The American Chemical Society recently approved KSC’s Chemistry Department for full accreditation. The Committee on Professional Training (CPT) governs the approval process, getting input from academic and industrial representatives to determine what should comprise a proper chemical education. The standards are very comprehensive.
“What this means to the department and students is that we have validation of the quality of the facilities, staff, major program, and other resources (library, instrumentation),” explained Associate Professor of Chemistry Richard Blatchly. “The students will get a certificate attesting to this, and presumably will have it marked on their transcripts. That should be appealing to employers and graduate schools.”
Dr. Blatchly also said that prospective students frequently ask if our programs are ACS approved. The answer now is “Yes.” The approval could be very important, Dr. Blatchly noted, “as it marks us as an institution which cares a lot about academic quality, and is willing to provide the resources and energy to achieve and maintain it.”
Members of the KSC community and of the “sandwich generation”—those struggling to care for their elderly loved ones while raising their own children—will find help in The Sandwich Generation’s Guide to Eldercare: Concrete Advice to Simultaneously Care for Your Kids and Your Parents, co-authored by 
JD Salinger once said, “What really knocks me out is a book that, when you’re all done reading it, you wish the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it. That doesn’t happen much, though.” Unless you’re part of the KSC community, of course—then you have a connection to a whole host of great authors who would love to meet you and chat. Maybe the next time you’re at the Alumni Center, or at a College event.
