New Building

Boyd, Johnston, Aviation and Haskett were demolished during November and December. Ground-breaking for our new building will take place in summer 2012. Check out our new building page for updates, pictures, live views of the construction site and time-lapse movies of the demolition. Stay tuned - more to come!

Colleagues,

As I come to the end of my term as Chair, I can honestly state that one of the most enjoyable aspects of my job has been getting to know so many of our alumni.  I have been truly impressed by your loyalty to Ohio State and your support for the Department of Chemistry.  It has also been truly impressive to learn of the successful and varied careers that have followed your degrees from OSU.

The other major changes that I have been a part of include the plans for an Evans replacement building, the dissolution of the MAPS College and the establishment of a new financial structure for the department, and the merger of the Departments of Chemistry and Biochemistry.  These were all goals some 4 years ago and we have gone along way toward realizing these objectives, though not necessarily in the way we might have anticipated.  Chemistry will not occupy the Lord Hall site, but rather the CBEC site, which will bring together Chemistry and Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, and will require the deconstruction of Johnston, Aviation, Hopkins and Boyd.  With the merger of Biochemistry and Chemistry, and the CBEC building, this will effectively create a School of Chemical Sciences located within the Science and Engineering complex of our campus.  This will be truly great for our teaching and research efforts for the coming decades.

With the unification of the Colleges into the College of Arts and Science, Chemistry finds itself in a much stronger financial unit that can respond to unexpected demands and opportunities.  We are already seeing this as an advantage in that CBEC will be built even without state support.  Also, the introduction of the lab fees is a great boost to our ability to enhance our instrumentation and infrastructure which will benefit both our teaching and research mission.

These positive changes have been made during extremely turbulent and troubling financial times for the state and nation.  For the most part, we have been spared the suffering that so many of our friends and neighbors have seen.  Although our budget has been restrained, we have not had any layoffs or forced retirements.  As our numbers of students con

tinue to rise, we have certainly had to change some of our practices, and workloads have increased for many of us.  The number of our faculty is down and we certainly need to address this decline.  However, the new Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry should be the strongest in all of the sciences and I look forward to working with Susan Olesik and the new administration to bring this to its full potential.  Lets work together to ensure Chemistry’s Great @ Ohio State!

Finally, I thank you for your support, your friendship and kindness that I have enjoyed for the past four years and I wish you and your families good health and happiness.  I know that my successor as Chair, Dr. Susan Olesik, will enjoy getting to know more of you and working with you in support of our mission.

Malcolm H. Chisholm, PhD.
Distinguished University Professor
Department Chair