EDUCATION
Chemical Technology Plan Available Guideline to post-high school training comes at time when federal money is more available Teachers and school administrators now have a guide to help them plan programs in chemical technology. Prepared for the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare's Office of Education, the curriculum guide is designed as an aid toward developing programs for educating highly skilled technicians—for example, for work in chemical production and research, as process analysts or "trouble shooters," and pilot-plant operators. The guide comes at a time when more federal money is available to public community colleges and technical institutes for construction of academic facilities. The 88th Congress authorized appropriations (Public Law 88-204) for "assistance to public and other nonprofit institutions of higher education in financing the construction, rehabilitation, or improvement of needed academic and related facilities in undergraduate and graduate institutions/' Funds (up to $230 million) may be allotted for each of three fiscal years, beginning with fiscal 1964. Public community colleges and technical institutes may apply for grants up to 40 % of the total cost of a development program; they may apply for loans up to 7 5 % of the total cost. Now that more money is available for buildings and hardware, undergraduate institutions are in a position to expand their curriculums to meet the need in technical areas. H E W has anticipated the demand for assistance in developing a post-high school curriculum for chemical technology. Guide. The guide is entitled "Chemical Technology. A Suggested 2-Year Post High School Curriculum" (Technical Education Program Series No. 5 ) . Basic material included in the text was prepared by Robert Pachaly for the Connecticut State Department of Education; information on facilities and costs came from E. Rexford Billings. The final draft of the guide was prepared by Dr. Walter J. Brooking of the Office of Education. 50
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The two-year curriculum guide includes course outlines, laboratory layouts, and lists of texts and references. Technical courses, mathematics and science courses, and auxiliary or supporting technical courses (such as technical report writing) are listed. General courses such as communication skills, general and industrial economics, and industrial organizations and institutions are also part of the curriculum. The level of instruction is post-high school—junior colleges and two-year technical institutes, for instance. But the sequence of course work may start at any grade level where students have the prerequisite background and understanding. Also listed in the guide are library and laboratory needs. Included are items such as staff requirements, budget, and library content (reference materials, technical journals, and visual aids). The guide discusses physical facilities for teaching chemistry (lab benches, storage cabinets, plumbing, and fume hoods, and lab safety, for instance). Cost estimates for facilities and equipment for teaching chemical technology are included. The curriculum was designed to meet three requirements: • To prepare graduates of the program to be productive in, their jobs in the chemical industry. • To enable graduates to advance to positions of increasing responsibility by giving them a broad, technical training together with a reasonable amount of practical experience. • To give students a foundation that allows them to do further study within a technical field.
BRIEFS A five-year program to train college administrators will be started by the American Council on Education. The program will be supported by a $4.75 million grant from the Ford Founda-
tion. Twenty-five "interns" will take part in the program during 1965-66; 50 interns will take part the following year, and 75 in each of the three succeeding years. Likely prospects for internships will be nominated by executive officers of colleges and universities. An advisory committee will help select interns, who probably will be persons who already have some experience in academic administration and are currently teaching. The interns will be placed in jobs such as assistants to presidents, provosts, and deans. Each internship will carry a stipend equal to the appointee's current salary, plus travel and moving allowance.
The Camille Dreyfus Professorship in Chemistry has been established at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation (New York City) is supporting the professorship with a $500,000 grant. The Swiss-born Dreyfus brothers made the first cellulosic acetate yarn and formed British Celanese, Ltd., Canadian Celanese, Ltd., and Celanese Corp. of America.
The John Stauffer Laboratory for Physical Chemistry has been dedicated at Stanford University, Stanford, Calif. The new laboratory is a twin of the adjacent John Stauffer Chemistry Building, dedicated in 1961 for organic chemistry. The physical chemistry building was built with funds from John Stauffer (senior director of Stauffer Chemical Co.), a gift from the company itself, and a grant from the National Science Foundation.
Freshman chemical engineering enrollment is up 7 0 % at the University of Texas, Austin. Seventy-one freshmen are enrolled in chemical engineering this fall, compared with 42 a year ago. Total chemical engineering enrollment has increased from 260 in 1963-64 to 270 this year.
University of Idaho has dedicated its new physical science building. Cost of the four-story structure was more than $2.1 million. The two top floors of the building and some of the firstfloor classrooms are devoted to chemistry. Floor area of the building is about 96,500 square feet.
