Dr. Deborah A. McCarthy, Assistant Professor of Chemistry

Saint Mary's College, Notre Dame

Department of Chemistry and Physics

Saint Mary's College is a Women's, Liberal Arts, Catholic College of about 1400 students with a very strong chemistry program. We offer both ACS Chemistry and ACS Biochemistry certified degrees. The department is a joint department with five chemists and two physicists though we do not offer a physics degree. The newest faculty member has been here three weeks and the oldest about 27 years. I am the fifth senior person and will begin my sixth year at the end of August. Each year we graduate about 6 - 7 chemistry majors and have about 25 majors in the department. Some students go on to graduate school, some to jobs in chemistry, and some to other professional careers unrelated to chemistry.

I chose to teach at a woman's college because women's issues have long been of interest to me. I put myself through college and raised a son as a single parent for part of that time. I am convinced that the women can build a good career in the chemical sciences and the sciences will benefit from increasing the numbers of women in the field. It is a win-win situation. As an aside, I am proud to say that we just hired a new president, Dr. Mary Lou Eldred, the first woman president here in many, many years.

From the description of the department you can see that there must be a very close working relationship with our students and well as with one another. I chose to teach at a small college in a small department because that is the kind of working environment I wanted. I knew that in coming to a place like this that I could have an impact on the program and on the students in ways that I would not be possible in a larger institution or even a larger department. The real advantage is that, as an educator, I can be innovative and independent in my teaching and at the same time seek the advice and support of my colleagues. Of course that closeness also brings an awareness of all aspects of the working environment. Both the successes and the failures are out front. Maintaining the balance between a professional work environment and the relaxed atmosphere of a family life can be difficult at times, too. It requires good communication and reasonable cooperation in order to keep the wheels moving smoothly or to oil them when necessary.

The most difficult aspect of teaching at a small college is trying to maintain an active scholarly life. Given the teaching loads (3 - 4 classes/semester here) doing your own research during the school year is very difficult and often there is little or no financial support from the school. With few students and very demanding course requirements, getting students involved in research early is also challenge. My solution has been to team up with a researcher at The University of Notre Dame, Dr. Tom Fehlner. Over three of the last four summers, he has helped support four of our students and me. The project has been completed this summer and the paper will be submitted for publication consideration this Fall. I have also begun to develop a project with a researcher in industry in town and will have a student working on it this coming semester.

I became very active in the local and national ACS almost as soon as I arrived here. I regularly attend the chemical education session of national meetings in order to keep up on what is going on outside of my local view. This gives me access to information and opportunities that have been immeasurably helpful in my teaching development. I also belong to a group of innovative educators, Project Kaleidoscope, whose goal is to reform science education in order to better serve the community and the disciplines. All of this has been supported by the college.

My advice for those choosing to teach at small colleges is to ask lots of questions about the program and about the support of the institution for career development. Do they pay for you to attend a conference or workshop every year? Do they support you by encouraging close communication and interaction with other teaching colleagues? Is there a mentoring program for new faculty to help you find your way through the system? What kinds of interactions with the community of scientists are possible and encouraged? Is there financial support for research from the institution? Are students encouraged or required to do research? How long has the current curriculum been in place? How do they think it is working?

Good luck in your own career! I am having fun with mine.