Student Success Update
Organic Chemistry Jump Start for At-Risk Students
In August, NSM will host the Foundations to Success in Organic Chemistry Program, a two-week intensive boot camp funded through a Howard Hughes Medical Institute grant for undergraduate student success.
Sixty students enrolled in the CHEM 3331 Fundamentals of Organic Chemistry lecture course in the fall, but whose performance in CHEM 1332 Fundamentals of Chemistry 2 suggests they may struggle, are invited to participate. Organic chemistry is a gateway course for most life science related majors and chemistry majors and is a point in the degree program where we lose a number of students from STEM programs.
Led by Ognjen Miljanic, professor of chemistry, students are provided with a review of key elements from the general chemistry curriculum that are critical to success in organic chemistry, as well as a jump start on the material for the fall semester. Students spend at least two hours a day working problems in a small group format. They also participate in mini-sessions on time management and study strategies to help them build the habits of successful students and professionals.
In the fall, the students are provided with recitations led by peer facilitators to provide additional academic support and problem-solving practice in their coursework.
The program heavily recruits students that have transferred their CHEM 1332 credit from other institutions as data indicates that these students tend to be outperformed by students that took the course at UH. Prior participants had a 45% higher successful course completion rate in the Fundamentals of Organic Chemistry course than similar students who did not participate.