A central feature of the undergraduate experience is the courses that students are required to take.  With the 2008 Guidelines, the course requirements for certified majors were made more flexible.  Specifically, students have foundation level experiences in each of the five sub-disciplines of chemistry (analytical, biochemistry, inorganic, organic and physical) as well as four in-depth courses.  In addition to the lecture courses, students should have at least 400 hours of laboratory, which covers at least four of the five sub-disciplines of chemistry.  Further, approved programs need to teach the foundation courses in the five sub-disciplines, and offer four in-depth courses annually.  In this talk, we will review the current requirements, as well as discuss areas where changes may be introduced during the revision of the guidelines that is presently underway.  We will also describe various approaches for introducing areas of chemistry that span multiple sub-disciplines or which represent evolving areas in chemistry.

Undergraduate curriculum and the ACS Guidelines

245th National Meeting (2013)

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