Midwest professors visit Hillsdale conference

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Midwest professors visit Hillsdale conference
Hillsdale’s Central Hall (Courtesy)

Chemistry’s place in the liberal arts took center stage when Hillsdale hosted the 66th annual Midwestern Association of Chemistry Teachers in Liberal Arts Colleges conference over fall break.

This was the first time Hillsdale hosted the conference. Associate Professor of Chemistry Matthew Young said the topic fit well with Hillsdale’s mission.

“In the development of our chemistry core course, we’ve given a lot of thought to making the course rich in historical context and making it about important, big ideas rather than just consumer chemistry,” he said. “We wanted to share some of that with colleagues at other institutions.”

The conference featured keynote lectures from professor of chemistry at Westmont College Nivaldo Tro and from director of chemical sciences at University of Michigan Brian Coppola, both focusing on how to teach ethics in the hard sciences. Hillsdale chemistry professors also spoke, sharing their experience with other college chemistry departments.

The event concluded with a presentation from Professor of Chemistry Chris Hamilton on the science of brewing beer.

“Thanks to the hard work of everyone on the chemistry faculty, the conference was a great success,” Young said.