EVENING' INSTRUCTION for th CHEMIST in INDUSTRY The Chicago Plan. Part II
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ARTHUR GUILLAUDEU Swift & Company, Chicago, Illinois
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HE CHICAGO Section of the American Chemical Society cooperates with The University of Chicago to .provide evening instruction in chemistry and allied subjects. Starting in 1923, the first lecture courses were in physical chemistry and in physiological chemistry. At that time several Chicago schools offered evening instruction in qualitative and .quantitative analysis and one or two offered organic chemistry, but nothing more advanced was available. The first objective was to refresh and to bring up to date chemists who had graduated some years before and to provide evening instruction on the graduate level for any who could not attend daytime classes. The idea aroused some skepticism and a little opposition, but also received much encouragment, so the work was continued and in 1926 the Chicago Section agreed to sponsor it and The University of Chicago agreed to teach the courses with the cooperation of the Chicago Section. This appears to have been the first occurrence of close cooperation by a section and a university to provide graduate instruction for the employed. Both the Kansas City Section and the Philadelphia Section have had considerable success organizing similar classes. We have corresponded with several other sections which have not yet been successful along this line. A report of the first five years of classes was presented in April, 1928 [A. GUILLAUDEU AND W. V. EVANS, J. CAEM.EDUC.,5, 1406-14 (Nov., 1928)]. The present report deals with the developments since that time. During the first five years, twenty different lecture courses were given. No laboratory work was then available. Now about twenty classes are scheduled per year, many of which include the presentation of both lecture and laboratory work. In general we plan our schedules about three years in advance. buildina them around three fields of chem-
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Resented. before the Division of Chemical Education of the A. C. S. at Cleveland, Ohio, September 11, 1934.
istry, namely, advanced inorganic, advanced organic, and advanced physical chemistry, with three corresponding courses in physics, namely, light, molecular physics and heat, electricity and magnetism. For instance, the two years of advanced physical chemistry are preceded by elementary physical chemistry and followed by such special topics as the phase rule. Similarly, lectures in advanced organic chemistry are accompanied or followed by qualitative organic analysis laboratory, organic preparations laboratory, and lectures on specialized topics. We do not adhere rigorously to a three-year cycle but vary it as conditions require. .. For example, elementary physical chemistry was taught for three quarters in the school year of 1929-30. This was followed by two quarters of lectures on advanced physical chemistry in 1930-31 and two additional quarters of advanced physical chemistry in 193132. Advanced inorganic chemistry lectures in 1929-30 (two quarters) were followed the next year by inorganic preparations laboratory, and in 1931-32 advanced organic chemistry lectures (three quarters) were accompanied by organic preparations laboratory (two quarters) and qualitative organic analysis laboratory (one quarter). The cycle in physics included electricity and magnetism in 192930 (two quarters lectures and two quarters laboratory); molecular physics and heat (two quarters lectures and one quarter laboratory) in 193031; and light (two quarters lectures and one quarter laboratory) in 1931-32. This physics cycle was repeated in the next three years. Most of the courses are suitable for graduate credit, but some undergraduate courses have been introduced in recent years to round out the opportunities. Thorough instruction in the theories of qualitative inorganic analysis has been one of the most valuable of these undergraduate courses. The laboratory courses have been surprisingly welcome to the chemists from industrial laboratories, as
well as to the teachers. They are sought both by candidates for degrees and by those who want to apply their new knowledge directly to their daily problems. For instance, most of the 45 students in chemical microscopy were from industrial laboratories. They were mature chemists of considerable experience as well as training. This course had been requested for several years before suitable arrangements could be made for it. Now it will probably be given in the evening a t least every second year. The University of Chicago has no engineering school. So lectures and problem work in chemical engineering were an interesting innovation. We were fortunate to secure, as instructor, a very capable engineer from the staff of the Standard Oil Company (Indiana). The instruction was limited to Lewis and Radasch "Industrial Stoichiometry" and to the Walker, Lewis, and McAdams text on the"Princip1es of Chemical Engineering." The time given to this study was one two-hour class per week throughout four quarters. The University of Chicago did not credit this course toward any of its present degrees, but recorded the successful completion of it by the individual students. The attendance on the first series of classes in chemical engineering was over 40 per quarter. This instruction in chemical engineering a t the University aroused such interest a t the Whiting, Indiana, plant of the Standard Oil Company that in the following year a class of over 90 employees of the Company studied the same subject there, under the same instructor. In the next year the subject was again included in the continuation courses. Now, after a lapse of two years, it is to be taught again in 1935-36. Another influence of the Chicago Section's continuation courses is illustrated by the following. An engineer of one of the large electrical corporations attended some of the classes in physics. He then interested other engineers and they cooperated with the University and arranged several series of lecture courses in physics and math~maticson a plan similar to Ours. Due to the large number of engineers in the Chicag~area, enrolment in their classes was larger than in the chemistry classes, and in some cases approached 200. They also made arrangements for lectures on engineering economics, with enrolment exceeding 120. In the last few years, the unfavorable business conditions have curtailed the activities of the engineers. Experience with all these courses had its part in encouraging the University to establish several successive series of public lecture courses in physics and chemistry. These public lectures were arranged in series of ten, once a week for one hour a t $3.00 per ten lectures. As many as 500 have bought course tickets for a single one of these series. During the past winter and spring, two such series of lectures were given on physics and it is hoped that in the near future similar series may be arranged, dealing with chemistry and with biology. Lectures on physiological chemistry have been well attended throughout the history of this work and have
been supplemented by laboratory work and by instruction in bacteriology and in physiology. The advantages brought about by these continuation courses have been quite widespread. Attendance on the classes has never been restricted to members of the American Chemical Society and no campaign for membership was in any way connected with these classes. Yet both the National Society and the Chicago Section have increased in membership thereby. The continuation courses have benefited the industries by providing further training for their experienced chemists. The additional income due to increased registration provided, for a time, for some increase of the University staff. Other educational institutions in the vicinity have been encouraged to carry their evening instruction to more advanced levels as well as to include more subjects of instruction. Teachers in the city schools and in the various colleges have been able to progress more rapidly toward advanced degrees. Students regularly enrolled in daytime classes have benefited by continuation courses in several ways. The increased number desiring a course has led to its being repeated a t shorter intervals. The University laboratories have been open in the evenings to a greater extent. Students still on the campus and chemists already employed have had opportunity to exchange ideas and have benefitedmutually. Again,the eveningworkhas included topics not ordinarily taught in the daytime and has supplied a larger, more diversified group of instructors. Probably the greatest benefits of the work have come to individual students. No complete record has been kept of the students who attended only evening classes, but at least one completed the entire work for the doctorate without relinquishing his daytime job. Another who attained the doctorate voliinteered that the continuation courses had permitted him to complete so much of the necessary work while employed that he was off salary only one year, which you will agree is an important item for a man with a family. These are illustrations. Doubtless others had siiqilar experiences. Many have been interested in courses dealing with their particular industrial interest; for instance, physiological chemistry, colloids, carbohydrates, and the Xray methods of determining crystal structure. In closing, I wish to express appreciation of the excellent cooperation of all concerned. The staff of The University of Chicago attends to all the details of registration; classrooms, etc. Dean Huth, of University College, has been deeply interested in the work and has contributed very largely to its success. The Section, through its Bzrlletin and its meetings, has provided necessary publicity. The lecturers have been drawn not only from The University of Chicago, but also from Northwestern University, h o u r Institute, Standard Oil Company (Indiana), Universal Oil Products Company, and the Portland Cement Association, and throughout the entire history of the work we have enjoyed the friendly advice of many individuals. It has been a great pleasure to be associated with this work and to note its continuous progress.
