This semester, the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry has been overhauled to increase student flexibility, expand course offerings and broaden its academic scope.
Now known as the Department of Chemistry, the reorganized program has changed the introductory general chemistry courses, eliminated the biochemistry major for future students, updated student labs and added a new major track. Students will also now be able to minor in chemistry as well.
Chemistry Department Chair Molly Costanza-Robinson said the new name and other reforms reflect the program’s interdisciplinary approach to the major.
“The change was intended to recognize that the field of chemistry is a broad interdisciplinary field under which biochemistry and the other four traditionally defined subfields fall (organic chemistry, inorganic chemistry, analytical chemistry, and physical chemistry). We felt that isolating biochemistry as separate from the other fields of chemistry did not reflect the actual practice of chemistry,” she wrote in an email to The Campus.
Students who matriculated before fall 2025 will still be able to pursue majors in chemistry or biochemistry, and they can still obtain departmental honors under the old system. Under the new system, chemistry honors will be changed as well.
Prin Chantarangkul ’27, a member of the Chemistry Student Advisory Committee, explained that the honors major will now become the ACS-Chemistry major. The American Chemistry Society (ACS) is a national organization that offers certification for certain chemistry majors at select colleges and universities to set a standard for chemistry majors in higher education.
“The ACS-CHEM major is more similar to chemistry majors at larger state schools. Most B.S. Chemistry degrees at larger schools are also ACS-certified. This helps to show PHD/master’s programs that our Chemistry major is of equal caliber,” Chantarangkul wrote in an email to The Campus.
In order to complete an ACS-CHEM major, students must take a class in all five of the chemistry subfields: Biochemistry, organic chemistry, inorganic chemistry, analytical chemistry and physical chemistry. Regular chemistry majors must now take a class in four out of five subfields, an increase from the three that were previously required.
“Now, after students complete general chemistry, they will have five 200-level courses to choose among, which is pretty amazing! Completing each 200-level ‘unlocks’ more advanced courses in that area of chemistry… So, some of the changes add choice and some simply add scheduling flexibility,” Robinson explained.
Those 200-level courses will now include material that was previously covered in general chemistry, as part of an effort to simplify the major’s introductory course, Robinson added.
“Keeping general chemistry general means that we’ve pared down the topics with the goal of students being able to learn in a more measured way and be able to appreciate how the chemistry they are learning is important and powerful, regardless of whether they intend to major in chemistry, biology, neuroscience, or even outside the sciences,” she wrote.
Some students told The Campus that they hope the changes will make the workload more bearable for chemistry majors.
“Apart from specialization and opportunity in contact within the classes that they're offering, it's also shortening the amount of information in each class because right now chemistry classes are super compact, which is why the major has had a reputation for being hard,” Dani Pham ’28 said.
Robinson also said that changes to lab structures will replace previous decades-old “superlabs” that met for nine hours a week.
“Other goals included to guide students in developing more diverse laboratory skill sets via a bunch of courses each with a single lab per week,” Robinson wrote. “Nine hours per week for one course credit was a bit much, as students are not shy to tell you!”
The new 200-level courses are also intended to allow students to explore critical chemistry concepts in depth, as opposed to the quick overview they previously received in general chemistry.
“Take electrochemistry, as an example — It is traditionally covered in general chemistry but without the time to convey how important and powerful it is, how it can be used in really cool contexts and applications. This type of more specialized material will be moved to more specialized mid-level courses where there is space to cover it in more depth,” Robinson explained.
Further changes include the addition of labs to theoretical classes like “Quantum Chemistry” and “Thermodynamics and Kinetics” as well as a renewed effort to help students develop laboratory skills and familiarity.
The changes were part of a decade-long deliberative process that sought to align the Middlebury chemistry department and major with that of peer institutions, according to Robinson.
Editor’s Note: News Editor Hugo Zhang ’28 contributed reporting to this article.
Luke James Power '28 (he/him) is a News Editor.
Luke previously served as a contributing writer and as a news editor of "The Anvil" Middlesex school. He is majoring in economics and history. He is also a senior analyst with the Middlebury Student Investment Committee, and enjoys skiing, squash, and golf. He lives in Manhasset, NY.
