Letter from the Senior Associate Dean Of Natural Sciences O
ne of my happy jobs as Senior Associate Dean is to brag about our science programs to stakeholders, donors, and
administrators, and this is easy for me to do when I have a department like Chemistry in the division. The prizes, fellowships, and awards Chemistry receives demonstrate the excellence in teaching and research that the department brings to the sciences at Carolina, and I am grateful for all those contributions. In return, I feel that it is my job to advocate for the resources that Chemistry needs to remain a top-ranked program in the nation, and even to grow in standing.
T
he department faces many challenges, including aging teaching facilities, retirement of prominent and productive
faculty, enrollment growth in a difficult budget environment, and under-resourced research cores. I am happy to say that because of hard work by chair Jeff Johnson, associate chair Ralph House, and many others to keep me informed and armed with strong strategic plans, and through the support and efforts of Dean Kevin Guskiewicz and Senior Associate Dean Kate Henz, we have been able to begin addressing some of these challenges in the past year.
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lsewhere in this newsletter you can read about funding and plans for planned (but very limited) renovation in More-
head Labs. This project will be an experiment to bring a new kind of teaching lab to Chemistry, in support of new modes of instruction like CUREs. This will help bring attention to teaching facilities, and give me new opportunities and tools to advocate for more extensive renovations. To address retirements, the college has been able to allocate a healthy number of new
Distinguished Professor Christopher Clemens with research cores, and authorized matching funds for new equipment proposals. These increases in funding for Chemistry represent a collective vote of confidence in the Chemistry Department and its leadership, and they follow a principle of protecting and growing our strongest programs.
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or over two centuries the Chemistry Department has been a leader in the sciences at Carolina and though there is much
more to do, I am gratified to see striking progress in support of the program. I am hopeful that this confidence will be a signal to the many friends of Chemistry who also support the program. Like them, I am confident that investments in the Chemistry Department will be repaid many times over by its academic and research achievements.
faculty lines, including a senior position, and I have been impressed by the candidates that have been brought to campus. We have also been able to stabilize the instructional budget by adding new permanent allocations and paying off some historical overspends. We have also authorized a new Teaching Assistant Professor position to help with growing course loads. Finally, we have added some permanent subsidies to help
10 | CHEMISTRY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA
J. Christopher Clemens
Senior Associate Dean for Natural Science Jaroslav Folda Distinguished Professor of Physics and Astronomy
| CHEM.UNC.EDU
