St. Scholastica earns American Chemical Society approval

The College’s bachelor of science in chemistry degree program has been approved by the American Chemical Society, one of the world’s largest scientific organizations. This approval demonstrates the school’s commitment to promoting the chemical sciences and providing a rigorous and robust education for its students.

Guidelines for ACS approval include institutional commitment, a minimum number of faculty, opportunities for scholarly professional development, facilities, instrumentation, broad and in-depth curriculum content, safety requirements and library holdings. Institutions are granted approval based on these criteria, as well as their participation in a self-study and site visit. The College began this process in 2018 and learned of their approval last month.

“If you’ve gone through the process to get your program approved, you’ve met those guidelines,” said Dr. Bret Johnson, chair of the chemistry department. “It allows us to say to our graduates that their degrees have received this stamp of approval.”

He noted that the approval is also a powerful recruitment tool for prospective students who are seeking out nationally recognized, ACS-approved chemistry programs, as well as graduate schools and hiring managers who are seeking out top-tier chemistry graduates.

Johnson cites the College’s stellar faculty, undergraduate research opportunities and solid instrumentation and facilities as the chemistry program’s greatest strengths. On average, the program has approximately 20-25 majors at any one time.

St. Scholastica joins 19 other schools in Minnesota with accredited programs.