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Program Description

Course Number Course Name

Chemistry 15 Introductory Chemistry

Chemistry 1A and 1B General Chemistry

Chemistry 12A and 12B Organic Chemistry

Chemistry 65 Analytical Chemistry

Chemistry 32A and 32B Introduction to General, Organic, and Biological Chemistry

Chemistry 10 Everyday Chemistry

Chemistry 61 Introduction to Fermentation Chemistry

Chemistry 15 is an introductory Chemistry course that fulfills the general education requirements for a

lab science course and is also the prerequisite for the General Chemistry (Chemistry 1A and1B) sequence.

Chem15 also prepares students to the college level Chemistry 1A and 1B, which make up the General

Chemistry sequence, consists of two-semester courses providing rigorous introduction to the

fundamentals of inorganic, analytical, and physical chemistry. The General Chemistry program is

designed to prepare students for more advanced study in chemistry and/or to prepare students for

study in other STEM related fields. The majority of students who complete Chemistry 1A and Chemistry

1B move on to take the Organic Chemistry sequence (Chemistry 12 A and 12B). The Organic Chemistry

curriculum prepares students in various fields including Pharmacy, Medicine, Dentistry, Chemistry,

Biology and Biochemistry. Students often complete their Chemistry education at SJCC with Quantitative

2016-2017 Annual Program Review ACADEMIC AFFAIRS - SAN JOSÉ CITY COLLEGE

PROGRAM: Chemistry

PREPARED BY: John Song, Ph.D.

ADMINISTRATOR: Duncan Graham

EVALUATION YEAR (INDICATE ONE): ONE TWO THREE

PROGRAM REVIEW SUBMISSION DATE: Nov. 09, 2016

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Analysis (Chemistry 65) before transferring to a four-year college or university. The Quantitative

Analysis course prepares students for technical laboratory positions in Analytical Chemistry and

Biochemistry. The last time Chem65 was offered at SJCC was Summer of 2013. SJCC Chemistry

Department had decided to suspend offering Chem65 since then because students no longer are

required to meet the AS degree in Chemistry at SJCC or EVC and also due to lack of enrollment from

within SJCC students. The Chemistry 32A and 32B sequence consists of two-semester courses, which

introduces students to the fundamentals of general, organic and biochemistry, with an emphasis on

their application to health science. The Chemistry 32A and 32B curriculum is designed to serve students

pursuing careers in allied health-related fields. Our newest courses (Chemistry 10: Everyday Chemistry

and Chemistry 61: Introduction to Fermentation Chemistry) meet the GE requirement for general

science. Students are able to complete these courses as one of their electives. Students are introduced

to the chemistry of brewing, winemaking, and fermenting of food such as cheese, yogurt, and pickled

vegetables. Students will study the general chemical principles of brewing, winemaking, and various

types of fermentation. It transfers to both the UC and CSU systems. In fact all courses offered by the

chemistry program are transferable to both the University of California and California State University

systems.

The Chemistry program serves transfer students majoring in sciences and allied-health sciences as well

as meeting part of the general education requirements of a lab science course. Our goals are to prepare

transfer-level students, provide them with the necessary skills to pursue majors in allied-health, health

and science, and to train students with marketable laboratory skills enabling to compete within

Analytical Chemistry and Biochemistry fields. As such our goal include making sure all our transfer

courses are UC and CSU articulated, while maintaining a quality laboratory program including necessary

reagents and equipment. We pride ourselves in providing our students a quality educational experience,

training them in both the theoretical understanding and the applications of chemistry, including real-life

problem solving and critical analysis.

The Peer-Led Team Learning (PLTL) program has continued to complement the Chemistry Department.

Peer-Led Team Learning (PLTL) is a peer-assisted learning and leadership program funded by a U.S.

Department of Education Title V:HSI grant. The central component of the program is weekly PLTL

workshops for students enrolled in specified STEM courses that are facilitated by well-trained peer

leaders. During the workshops, students participate in discussions and problem solving, as well as other

activities, to assist them in enhancing their subject matter knowledge, study skills, and course success.

With the aim of institutionalizing the PLTL Program one of the chemistry faculty has developed LS-290

courses intended to integrating the training of the Peer-Leaders into the college class schedule. Peer

Leaders gain valuable skills in leadership, group management, and team-work. We are formalizing the

weekly peer leader training meeting by developing curriculum aimed to establish a series of three 0.5

units of credit for Peer Leader training courses (eg. in Leadership and group management; pedagogy

with emphasis on active learning strategies; and student success and study skills) to further reduce PLTL

program coordinator and Peer Leader weekly training costs while generating revenue.

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The data below provides a quantitative description of the Chemistry Program.

Enrollment Term Subject Number of Active Sections

Number of Courses

2014SP CHEM 31 8 2014FA CHEM 31 8 2015SP CHEM 29 8 2015FA CHEM 30 8 2016SP CHEM 28 8

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2014FA

2015SP

Measure % Change from Prev Yr

Measure % Change from Prev. Yr

Completion Rate 82.71% 4.70% 78.40% -5.59% Success Rate 66.72% -2.14% 62.36% -7.43%

2014FA

2015SP

Measure % Change from Prev Yr

Measure % Change from Prev. Yr

Completion Rate 82.71% 4.70% 78.40% -5.59% Success Rate 66.72% -2.14% 62.36% %

2015FA

2016SP

Measure % Change from Prev Yr

Measure % Change from Prev. Yr

Completion Rate 82.73% 0.03% 81.23% 3.60% Success Rate 65.46% -1.89% 62.64% 0.05%

Institutional Effectiveness

Student success rate seem to be lower than the Program Success Goal of 70.0%. This may be due to the

fact that some students do not drop from the roster at the end of semester even though they are not

attending classes and the instructors are forced to assign F grades to those students. Though it is the

responsibility of the individual student to disenroll from the class he or she does not intend to attend, it

might be a good idea to encourage instructors to drop students who are no longer attending so that

such students are not counted as a part of unsuccessful statistics.

0.00%

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

60.00%

70.00%

80.00%

90.00%

2014FA 2015SP 2015FA 2016P

Co

urs

e C

om

ple

tio

n &

Su

cce

ss

Course Completion & Success Rate

Completion Rate

Success Rate

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2014FA 2015SP

Measure % Change from Prev. Yr

Measure % Change from Prev. Yr

Capacity % 166% -9.7% 161% -2.5%

Productivity 501 -15.6% 526 0.12%

WSCH 4927 -1.8% 4333 -5.9%

FTES 153 -1.8% 135 -5.9%

FTEF 9.8 16.4% 8.2 -6.0%

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Seat Count by Gender

2014FA 2015SP

Seat Count

% Total

% change from prev Yr

Seat Count

% Total

% change from prev Yr

Female 594 49.25% -10.27% 589 54.84% 0.86%

Male 610 50.58% 1.33% 479 44.60% -12.43%

2015FA 2016SP

Seat Count

% Total

% change from prev Yr

Seat Count

% Total

% change from prev Yr

Female 631 55.59% 6.23% 558 55.19% -5.26%

Male 494 43.52% -19.02% 451 44.61% -5.85%

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Seat Count by Age

Age 2014FA 2015SP

Seat Count

Pct of Total

Pct Change

from Previous

Yr

Seat Count

Pct of Total

Pct Change

from Previous

Yr

17 & Below 20 1.66% -16.67% 18 1.68% 12.50%

18-24 757 62.77% -3.44% 669 62.29% -3.74%

25-39 383 31.76% -1.79% 353 32.87% -3.55%

40 & Over 46 3.81% -30.30% 34 3.17% -37.04%

Total: 1206 -4.59% 1074 -5.04%

Age 2015FA 2016SP

Seat Count

Pct of Total

Pct Change

from Previous

Yr

Seat Count

Pct of Total

Pct Change

from Previous

Yr

17 & Below 26 2.29% 30.00% 20 1.98% 11.11%

18-24 674 59.38% -10.96% 681 67.36% 1.79%

25-39 391 34.45% 2.09% 282 27.89% -20.11%

40 & Over 44 3.88% -4.35% 28 2.77% -17.65%

Total: 1135 -5.89% 1011 -5.87%

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IPEDS Race

Ethnic Classifica

tion 2014FA 2015SP 2015FA 2016SP

Seat Count

Pct of Total

Pct Change from Previous Yr

Seat Count

Pct of Total

Pct Change from Previous Yr

Seat Count

Pct of Total

Pct Change from Previous Yr

Seat Count

Pct of Total

Pct Change from Previous Yr

American Indian 4

0.33%

100.00% 6

0.56%

50.00% 2

0.18%

-50.00

% 4 0.40

%

-33.33

%

Asian 443 36.73

% 4.48% 359 33.43

%

-14.11

% 420 37.00

% -5.19% 346 34.22

% -3.62%

Black or African American 76

6.30% -5.00% 68

6.33% -2.86% 63

5.55%

-17.11

% 34 3.36

%

-50.00

%

Hawaiian/Pacific Islander 4

0.33%

-33.33

% 2 0.19

%

-50.00

% 4 0.35

% 0.00% 10 0.99

% 400.00

%

Hispanic 392 32.50

% -4.39% 359 33.43

% -1.10% 377 33.22

% -3.83% 380 37.59

% 5.85%

Two or More Races 52

4.31% -7.14% 66

6.15%

32.00% 58

5.11%

11.54% 50

4.95%

-24.24

%

Unknown 71 5.89

%

-29.00

% 59 5.49

%

-13.24

% 69 6.08

% -2.82% 72 7.12

% 22.03

%

White 164 13.60

%

-11.83

% 155 14.43

% 0.65% 142 12.51

%

-13.41

% 115 11.37

%

-25.81

%

Total: 120

6 -4.59% 107

4 -5.04% 113

5 -5.89% 101

1 -5.87%

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Success 2014FA 2015SP 2015FA 2016SP

Success Rate

Pct Change

from Previou

s Yr

Success Rate

Pct Change

from Previou

s Yr

Success Rate

Pct Change

from Previou

s Yr

Success Rate

Pct Change

from Previou

s Yr

American Indian 50.00% -50.00% 100.00% 100.00% 100.00% 100.00% 50.00% -50.00%

Asian 78.13% 1.05% 72.28% -3.47% 73.95% -5.34% 73.45% 1.61%

Black or African American 54.05% -22.78% 63.89% 4.55% 59.38% 9.84% 52.63% -17.62%

Hawaiian/Pacific Islander 50.00% 50.00% 100.00% 0.00% 50.00% 0.00% 40.00% -60.00%

Hispanic 56.78% -6.87% 51.09% -7.75% 49.21% -13.34% 52.55% 2.87%

Two or More Races 62.96% -2.06% 60.61% -5.30% 58.62% -6.90% 61.54% 1.54%

Unknown 59.46% 2.52% 56.67% -23.72% 72.97% 22.73% 67.57% 19.24%

White 70.59% 1.60% 67.50% -12.46% 83.78% 18.69% 66.67% -1.23%

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Overall Completion and Success Rates for Selected Subjects

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Headcount: Who are our students?

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PSLOs and SLOs Assessment process:

There are four Program Learning Outcomes (PSLO), which are listed below.

1. Students will be able to apply increasingly challenging deductive and inductive reasoning to further develop critical thinking, problem solving, and abstract reasoning skills as they progress through the sequence.

2. Students will be able to employ both written and oral skills to effectively communicate scientific information. 3. Evaluate and represent laboratory data using simple statistical analyses in terms of accuracy and precision.

4. Students will have developed practical laboratory skills involving safe operation of laboratory equipment and materials. We also require each student take and pass (80% correct answers) a standardized safety quiz administered at the beginning of each semester.

The PSLO’s have been assessed since the fall of 2011. As of spring 2016 each PSLO has been assessed

once. (See the attached PSLO Assessment and Schedule Timeline.)

For detailed reports on PSLO assessment, see the PDF reports on TracDat and

(http://www.sjcc.edu/faculty-staff/student-learning-outcomes).

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SLO and Student Learning:

The tables below illustrate the progress that has been made towards Student Learning

Outcome (SLO) assessment per course for Fall 2015 to Fall 2016 (expected).

Note: An “X” in a box indicates that the particular SLO has been assessed; “O” indicates the

scheduled SLO for F2016.

SLO Assessment and Schedule: (X = Assessed; O = to be Assessed)

(For Chemistry Program SLOs and Course SLOs, see the separately attached documents)

F2015 SP2016 F2016

Chem 1A SLO-1

SLO-2

SLO-3 X

SLO-4 X

SLO-5 O

SLO-6 X X O

F2015 SP2016 F2016

Chem 1B SLO-1

SLO-2 X X

SLO-3 X X

SLO-4 O

SLO-5 O

SLO-6

F2015 SP2016 F2016

Chem 12A SLO-1 X O

SLO-2 O

SLO-3

SLO-4 X

SLO-5 X

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F2015 SP2016 F2016

Chem 12B SLO-1

SLO-2 O

SLO-3 O

SLO-4 X X

SLO-5 X X

F2015 SP2016 F2016

Chem 15 SLO-1 O

SLO-2

SLO-3 X

SLO-4 X X

SLO-5 X

SLO-6 X O

F2015 SP2016 F2016

Chem 32A SLO-1 O

SLO-2 O

SLO-3

SLO-4 X X

SLO-5 X X

SLO-6

F2015 SP2016 F2016

Chem 32B SLO-1 X

SLO-2 X X

SLO-3 X O

SLO-4 O

SLO-5

SLO-6

F2015 SP2016 F2016

PSLO PSLO-1 O

PSLO-2

PSLO-3 X

PSLO-4 X

See the SLO Assessment reports for each course and PSLO Assessment report attached .

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For the SLO Assessment for SP2016, see the SLO Assessment Report attached separately as PDF

or see the TracDat Report for the individual course and http://www.sjcc.edu/faculty-

staff/student-learning-outcomes. (See SLO&PSLO Program Review (2016-17) Folder attached:

PSLO Assessment Report (SP2016)-4 column; SLO Assessment Report (SP2016)-4 column;

Spring 2016 PSLO Report)

Curriculum Information:

Currently the course outlines for all chemistry courses are up to date. It is the consensus of the department to continue our focus on increasing the quality of the program overall, but in particular that of non-major courses. For this reason two of the full-time faculty has developed two new courses aimed at igniting the interest in chemistry of beginning learners, while also fulfilling their general education requirement. CHEM 010 – Everyday Chemistry This will be a descriptive chemistry course geared toward students without previous background in science. Possible topics include: household chemistry, environmental chemistry, design and application of synthetic polymers, and food chemistry. We hope to attract a larger population of students, who may not have previously considered a career in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) by taking away the stigma associated with “difficult” science courses. We hope that by successfully completing a chemistry course and seeing how chemistry affects everyone on a daily basis, students will be interested in taking additional classes in science. We also plan to make this course into a hybrid course; therefore, making it more attractive to non-traditional students. This course will satisfy the general education science with lab requirement.

Chem 61 – Fermentation Chemistry

In this course, Students will learn the general chemistry principles and applicatioin of brewing,

winemaking and other fermented foods such as vegetable pickles and cheese. Students may

transfer to four year colleges and universities in food science and technology, viticulture and

enology. Students, science or non-science majors, can take this course as a physical science

course elective with no lab and it meets rhe GE (General Education) requirement for general

science. It is a new course scheduled to be offered in Spring 2017.

Staffing Information:

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In general, the chemistry department increases productivity by offering double sections (one common

lecture with double lab sections). This practice is limited by the availability of classrooms that can

accommodate double the number of students for the joint lecture as well as laboratory rooms. It is

unclear if this practice of doubling lecture section is well suited for student learning. Anecdotal

observation seems to indicate better retention and success rates for single lecture sections.

As can be seen from the data early in the report, we offer anywhere between twenty-six and thirty-one

sections. This is too much for one technician and we need another lab tech especially for the evening

lab section coverage. In order to offer the highest quality of education to our students it is much

needed to have a laboratory technician experienced with the daily operation of the instruments we have.

Since the departure of the old lab tech in Fall 2015 semester, we have hired a new laboratory technician

Level-V, Phuong Ta, in F2016.

We also have hired a student lab assistant to assist the laboratory technicians with light cleaning of the

laboratories, glassware cleaning, as well as retrieve equipment needed by faculty during the lab classes.

The latter will prevent the faculty from having to leave the lab, and thus leave students unsupervised, in

order to retrieve glassware or needed laboratory equipment. The students lab assistants will have

similar responsibilities to students who currently work with the laboratory technicians in the biology

department.

Technology Information:

As seen from the data above. A large percentage of the students we serve are in their early to late

twenties. These students are tech-savvy individuals who are accustomed to interacting and receiving

information via various modalities.

In 2007 funds were made available to purchase fifteen Dell© laptop computers, which have extensively

used in our laboratories to perform statistical analysis of experimental data as well as to performed

spectroscopic measurements. The Dell© computers are used by all students across the chemistry

curriculum (i.e. Chemistry-015 to Chemistry-012B). As expected these computers are now dated and

slow in the process of data. New software does not properly run with these computers. So that we

serve our students to the best of our ability we would like to replace the Dell© laptops with fifteen

Macbook Pros. The laptops are to be used our Optics© spectrometers, which are employed in a

number of experiments within the Chemistry-01A and 01B general chemistry courses. One of the goals

of the department is to increase our ability to incorporate technology into our lesson plans with the

purchase of specialized software. To this end the department has purchased ChemDraw©. ChewDraw

is a tool for drawing accurate representation of chemical compounds in 2 or 3-dimensions.

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Equipment Information:

The Chemistry Department aims to prepare our students with the fundamentals of modern

analytical techniques. To this end we employ a number of modern instruments within the

laboratory curriculum. Following instruments need annual maintenance and upkeep for

continuation of the chemistry program and to prolong the life of instruments.

1. High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC): It is used in our Introductory and

General Chemistry lab experiments to isolate, identify and measure chemical

components.

2. Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometer (FTIR): One of our instruments is no longer

working. Due to its age the company no longer makes replacement parts and it must be

replaced completely.

3. Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR): It is used primarily for Organic Chem 12A and 12B

to identify chemical compounds in lab experiments.

4. Flame Atomic Absorption Spectrometer (FAAS): Used in General Chemistry and

Analytical Chemistry for quantitative analysis of chemical substances.

Preventive Maintenance Agreement (PMA) quotes for the above equipment for school year

2016-2017 are:

HPLC, Waters Corporation $5985

FTIR & FAAS (Combined), Thermo Electron North America $6580

NMR: No longer has PMA with the vendor.

Currently fume hoods in all Chemistry labs are not working properly. In fact, most of organic

chem hoods (8/10) have failed the inspection at the time of this writing (Oct 26, 2016). We are

currently anxiously waiting for further inspection and correction process by TSS (Technical

Safety Services) on Nov. 02, 2016. Pending on the outcome by TSS, we may need corrective

measures as necessary and the cost of corrective measures will have to be included in the

current budget request. The outcome of the corrective measures will be forth coming soon.

Budget Information:

Chemistry Budget Allocated for 2016-17 (per outgoing Dean of Math/Science, Jamie Alonzo, see

his email dated 5/25/2016):

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- Thermo Fisher FTIR spectrometer (Object Code:56418, Equipment >$5000, Block grant)

$35,000

- Preventive Maintenance Agreement (Object Code: 55625, Block Grant) - $4,682

- Repairs (Object Code:55629, Block Grant) - $15,325

- Instructional Supplies (Object Code:54100, Lottery Funds) Chemistry Lab consumables

budget $25,607 via Tuyet; Lab coats $250; Supplement $3755) - $29,612

Ongoing Budget Needs (2017-2018):

1. HPLC - $5985 (has previously been funded)

2. FTIR1 + FAAS (Combined) - $6,580

3. Certify/Calibrate Balance and Lab Service $952

4. DI Water maintenance (Culligan) - $936

5. Gas delivery (Airgas, Ncn, Inc.) - $470

6. Instructional & Non-instructional supplies (to keep program on-going) - $29,000

7. Travel to Professional Conference - $8,000

Total: $51,923

One-time Expenditure:

1. Five Laboratory lab coats (x5) - $100/ea

2. Fifteen Macbook Air laptop computers (x15) - $1400/ea

3. Camtasia to record video lectures (x5) - $211/ea

4. Giant size Molecular models for demo: $ 481/ea

5. Orbital Attachment kit: $344/ea

Total: $23,169

______________________________________________________________________________

Grand Total: $75,303

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Other:

In June of 2016 we hosted the International Peer-Led Team Learning Conference. We attracted

students and professionals from across the nation. We were proud to have this opportunity

and thus partake, in the newest transformational pedagogical strategy, that is in the training

undergraduates as effective facilitators of learning.

For the upcoming professional development activities, ACS Santa Clara Valley section will host

meeting at SJCC Chem Dept on Nov 17, 2016 and will honor Mark Zheng, our one time Adjunct

Faculty member, for the Teacher Scholar Award.