The Chemistry Department in the Small Liberal Arts College S . J . VELLENGA Tarkio College, Tarkio, Missouri
ROBLEMS of administration in institutions of hlgher education are ever present. However, there are problems existent in the small liberal arts college of 200 or 300 students which do not exist in larger institutions, a t least not to as great an extent. Departments with one staff member certainly have many difficulties to solve which departments with a st& of two or more do not have. Chemistry has long since become a field wherein ~roficiencyin all branches is well nigh impossible. Twenty-five years ago one man might have handled all phases of a chemistry curriculum adequately. The question has now arisen, "Can one man still present all the fundamental courses satisfactorily?" If he has the ability, does he have the time? Can he synchronize his work with the aims of the college of which he is a part, and a t the same time prepare students for graduate work or industry to the same extent that larger schools can? The best alternative, of course, is for these schools to present three years of chemistry with the prospect of the student's completing his senior year a t some larger school, perhaps a t some school where he could go on further as a graduate student. This, indeed, may be the answer to the question of the chemistry department in the small college. At Tarkio College the departmental curriculum has been set up to make i t possible for one man to present all courses completely so as to prepare students for graduate work without retardation. The general chemistry course is adapted to fulfill the science requirement of any liberal arts student. The second semester of this course devotes all of its laboratory work and one of its two recitation periods to elementary qualitative analysis. The other recitation period takes up the study of the metals. During the second year quantitative analysis and a course in advanced general chemistry are offered. The advanced general chemistry course is a two-hour lec-
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ture-recitation course designid to add enough fundamental details to prepare a student for any junior or senior course in chemistry. (It is assumed that he will also be taking other fundamental courses such as physics and calculus.) The general chemistry course of the first year is not sufficiently detailed for a chemistry major. There is not enough demand for two courses in the ireshman year, that is, one for majors and one for those interested only in fulfilling their science requirement. Theiefore, the advanced general chemistry course fulfills the need of preparation for advanced work and it can be made sufficiently complete to satisfy any prerequisite for junior or senior chemistry. Organic and physical chemistry are offered alternately during the junior and senior years. This reduces the teaching load and in the small school the total number of junior and senior chemistry majors is not too large to be handled efficiently. A seminar course is offered to seniors who show proficiency for it. It consists of library and laboratory work and discussions on advanced topics. Some of the work may be on an original investigation of a minor nature. The above plan involves four different subject preparations besides that required for the seminar course. I t involves nine or ten class hours of lecture-recitation per week, and eleven or more clock hours of laboratory work, much of which can be handled by capable assistants. Certainly the instructor is not overburdened. Results of the program outlined above have not been fully determined since there has not been sufficient time nor a normal enrollment to test it out. However, the advanced general chemistry course has worked out admirably and has definitely justified itself. The efficiency of the one-man chemistry department is probably still a moot question. However, it does seem that the difficulties of such a program are not insurmountable and a trial of only a few years should determine its feasibility.
