The Ohio State University at Marion is one of the university’s five regional campuses which is open to all students who choose to enroll. The majority of students only stay for a maximum of two years before transferring to the main campus in Columbus. Due to its open enrollment policy, the Marion campus attracts a wide range of students from various ethnic, socioeconomic, and academic backgrounds, including non-traditional students. To meet the needs of a growing STEM work force, the two-semester lecture and laboratory organic chemistry sequence has been offered at the Marion campus since 2012, the first OSU regional campus to offer the entire undergraduate organic chemistry sequence. Much like many of our students’ educational journey, the growth of our organic chemistry program has been anything but linear. Still, the organic chemistry program at OSU Marion has been built with a goal of holding Marion campus students to the same standards as undergraduates on the Columbus campus while taking advantage of the benefits offered by a regional campus setting. Innovation and investment from faculty, staff, and administrators has been required to strike this delicate balance, especially in such a challenging course as organic chemistry. Specific highlights of the program to be discussed include: the creation of a STEM Center to support students outside the classroom, designing and building a new chemistry laboratory, incorporating in-class presentations and active learning in lecture, and a laboratory research project (REEL) using free online modeling software.

Innovate & invest: Building a successful organic chemistry program at a two-year regional campus

2019 Spring National Meeting

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.