UW-River Falls Chemistry

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Brochure (pdf - opens in new tab)

Implementing an Organic First Curriculum: The First Course PDF - poster presentation to the 2008 University of Wisconsin - System Chemistry Faculty Meeting

BCCE 2008 Presentation (Powerpoint Show - opens in new tab)

Juniata Organic First - opens in new tab

Links to other innovative curricula

The Organic First project is funded through the Course, Curriculum, and Laboratory Improvement program of National Science Foundation (DUE 0736504) with additional support from the UWRF College of Arts and Sciences and Provost's Office.

For questions about the Organic First program, to receive updates, or to report errors or broken links please contact Mike Kahlow.

Organic First and new ACS-CPT requirements

Regardless of whether nonmajors benefit from a new introductory curriculum, a curricular change will fail if it is viewed as conflicting with a program’s education of their majors.

The American Chemical Society, through their Committee on Professional Training (CPT), has proposed new standards for certified Chemistry curricula. One of the biggest changes in the guidelines is that the general chemistry courses will no longer be counted towards the major requirements.

This change will be dramatic. By prohibiting the general chemistry from counting towards the major, there is now an incentive to limit the course to one semester. Our first semester will count towards ACS requirements as “general chemistry”, the second as our organic foundation course. The second year courses will also count as foundation courses in the inorganic and analytical subfields. This reduction in general chemistry to one semester gives programs a way to reduce student credit load and increase flexibility.