Department of Chemistry, Physics, and Astronomy

Department of Chemistry, Physics, and Astronomy

The Department of Chemistry and Physics provides a comprehensive major program in Chemistry, minor programs in Chemistry and Physics as well as disciplinary and interdisciplinary courses in the core curriculum. For more information about our program view our recruitment video.

Department Events

Planetarium now open to the public

For details about shows and tours of GCSU's new planetarium, vist the planetarium website.

Herty addition to be dedicated

Dedication will take place in Front of Herty at 2pm on Thursday, November 12th.

Department News

Chemistry Club wins Outstanding Chapter Award

GCSU’s Student Affiliates chapter has received an Outstanding Chapter Award for its 2008-2009 activities under the leadership of President Evan White, Vice-Presidents David Wilson and Katherine Harper, Treasurer Justin Cross, Public Relations officer Emily Williams, and advisor Dr. Catrena H. Lisse.  For the 2008-2009 academic year, 22 Outstanding Chapter Awards will be presented with GCSU being the only school from the state of Georgia.

The chapter has also been selected to receive a Green Chemistry award for its activities conducted during the 2008-09 academic year. Green Chemistry chapters are selected by the Society Committee on Education and the ACS Green Chemistry Institute®. For the 2008-2009 academic year, 55 Green Chemistry Chapter Awards will be presented.

The 2008-09 award winning chapters will be recognized in the November/December issue of "inChemistry" magazine and at the ACS Student Affiliates Chapter Award Ceremony that will be held at the 239th ACS National Meeting in San Francisco. 

Herty Hall renovation provides home for new science degree

Herty Hall’s $3.4 million addition and renovation will accomplish much more than providing much-needed space for overflowing classrooms and overcrowded science labs. New facilities for the growing science department and its programs are important, but accommodating growth means much more.

“Science is a worldwide discipline that is steadily, rapidly changing and evolving,” said Ken Procter, Dean of The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. “Techniques that would have been used in only the most advanced labs and classrooms quickly become commonplace and upgrading our programs is a necessary part of an undergraduate or graduate learning experience.”

Labs need to keep up with the rapid evolving technology. Teaching facilities need to modernize and so do teaching techniques.

“The Herty Hall expansion will allow more hands-on application for our students and more interaction between instructors and students,” Procter said. “Providing both graduate and undergraduates lab time is essential in preparing our students for science-related careers. Majors in science go on to graduate school, medical school, become teachers and work in business and industry.”

Science enrollments have grown during recent years exceeding 400 undergraduates. Biology is the largest major in The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and a large contributor to the basic science requirement in the core curriculum that serves all students.

Renovation of the existing Herty Hall will become home to the recently integrated physics bachelor degree.

“Physics is really taking off here at Georgia College,” Procter said. “The Herty Hall construction will accommodate the revitalized interest is physics as a major and the state’s urgent need to produce physics teachers.”

Early this year Georgia College joined Georgia Tech, Georgia State University, University of Georgia, Georgia Southern University and five additional University System of Georgia schools offering a bachelor of science degree in physics.

Georgia College expects to graduate physics majors as early as May 2010.

“This year at Georgia College & State University we have two students qualified in physics in the Master of Arts in Teaching program,” said Dr. Ken McGill, Chair of Chemistry, Physics and Astronomy Department. “In one year the The College of Education will have doubled the number of newly qualified high school physics teachers in Georgia.”

Georgia College last offered a degree in physics 30 years ago. The major was relegated to a minor in the early 1970s due to budget concerns and a low level of student interest.

Because student interest in math and science at Georgia College has grown significantly since the 1970s, the university has been awarded funds through Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) initiative to support overcoming the teacher shortage in STEM fields.

This funding, in addition to private donations and resources from the Grassman Foundation, has allowed the physics major to reemerge at Georgia College.
Currently, 13 physics majors are enrolled with the anticipation of an additional 15 to 20 freshmen physics majors enrolling during Fall 2010.
Georgia College offers a number of physics courses including research, electricity and magnetism, modern physics and dynamics.
Physics, the science of matter and energy and the interactions between the two, is one of the classical seven liberal arts and continues to be one of the foundations of the liberal arts concept.

The physics department will award four, three-year scholarships each year to enhance the degree’s growth.

“We’re looking for students who are determined to get their degree at Georgia College,” McGill said. “If they come here with an interest in physics, we will take care of the rest.”