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Timothy Champion Johnson C. Smith University Charlotte, NC 28216
Chemical Education for Toxic Substance Control1 Paul Tomboulian and Katie Parrot Department of Chemistry, Oakland University, Rochester, MI 48309 The environmental health major at Oakland University provides a flexible setting in which students can acquire a strong science-based technical background along with critical thinking skills. The major includes classes from several traditional major departments along with advanced interdisciplinary courses. The courses described in this article and the general design of the environmental health major may be of interest to other institutions considering a chemistry-based environmental curriculum. The environmental health program with the toxic substance control option is an educational experience unique to Oakland University. Academic Setting Oakland University is a state-assisted institution located in Oakland County, Michigan, about 25 miles north of Detroit. It opened in 1959 and currently enrolls 14,000 undergraduate and 2,800 graduate students. In addition to regular undergraduate chemistry majors, the department of chemistry sponsors and coordinates the Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Health, a relatively novel major. Environmental studies courses have been taught at Oakland since the mid-1960s, with the degree option developed in the mid-1970s. While to some the term “environmental health” has a meaning associated with the focus of traditional public health agencies, our use of the term encompasses a broad range of environmental topics including air, water, and soil pollution; public health and environmental protection; and resource management. The environmental curricula described here provide flexibility in designing programs for undergraduates, a desirable feature for education and training in nontraditional fields. Oakland University undergraduates differ in some respects from traditional college students, partly because 90% are commuters and most have part-time off-campus employ-
Figure 1. Student ranking of three values selected from the CIRP survey results.2 The clean-up question was added to the test in 1972.
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ment. Although students planning to graduate in eight semesters would carry an average of 16 credits per semester, the mean course load of our undergraduates is 11 credits. A significant group (38%) of all undergraduates enroll in only a few courses at a time, averaging six credits per semester. The mean age of the undergraduate population is 25, with a median of 22; 64% of the students are women and 34% are men. Students in the environmental health major also show some characteristics that are not typical of other Oakland students. These include a transfer into environmental health from another major, a longer-than-average college education experience, and completion of more course work than the required minimum. Data on the most recent 25 graduates in the toxic substance control specialization reveal that the students spent an average of 6.8 years in college with a range of 4–13 years and completed an average of 17 credits beyond the 128 minimum with a range of 1–52 extra credits; 16 (64%) transferred from another institution. Changing Undergraduate Values Many universities and colleges administer the Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP) Freshman Survey Program2 to first-year entering students. Oakland University has given this questionnaire to all incoming freshmen for nearly 30 years. The survey is intended to indicate the characteristics, attitudes, values, and aspirations of entering freshmen. Over time, the institution can observe and assess changes in the annual results. Comparative normative data are also available for freshmen who are enrolled in all institutions that use the CIRP. Some of Oakland’s student responses have changed significantly during the survey’s history. In particular, over the past 28 years there has been a large shift in students’ life goals. In 1994, “being very well off financially” was selected
Figure 2. Student ranking of three values selected from the CIRP survey results. 2 Data are not available on the family question before 1970.
Journal of Chemical Education • Vol. 74 No. 12 December 1997
In the Classroom by 78% of entering freshmen as either essential or very important, as compared to 34% in 1966. Also very important in 1994 were the goals of “being an authority in one’s field” and “raising a family”, the latter changing little over the survey period. Interestingly, socially oriented goals such as “being involved in environmental cleanup” and “developing a philosophy of life” were given much lower priority, with the latter goal declining in importance (Figs. 1, 2). The survey trends indicate that over the years, individual successes have become more important to the majority of entering freshmen. Oakland’s data on student values are in fact similar to those of other public institutions where the CIRP is administered, differing no more than 7 percentage points for the values graphed below. Oakland has dealt with these changed goals and interests of the student population by modifying traditional science curricula into a specialized program that is flexible and sensitive both to current societal needs and to the students’ interests. By doing this, the university can bridge the gap between the background that a conventional educational program provides and what students also need to learn for careers in today’s world. The courses in the environmental health program focus on real-world problems and contemporary issues. Use of critical thinking skills to identify and address these concerns is essential to success in the program. Students must not only be familiar with current environmental problems, solutions, and strategies, but they also need to learn to identify key issues and criteria, determine underlying assumptions, seek alternatives, and draw warranted conclusions. Today’s employers and graduate schools are interested in technically trained graduates who have these practical problem-solving skills. Design of and Options within the Major Three specializations, or options, are offered within the environmental health major. The specialization in occupational health and safety provides preprofessional training for careers relating human health and safety factors to working conditions. The environmental and resource management option emphasizes the intelligent use of natural resources, especially as they affect human health and wellbeing. The toxic substance control specialization, the most technical, provides training for professional opportunities in environmental toxicology, environmental health chemistry, and toxic substance management. At present, 10% of students select the occupational health and safety option, 50% select environmental and resource management, and 40% select toxic substance control. General features of the environmental health program are outlined below, followed by a description of each specialization, with emphasis on the toxic substance control option. All environmental health majors are required to complete an introductory core of 38 semester credits, prerequisites to many advanced courses.
Introductory Core Courses Introductory biology: 8 credits General chemistry: 10 credits Analytical chemistry: 4 credits General physics: 8 credits Statistics and introductory calculus: 8 credits
Advanced Courses for the Major Each of the three specializations requires an additional 50 semester credits, including 36 credits of junior- and senior-level courses. Typical courses in these programs are shown in the table below, identified by the letter O (Optional), S (Suggested), or R (Required). OH&S stands for the
Occupational Health and Safety specialization, E&RM for Environmental and Resource Management, and TSC for Toxic Substance Control. Air Chemistry Biochemistry Botany Earth Science Ecology Environmental Health Practice Environmental Law & Policies Environmental Toxicology Epidemiology Field Botany Field Biology Hazardous Materials Regulations Genetics Global Environmental Pressures Hazardous Materials Emergency Response Microbiology Industrial Chemistry Industrial Hygiene Field Survey Industrial Hygiene Monitoring Methods Industrial Safety Internship and Field Experience Introductory Environmental Studies Limnology Modern Environmental History Occupational Health Principles Occupational Health Control Methods Organic Chemistry (2 semesters) Physiology Principles of Occupational Health Pollution Prevention Public Administration Public Policy Analysis and Program Evaluation Scientific Writing Toxic Substance Control Water Resources
OH&S O S O O S R S R O O O S S O S O S R R R S R O O R R R R S S S S S S O
E&RM S O S S R R R S S S S O O S O S O O O O S R S S O O S O S O S S S O S
TSC S R O O R O O R S O O S S O S O S S S S S R O O S O R S S S S O S R O
Details on courses that are likely to be less familiar to the reader are indicated below. Air Chemistry: technical evaluation of nature and composition of the earth’s atmosphere; sources and effects of air pollution; ozone depletion; air pollution control Ecology: basic ecological concepts, energy and materials flow, chemical ecology; growth and regulation of populations, environmental biology Environmental Health Practice: vector control and prevention, sanitation practice, air pollution control; solid waste management, environmentally related diseases and prevention Environmental Law and Policies: legislative and legal perspectives on environmental health issues, with special emphasis on current laws, regulations, and the legal system Epidemiology: analysis of occurrence of human diseases; disease causation and disease control Global Environmental Pressures: interdisciplinary study of major world ecosystems Hazardous Material Emergency Response: procedures for responding to hazardous materials incidents; protective equipment, safety, decontamination, and governmental reporting Hazardous Materials Regulations: controls on the manufacture, use, storage, and disposal of hazardous materials; hazardous materials and industrial waste management; right-to-know compliance Industrial Chemistry: survey of the major sources and uses of chemicals; industrial chemical processes; types and sources of raw materials Industrial Hygiene Field Survey: current analytical procedures in occupational and environmental health; occupational health programs at local companies through site visits
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In the Classroom Industrial Hygiene Monitoring Methods: methods of measuring and analysis of occupational health hazards; evaluation of the effectiveness of industrial hygiene control methods Industrial Safety: safety assessment for occupational environments Introduction to Environmental Studies: survey of a broad range of environmental issues and global futures; air, water and land pollution, human demography, and food supplies Limnology: introduction to freshwater biology; lake origins and evolution, biogeochemical cycles, plankton and benthos, flora and fauna Modern Environmental History: history of global depletion of the world’s nonrenewable resources; conflicts between economic development and environmental quality Occupational Health Control Methods: control of occupational health hazards: personal protective equipment, noise, radiation, ventilation and engineering design Occupational Health Principles: recognition, evaluation, and control of chemical and physical stresses adversely affecting human health in the workplace Pollution Prevention: source reduction and waste minimization, recycling, toxics use reduction; hazardous material handling, life cycle analyses, air and water pollution control Public Administration: governmental processes, with special attention to policy formulation; personnel administration, administrative control, and accountability Public Policy Analysis and Program Evaluation: political, economic and social factors in development, implementation, and impact of public policies Water Resources: analysis of natural water systems, hydrology, eutrophication, and pollution; water quality and quantity, water management projects, and wastewater systems
Detail of Critical Senior-Level Courses The following two senior-level courses are of particular importance in the toxic substance control specialization; both require a knowledge of organic chemistry. Toxicology assumes some background in biochemistry. Topics discussed in each course are listed below. Environmental Toxicology: classes of environmental pollutants; water and groundwater pollutants; air pollutants; radioactive pollutants; biomembranes, exposure, toxokinetics, toxodynamics; factors affecting toxicity; dose– response and dose–effect relationships; transport, partitioning, and compartments; metabolism and fate; environmental and biochemical transformations; toxicological testing; effects on ecosystems: changes and evolution; phytotoxicology; structure–activity relationships; environmental epidemiology Toxic Substance Control: review of toxicological principles; life cycles of toxic substances; chemical distribution and use patterns; sources and quantitation of toxic substances; modeling of environmental fate; exposure quantitation and measurement; exposure modeling; risk and hazard assessment; risk management; setting risk levels; alternative technologies and management strategies; voluntary control options; risk communication; problem-solving approaches; case studies; remediation and contaminated site cleanups; regulatory strategies: standards, laws, permits, enforcement; environmental protection programs
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Figure 3. Number of declared majors and undergraduate students obtaining degrees from the environmental health program. Majors include all students who have formally selected the program, a choice that can be made at any time during the student’s career.
Enrollments and Employment Opportunities Throughout the 22-year history of the program, both the number of declared majors and the number of undergraduate students obtaining degrees from the environmental health program have been increasing (Fig. 3). Feedback from graduates and their employers indicates that the program provides appropriate and needed skills and background for the types of professions and activities listed below. Typical Job Titles and Activities for Program Graduates Environmental Chemist Analytical Chemist Environmental Engineer Toxicologist Aquatic Toxicologist Hazardous Materials Engineer Environmental Quality Analyst Hydrogeologist Industrial Hygienist Air Quality Engineer Occupational Health Specialist Regulatory Compliance Officer Hazardous Material Specialist Waste Management Engineer Environmental Auditor
The continuing success of the program will be determined by student interest, job markets, students’ future direction, and positive experiences in course work within the environmental health curriculum. Notes 1. A preliminary version of this paper was presented at the Environmental Chemistry Education Symposium, Division of Chemical Education, 207th National Meeting, American Chemical Society, San Diego, CA, March 15, 1994. 2. The Higher Education Research Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles, conducts the CIRP Freshman Survey Program under the continuing sponsorship of the American Council on Education.
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