History of the Chemistry Department

Author's Note: In a venture of this sort concerning events in which we have shared, it is difficult to avoid the extremes of being either too self-serving or too modest. Clearly, we had no control over the distant past, but as we approach the present this particular problem becomes greater. Since one of the important aspects of this article is research, it is especially important to try to clarify the beginnings of research in chemistry at Wooster. It is obvious to one of us (Powell) that his co-author played a very large role in establishing research as an integral part of the undergraduate chemistry program at Wooster, and he has had to argue diligently against John's natural reticence to make this point clear.

Chemistry was first taught at Wooster in the 1880's by W. Z. Bennett (at Wooster 1887-1924), a formidable yet attractive figure who, although he taught chemistry for the most part, also taught courses in physics, geology, zoology, botany, French, German, Greek, mathematics and Shakespeare. This is a record unrivaled at Wooster and probably at most other colleges. The subject of chemistry survived and flourished in spite of having the dubious distinction of being strongly suspected as the culprit in the fire which destroyed Old Main in 1901 and led President Holden to say, "Yesterday I was president of a college; today I am president of a hole in the ground."* The stigma attached to science must not have been too lasting, however, or two of Classics Professor Elias Compton's sons, Karl and Arthur, would not have so enthusiastically begun their careers as scientists at The College of Wooster.

Close study of the College seal, adopted in 1915, reveals a telescope on the right indicating that science had a prominent place in this college founded by Presbyterian ministers in 1866. It is also informative to look at the names engraved on the frieze of the old college library dedicated in 1900. Along with Moses, St. Paul, Plato, Cicero, Beethoven, and Shakespeare appear Newton, Copernicus and, perhaps most surprising of all, Darwin.

Within a year, the salvageable bricks of Old Main had been used to construct several new buildings. One of these, Severance Hall, named for its Cleveland donor, was at first occupied both by chemistry and physics but later by chemistry alone.

Before we reach what could be called the modern era, two professors of chemistry other than Bennett deserve mention. Roy I. Grady (Wooster service 1918-59) and John W. Chittum (Wooster 1929-69) both offered solid, well thought out courses to generations of students. However, Wooster's entry into modern chemistry probably stems most from the appointment of Wooster alumnus Howard Lowry as president in 1944. Early in his administration Lowry introduced two programs: Independent Study and a faculty leave program. It was Lowry's vision to offer Independent Study not just to a selected few students but to all. To accompany this he offered a leave program that is probably still unmatched: a research leave at full salary every fifth year or a study leave at full salary every seventh year.

One of Lowry's early accomplishments was to lure Wooster alumnus William F. Kieffer (on the Wooster faculty 1940-42, 1946-80) back to Wooster from Western Reserve University. When Kieffer was appointed editor of the Journal of Chemical Education, Wooster's ties with the outside world were assured. It can not have hurt chemistry at Wooster that any chemist interested in publishing an article on chemical education had to send the manuscript to The College of Wooster.

The second new and important appointment in the Department of Chemistry was one of the authors of this article, John D. Reinheimer (Wooster 1948-85). Reinheimer is clearly one who does research because he enjoys it. Working with no outside support at first, he spent his summers carrying out research in which he could involve undergraduates. The tradition which he started has now endured for nearly four decades.

One other hiring should be mentioned. When Roy Grady retired, John Chittum assumed the chairmanship. A man of strong convictions, Chittum, in pursuing a search for Grady's successor, wrote not only to the traditional sources of new faculty members but also to the predominantly Black colleges. In his communications with them he assured them that Wooster was looking for the best candidate available, regardless of race. The result of the search was that Theodore R. Williams (Wooster 1959- ), with his bachelor's from Howard and his Ph.D. from Connecticut, was hired.

At the beginning of the Independent Study program (1948), it was recognized that some additional faculty and other support would become necessary. A staff of seven was anticipated. Grady, Chittum and Kieffer strongly supported the requirement of a Ph.D. for such candidates. A measure of the changed attitude toward hiring qualified candidates was Kieffer's remark (spring, 1948) to candidate Reinheimer, "John, you are the first candidate in history who has been to the campus for evaluation." The condition of the chemistry building and the equipment available for research at that time left much to be desired. The building had poor lighting, a leaky roof, no fume hoods worthy of the name, and inadequate electricity. The equipment consisted of one pH meter, a Beckman DU spectrophotometer, and analytical balances of turn-of-the-century vintage.

During the 50's, there was a slow but steady professional growth. Research grants from Research Corporation and the Petroleum Research Fund in 1952, 1954, and 1957 went to Reinheimer to support summer research in chemistry. The department began to put a greater emphasis on research and new ideas; chemical journals were circulated from office to office. Several faculty members organized a faculty seminar on mechanistic organic chemistry.

Several important events occurred in the late 1950's and 1960's which had a bearing on the chemistry program at Wooster. Grady received the Manufacturing Chemists' Award, the first in a succession of three awards to faculty at Wooster (followed by those to Kieffer and Williams). The Wooster Conference on "Teaching and Research at Liberal Arts Colleges" was held. Severance Hall was completely renovated. Undergraduate Research Participation (URP) and Research Participation for High School Teachers (RPHST) programs were instituted by the National Science Foundation.

Planning and details for the Wooster Conference, which had been the brainchild of Harry Lewis of The Institute of Paper Chemistry and Kieffer, were carried out by Lewis and Reinheimer. The 30 delegates evaluated a questionnaire which had been sent to about 500 liberal arts colleges. The results were published, and the policies that were being followed at Wooster were regarded as essential for a "very productive chemistry department."

The renovation of the chemistry building was started innocently enough as the renovation of just one basement laboratory. It soon became apparent, however, that the main heating for the building had to be removed in order to fix this room. The condition of the building, its sound structure (walls and floors) and the fact that the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Board of Trustees were chemists may have been factors in the decision which was then made to renovate the building completely. Since the students were performing experiments in an old (or completed) lab, and lectures were held during the demolition and construction process, cooperation between college and workers was essential. Those on the job were particularly cooperative in holding down noise and confusion when possible. When a blueprint conflicted with the structure, the foreman and Reinheimer, who served as faculty liaison, would resolve the problem on the spot. Overall an efficient operation was achieved. Problems such as a steel strike, very slow drilling of the elevator piston hole, no stairs until late in the first semester, and no heat until November 15 were cheerfully met. At the dedication of the renovated building two of the major speakers were Henry Taube and H. C. Brown, both of whom later received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

Wooster was successful in obtaining grants almost continuously from the time the National Science Foundation began the URP and RPHST programs. As a result of these programs (which paid the faculty member about $400 per 10 weeks for directing two research projects), an active summer research program was developed which involved most of the chemistry faculty. With these and with personal research grants, about 10 to 15 students and high school teachers were involved each summer in addition to the Department of Chemistry faculty. The benefits could be counted in terms of personal, professional and equipment development. Eventually, with the help of various granting agencies the department began to acquire major pieces of equipment to support research.

Judged against the national scene, the late 60's and early 70's were relatively serene at Wooster. In spite of various student demands for "relevance" and at least one protest parade (punctuated by personal greetings to faculty on-lookers), chemistry at Wooster continued with little disruption. One indication of the stability is that our number of majors has continued at roughly the same level.

For as far to the past as our collective memory extends, new information and new areas of knowledge have been incorporated into the curriculum when appropriate. The latest permanent expansion in our staff is an example of this. In 1968 the staff was enlarged from seven to eight with the first hiring of a biochemist, Charles L. Borders, Jr. (1968-).

Through the years it has been plain that members of the Department of Chemistry were trying to work not just with their own students but with a wider audience. The desire to publish research articles or to obtain grant support is but one manifestation of this. For years Grady and Kieffer brought groups (busloads!) of high school students and their teachers to Wooster for Science Days. More recently Williams has imported groups of students to view and to experiment with modern instrumentation. LeRoy W. Haynes (Wooster 1961- ) and David L. Powell (Wooster 1964-) extended this outreach to younger students in their Kiddie Chemistry program aimed at students aged 7-12. Powell has participated in the College's Summer Science Workshop for high school students seriously interested in science. Richard H. Bromund (Wooster 1967-), despite a landlocked location in northern Ohio, has shared his expertise in oceanography with area groups. Paul L. Gaus (Wooster 1977-) brought computerized literature searching to the department and promoted the use of this technique by undergraduates nationally. Virginia B. Pett (Wooster 1981-) has stepped beyond the traditional confines of chemistry to introduce others to computing and computer science. Most members of the department have served as visiting scientists or consultants in various ways at high schools and other colleges; probably all have served on NSF panels.

In an article of this sort, we feel we would be remiss if we did not, in addition to this recital of events, give our personal assessment of those external factors which have helped things to go well at Wooster. Most important are the Independent Study and the Research Leave programs. The second has had a helpful by-product which may not at first be obvious. Because of the frequency of the leaves, the cast of faculty on the scene is never the same two years in a row. This guarantees at least some changes in one's teaching assignments each year.

Apparently our stable staff has been a virtue (and we cannot change that anyway). Those five who retired in service averaged more than 38 years at the College; those five most senior now average more than 22 years at Wooster. Our library holdings have kept pace with our research programs through the years. Our reputation has been such that we have had a steady stream of good students. Over the past 35 years, we have averaged 25.6 majors per year with a standard deviation of 5.4. Quite early we learned to seek and to obtain outside funding and to share our research results with the outside world (for example, 114 publications have appeared in refereed journals in the past 15 years.)

We think we have maintained a good balance through the years among the various options open to chemistry majors, so that our graduates cannot be readily categorized as exclusively pre-med or graduate school bound. Rather, substantial fractions of our graduates are employed in industry, teach in universities, colleges, or high schools, are medical doctors, or have used their early training in unexpected (to us) ways.

We also think we have a nice balance in the background of our students. For example, of our current majors, 37% are females, 8% are Black, and 17% are international students.

We would like to close this assessment with an intangible which we are nevertheless convinced has been most important here: "collegiality." We have worked together to obtain foundation support for the purchase of instruments. We have always been willing to display our ignorance to each other -- and thus to learn from each other. Staff members have been unselfishly cooperative in a variety of ways. For example, one of us many years ago had a bright but time-consuming (for faculty) idea, to substitute a series of monographs in general chemistry for a text. Several staff members enthusiastically tried this experiment. At another time early in his career, one of us found himself tapped to write an URP proposal -- and then was overwhelmed by the help that older hands gave. With examples like these, it should be obvious why we have found The College of Wooster a pleasant place at which to teach and do research.
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*For some of the early material, we are indebted to Lucy L. Notestein's "Wooster of the Middle West," Kent State University Press, 1937 and 1969, volumes 1 and 2.