Apply for the Open Faculty Position in Organic Chemistry

Chemistry Department (posted 08/01/08)

Monmouth College, a private liberal arts college affiliated with the Associated Colleges of the Midwest, announces a tenure-track position in Organic Chemistry to begin August 2009. Required: PhD in organic chemistry (prefer completion by August, 2009); excellence in teaching and developing a research program to engage undergraduates. Preferred: additional expertise in inorganic, computational, or environmental chemistry.

Teaching duties include organic chemistry, chemistry for non-science majors, and courses in Monmouth’s integrated studies program (see descriptions and websites below). The successful applicant will be involved in the design of a new science building, scheduled for completion within 5 years. More information about this position can be found at http://department.monm.edu/chemistry.

Send letter of application, curriculum vitae, undergraduate and graduate transcripts, statement of teaching philosophy, research plans, and list of 3 professional references to: Laura Moore, Chair, Chemistry Search, Monmouth College, 700 E. Broadway, Monmouth, IL, 61462, or by e-mail to facultysearch@monm.edu. Review begins October 17, 2008 and continues until filled.

Monmouth College, an Equal Opportunity Employer, is committed to diversity and encourages applications from women and minority candidates.

 

Monmouth’s Integrated Studies Program

Freshman Year - Introduction to Liberal Arts
 http://www.monm.edu/ila/index.htm

Our Integrated Studies program begins with Introduction to Liberal Arts. We meet first-year students in the midst of the transition between high school and college. Guided by an instructor who is professor, mentor, and the students’ academic advisor, the course addresses the purposes of liberal and collegiate education by examining a single topic or theme from a variety of disciplinary perspectives. The aim is to identify and celebrate the liberal arts as a community of learners excited by the informed exchange of ideas. Although all sections share common objectives, foundation skills goals, common core readings, and a common theme, each section is enhanced by the instructor’s distinctive emphasis, as indicated by course subtitles.  Students meet three times a week with a faculty seminar leader, and all seminar groups meet together on Tuesday at 11 A.M. for a colloquium, lecture, or other presentation. Students earn four semester hours of credit for the seminar.


Sophomore Year
- Global Perspectives
http://department.monm.edu/gp/index.htm

Once our students have found their new place in the world of higher education, we ask them in the second year to turn attention to their place in the larger world: to investigate communities, societies, political systems, and civilizations other than their own. How are we to understand a complex and changing world and its peoples, where events unfold and are chronicled with ever-increasing speed? Global Perspectives addresses this question by highlighting the influence and importance of cultural differences and by asking students to understand culture as a lens through which we view the world. Inherent in this process is fostering critical thinking about the students’ own place in that world, as well as garnering knowledge about world political economy, about global demographics, and about the differences between developed and developing nations. Like Introduction to Liberal Arts, Global Perspectives shares common readings and emphasizes communication skills introduced in the first year.


Junior Year
- Reflections
http://www.monm.edu/department/reflections/index.htm

The turn outward represented by Global Perspectives is balanced in Reflections by a turn inward to consideration of personal values. As in Global Perspectives we ask students in Reflections courses to analyze familiar and unfamiliar systems of thought and belief, but this time in order to explore their own and others’ ideas about the ultimate meaning and purposes of our lives. Because inquiry about human values can occur in a variety of disciplinary contexts, our students may choose in their third year from a menu of courses representing philosophical, religious, artistic, and scientific perspectives. Yet each course in its own way addresses foundational questions, linking provisional answers to descriptions of ethical conduct and an examined life.

Senior Year
- Citizenship
By the time students are seniors, they have been asked in Integrated Studies courses to develop some understanding of their places in college, their places in the world, and their own beliefs and values. The senior capstone course, Citizenship, challenges students to move past study and contemplation to conscientious action. Citizenship courses, chosen from a menu of offerings, typically take an interdisciplinary approach to understanding important social issues. Then students are called upon to address those issues variously as citizens of community, nation, and world. Individual and group projects may involve position papers, social or political policy proposals, development of and participation in service projects, or other experiential learning projects.
 

Chemistry Courses the Successful Applicant will Teach Include:
 

1. Organic I and II with lab
2. Advanced Organic (one semester every other year)
3. Non-majors chemistry (Topic/theme flexible)
Chemistry and Biochemistry Major 4-year plans

Depending on interests and strengths, the successful applicant may also contribute to and/or develop courses for the following:
1. Inorganic Chemistry
2. The upper-level Integrated Laboratory Course (particularly the synthetic component)
3. Environmental Chemistry (to be developed for Environmental Science Program)
4. General Chemistry


 

 

****Please return to the Monmouth College Chemistry Department website to learn about our faculty and student research****