Chair’s message
This fall, I am teaching a First Year Seminar to 20 CST undergraduates and a weekly seminar to the Chemistry Department first-year graduate students. We’re all new to what we’re doing: the undergrads to college with all that entails; the grad students to being teaching assistants, taking graduate classes and choosing a research group; and me to being department chair. We’re all excited about the future and just a little nervous.
The outgoing chair, Dan Strongin, led our department through incredibly challenging times, including COVID (which unfortunately is ongoing) and the death of our beloved colleague Rod Andrade (see page 4). Also, longtime professors Scott Sieburth and Andrew Price retired during the past year. We miss them and wish them well. As I told my seminar students, we’ve all persevered and gotten through things in the past 18 months that we never imagined we could. Temple people had grit before grit was trendy.
The Temple Chemistry Department has a rich history, and I would love to hear your stories. Please call, write or visit us in Beury Hall and the Science Education and Research Center. And we invite you to connect with us on Twitter @TUChemBot.
I would love to hear your advice to today’s students, who may be sitting right where you once were. They too are eager to accomplish great things.
Ann Valentine
Professor and Chair