Current Documents

Each year the faculty and staff of the School of Chemical Sciences form multiple committees devoted to improving the operations of the School of Chemical Sciences.  In addition, each of the service facilities has a faculty advisor who works with the relevant staff to ensure that the needs of the School, including those of the Departments of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and Chemistry, are met.  

 

A BRIEF History of SCS

The Department of Chemistry has a long history, dating back to the founding of the University, then known as the Illinois Industrial University.  The Department has a number of historical documents on their website.  

In the spring of 1970, the Board of Trustees approved a motion to change the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering into the School of Chemical Sciences, with three new departments: Biochemistry, Chemistry, and Chemical Engineering.  This change was approved by the Illinois Board of Higher Education in September, 1970.  According to the summer 1970 Alumni Newsletter, this change "will enable each department to develop its own special interests while retaining close relations within the school".  

  • Prof. H.S. Gutowski, head of the former Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, was named the first Director of the School of Chemical Sciences and also Head of the Department of Chemistry. 
  • Prof. James Westwater, who had previously headed the Division of Chemical Engineering, was named the first Head of the Department of Chemical Engineering.
  • Prof. Lowell Hager, who had previously headed the Division of Biochemistry, was named the first Head of the Department of Biochemistry.  

In 2000, the Department of Biochemistry left the School of Chemical Sciences and joined the newly formed School of Molecular and Cellular Biology (MCB).  An extensive history of MCB and how Biochemistry came to be part of it was published in the Spring 2013 MCB Magazine.

In 2002, the Department of Chemical Engineering became the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, reflecting the growing influence of genetic and biological research in the field of chemical engineering.