The department of chemistry at The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) aims to cultivate an inclusive environment to foster positive and meaningful interactions between professors and students. The student chapter of the American Chemical Society (ACS), Student Chemists Association (SCA), at TCNJ hosts a variety of events that encourage students to interact with each other and promote an inclusive environment. The demographics of college students across higher education campuses is changing and SCA is seeing more diversity in its membership. In an effort to continually improve on our chapter and adapt to the changing social environment, we asked members for constructive feedback on the SCA. Suggestions were accepted by direct verbal interactions after meetings and an ongoing anonymous survey in the AY 2018-2019. Two main themes were to increase first-year student involvement in the club and to retain and improve the engagement of the club’s current members. In addition to succession planning, we hope this will lead to a stronger departmental community. To address members’ feedback, we started a Dungeons and Dragons campaign and an intramural volleyball team in addition to our monthly stressbuster activities. These new activities are receiving positive results as it provides a smaller and less intimidating setting for members to get to know each other and caters to members with different interests. These new events engage our members making them become a more integral part of SCA. In future years, we are planning on expanding these events to include a variety of activities customized to the members at the time. In addition to these events, we continue to participate in the mentoring program for first-year students in collaboration with Gamma Sigma Epsilon, the chemistry honors society. Upperclass students volunteer as mentors and are paired with two or three first-year students. The interactions from this mentoring program help support the first-year students in their transition to college and exposes them to different opportunities at TCNJ. In the fall semester, first year students go to “Brown Bag Lunches,” through their Orientation to Chemistry course, where mentors provide small groups of incoming students with targetted advice on topics such as recovering from setbacks, study techniques, and networking for success.

Promoting inclusivity in the student chemists association at TCNJ to increase current member engagement and first-year involvement

Macromolecular Chemistry: The Second Century

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ACS Spring 2020 National Meeting & Expo

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