KELLY DAGGETT ’04, DIRECTOR OF GENERAL CHEMISTRY LABS
With more than 30 sections of lab classes, including those for General Chemistry I and II, and Topics in Science I and II, being taught in two laboratories — in just the fall semester — managing the labs for the Chemistry department can be similar to throwing a big dinner party. And as the only hostess for this party, it’s not surprising that Kelly Daggett ’04 has a nonstop and carefully orchestrated day. Just like prepping for a dinner, she needs to know how many people are coming, how much solution she has, and then time it perfectly so that nobody is waiting and everything is prepared in advance. Daggett gets all the chemicals ready — and they don’t come pre-made — and makes sure that everything is in the labs for the instructors to use. She teaches five sections of lab, too, and cleans up the labs and equipment at the end of the day, overseeing proper waste disposal. The former Manhattan biochemistry major also is working on standardizing both the General Chemistry I and II lab manuals, so that every class will be taught in exactly the same way and, thus, the grades will be similar. Her duties differ each day depending on which labs are scheduled, but her job is always a juggling act. Typically, she starts by adding up
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how much solution she needs for the labs, ensuring that everything is made up for the entire day, so that all classes are using the same chemical. She gets all the materials into the labs, often going back and forth between the two labs and, frequently, in between lab periods. In the middle of all this, Daggett also prepares for the next day, and if she’s teaching that day, too, it just adds another item into the juggling act. She teaches 15 hours a week and handles the grading, usually on weekends. Originally hired as an adjunct in summer of 2012, she quickly moved into her current position. After earning a Ph.D. in chemistry, she was hoping to gain more teaching experience, which has been a great learning experience for her, as well. “The students are really fun to work with, and I think I’ve learned a lot more about chemistry teaching it than I ever did in my Ph.D. program,” she says. “I like, too, the whole behind-the-scenes work that goes into writing an exam, and we’re also trying to make new experiments up for our second semester course and trying to revamp that whole class, so that’s been kind of exciting.”