 1986, the 60th anniversary of the opening of the university.) A section titled "reaching critical mass . . ." summarizes detailed departmental data from 1972 to 1984.

For the individual 1972-73 and 1983-84 academic years:

As for the 12 years between the 1972-73 and the 1983-84 academic years, the Schultz-Criss document reports that a total of 1,100 BS degrees were granted during that period, with most going to preprofessional students, a little over half of whom proceeded to graduate work in professional schools. Of the 1,100 students receiving BS degrees, about 5% were ACS-certified as professional chemists. From the birth of the Chemistry Department through May, 1984, a total of 1,800 BS degrees were awarded.

Schultz and Criss performed a detailed analysis of undergraduate degrees granted by the Chemistry Department and by all other ACS-accredited departments in the US from 1972 through 1984. They concluded that during those years the UM Chemistry Department granted "about five times the national average per certified school!"

Data for graduate degrees was not as satisfying. For MS degrees the departmental rate was only "about one-third the national average"; for the PhD, the Departmental "effectiveness [was] less than half the . . . national average." They concluded, in this 1986 document: "In short, the UM chemistry program is superb at the BS level; below par at the graduate level." As for trends, they reported with optimism that "In the fall of 1985 there were 40 full-time graduate students; two half-time students, and already the total grant dollars amounted to $650,000!"

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Progress Continues

For the academic year 1973-74 the University of Miami Bulletin lists Sidney Fox (Professor of Biochemistry and Director of the Institute of Molecular Evolution) and Frank Millero (Assistant Professor of Marine Science and of Chemistry) as new (part-time) members of the Chemistry Department. In addition, Doepker has been promoted from Assistant to Associate Professor of Chemistry. In the following year, 1974-75, Millero receives a similar promotion from Assistant to Associate Professor of Marine Science and Chemistry.

For 1975-76 Snyder is promoted to Professor of Chemistry, and in the Spring term of 1976 he introduces a new chemistry course combining chemistry with consumerism. With consumer products used to spark interest in chemical principles and applications, and with chemistry used to increase an understanding of consumer products, the course began as CHM 100, Consumer Science, a 1-credit course for nonscience students. With substantial student interest, the course have evolved into two 3-credit courses, CHM 101 and 102, known successively as Consumer Chemistry I and II, then Fundamentals of Chemistry I and II. The courses have remained as part of the chemistry curriculum and are still being taught (2006).

Among part-time members of the 1975-76 department, Drost-Hansen is Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Oceanography, Fox is now listed simply as Professor of Chemistry, Man is Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Oceanography and Dean of Research Coordination, and Stuckwisch is Professor of Chemistry and Dean of the Graduate School. The following year Millero is promoted to Professor of Oceanography and of Chemistry.

Robert E. (Bob) Gawley
William L.(Bill) Purcell
With publication of Schultz's first UMCHEM in October, 1977, a detailed history of the Chemistry Department once again becomes available. Among changes in faculty are the August, 1977, arrival of two new Assistant Professors of Chemistry: Robert E. Gawley, an organic chemist (PhD, 1975, Duke University), and William L. (Bill) Purcell, an inorganic chemist (PhD 1973, University of Nebraska). The first UMCHEM also reports the death of Delchamps in September, 1977, after a brief illness. Curtis E. (Gene) Delchamps had been with the department since 1955. A change in faculty rank was the June, 1976, promotion of Criss to Professor of Chemistry.









George H. Fisher
Frank J. Millero
Schultz also describes the activities of three adjunct faculty, Frank Millero (of the Marine Science Laboratories), George Fisher (of the Department of Medicine), and Ronald Block (of the Pappanicolaou Institute).

Finally, the first UMCHEM rounds out the discussion of the current status of the department with a description of the staff:

"ART CARLSON, Instrument Maker, is a whiz at repairing, remodeling, and building the various electronic instruments that chemistry needs . . . for teaching and research. GLORIA COOPER, Secretary, and most recent staff addition, takes care of most of our correspondence; her typing has brought together the material you are presently reading! FRED DUQUETTE, . . . Stockroom Coordinator, does just that, and very well so. . . . The volume of paper which today moves through the central chemistry office is kept in order, with all deadlines met, because of the care taken by ROBERTA MANNING, Staff Coordinator."

(Roberta Manning had just joined the department, in September, 1977; Fred Duquette would retire in May, 1978.)



Arthur (Art) Carlson




Gloria Cooper




Roberta (Bobbie) Manning




Fred Duquette


Current segment: 1972-1977 -- Reaching Critical Mass . . . But With More To Be Done; Progress Continues

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