Chemistry Handbook

Under some rare situations, a student who fails or does poorly in CHM 245 may end up taking CHM 241--there are a few examples that have occurred in the past:

• A student fails CHM 245 in the Fall and wishes to repeat the class in the Winter aiming not to fall too far behind.  CHM 245 is not offered in Winter so they take CHM 241.
• A student fails CHM 245 multiple times and wishes to complete their degree using 241.

The Curriculum Committee decided that we should allow CHM 241 grades to replace CHM 245/246 by departmental approval only.   If a student requests this action and presents a reasonable rationale, the Associate Chair for Student Affairs can approve this by informing the registrar. The CHM 245/246 grades will no longer count toward the GPA (and major GPA).  If the course was repeated at GVSU, the new 241 grade will count toward the GPA.  If the course was repeated at another university, the new grade will not count toward the GPA (transfer courses are not included in GPA) but the original grade will not count either.  This policy will be the same for CHM 242 replacing CHM 247/248.  (Dave Leonard, August 2025)

Can a BIC major get a minor in CHM?  Yes, in fact all BIC majors automatically qualify for a CHM minor because all of the CHM minor requirements are required for the BIC major.  While the requirements are automatically met, the minor is not automatically given--students must apply for it.  Opinions differ as to the meaningfulness of such an addition, but the Biochemistry faculty voted to allow students to do this.  Best practice is probably to not advertise or encourage this, but if a student insists, you can note that it is allowed.  (DAL 6/2024) 

General Chemistry (125/126/127/128) Drop policies

(Adopted by the General Chemistry Instructors November 2025)

Can students use of CHM electives in the Environmental and Sustainability Studies (ENS) minor?  This question was posed to Prof. Amy McFarland, director of the ENS program.  She replied "...happy to sub this course in for your Chem Major/ENS minor if needed". (DAL 7/2024)

We do not allow any substitutions in the CHM minor.  This is a long-standing policy and there are no exceptions.  For example:  

• A Physics major requested to substitute Physical Chemistry for Organic Chemistry.  This was denied because organic chemistry is considered to be part of the broad survey of topics needed for the minor.  This was treated similarly when a BMS major asked to use CHM 463 as a substitute for CHM 221.
• BMS majors often ask to substitute something for CHM 221, usually because of the difficulty of fitting it in their schedule.  The problem is that anything that would appropriately substitute for CHM 221 usually requires that course as a pre-requisite.
• Students seeking a Chemistry Teachable Minor must use SCI440 as their 6th class.  If they wish to change to a regular CHM minor, they should not use SCI440 as a substitute, and it is suggested they take another class.  Debbie Herrington noted that there is no point to SCI440 unless they are going into education, so they should take something else to make themselves more marketable. (DAL 6/2024)

The BIC subgroup approved the use of the following course as a substitution for the elective section of the BIC major

PSY 432 - PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY

Study of the effects of drugs on the brain and behavior. The course introduces students to the principle of neurotransmission in the brain, how the neurotransmission becomes disturbed in the psychological/behavioral disorder, psychopharmacologic treatments of psychological/behavioral disorders, and the actions of psychoactive drugs on the brain and behavior. Offered every academic year. Prerequisites: PSY 101; and one of PSY 300, BMS 301, CJ 300, PLS 300, NUR 435, or SW 430.

(Dave Leonard) 3/15/2025

Double majors are much easier to achieve than most advisors understand.  Many are confused by the requirement that "Dual majors may be awarded as long as there is a minimum of 60 credits across both majors."  The old language that there needed to be at least 30 non-overlapping credits in each major was especially confusing.  Ultimately, the requirement can be met if the following conditions exist:

• a student meets all of the requirements for both majors.
• the students required coursework can be divided into two lists, one for each major, and the two lists add up to 60 credits
• for courses that overlap (ie. are required for both majors), they simply have to be put on one or the other lists.  For instance, CHM 115 is required for BIC and BMS.  That class can be used for the one list or the other, but not both. 
• Because the CHM and BIC degrees are so credit heavy, it is almost impossible to not meet the "60 total credits in both majors" rule, assuming all requirements for both majors are met.
• [It is not clear if the "30 unduplicated credits in each major" requirement is still operational, but that type of language is still used for minors, so this is still a useful way to think about it]  (DAL 6/2024)

Students can be exempted from MTH classes by a wide variety of mechanisms, and these are typically reported in the "Student Profile" tab on MyBanner.  Alexis Schewe reported to me (email 4/1/2025):

Below are the various scores you will see that indicate MTH 122 has been waived.

• Advanced Math Waiver = indicates the reported ACT/SAT scores were high enough to waiver MTH 122+123
• MTH 122 + 123 Satisfied = indicates that the student took AP Calculus. The Math Department allows the math placement to be updated at orientation for any student who took AP Calculus, even if they didnt take the AP Exam and regardless of the AP exam score.  These should be updated at orientation, but occasionally one might get by since its a manual process.
  • If a student indicates they have AP Calculus but it hasnt been officially waived, we can look back at the high school transcripts (if on file) in Slate and confirm. 
• MTH 122 with a score of 999 = indicates the student tested out of MTH 122 via math proficiency test

If a student has these indications, they will not need  pre-requisite waivers for courses that need these classes (ie. CHM 116).   (DAL 6/2025)

There is sometimes confusion with regard to the total number of credits needed for the Green Chemistry Certificate. The catalog says "students who seek a certificate in green chemistry are required to complete 12 to 13 credits from the courses as follows..."

After some discussion, Dalila Kovacs explained that this requirement was set up when the minimum credits required for a certificate was 12, but that has now changed.  The current catalog says "Certificate: A certificate is a record of achievement that recognizes a student's completion of a coherent and meaningful academic experience. A certificate includes anywhere from nine to 18 academic credits and is posted to the academic transcript."  Given that the there are three courses of at least three credits each required, plus an additional one credit minimum for a research based course (499, 399, 490 etc), we agreed that 10 credits was acceptable for the certificate going forward (DAL 7/2024)

After a request from a student, I have decided that we will allow CHM 325 to serve as an elective for the BIC major.  This class brings very valuable skills for those who wish to enter industry.  I have also decided not to pursue the inclusion of this course in the list of electives in the catalog, but it makes sense to do so in the future if there are other changes being made. (DAL 2/2026)

MTH 123 is not an acceptable pre-requisite for CHM 116 (Debbie Herrington 8/2/2021)

In the UK, high school students can take a 2-year course covering General Chemistry and some Organic.  This course-work includes extensive lab work.  It is generally considered to be more difficult than AP Chemistry in the US.  At the end of the 2 years, students take an exam, and earn a grade of A, B, C, D or NA (or F).  After review of the materials and consultation with Prof. Derrick Thomas (BMS; went high school in Wales), Blair Miller and Dave Leonard determined that a grade of A, B, or C would be granted CHM 115 and CHM 116 at GVSUno lab notebook check required. This has only happened once since 2018(DAL 6/2024)

STA 215 is not an acceptable pre-requisite for CHM 116 (Tom Pentecost 3/28/2025)

Organic Chemistry (235/236/237/238) Drop policies

(Adopted by the Organic Chemistry Instructors November 2025)

MTH 125 is a survey of calculus that covers both differentiation and integration.  While this class is not equivalent to MTH 201, Chris Lawrence and I discussed whether it could be used as a substitution in certain cases.  We decided that it was appropriate to approve it as a substitution for transfer students or change-of-major students who are BIC majors.  For instance, a CMB student took MTH 125 because that is what that major requires, but later decided to switch to BIC.  We agreed that it is not a good substitution for CHM majors.  We also agreed that it should not be used proactively--that is, we should not approve it for a student who will take MTH 125 in the future.  We also agreed that it should not be advertised to students or professional advisors.  (DAL 12/2024)

CHM 115 to CHM 230 exceptions

There are certain situations that we regularly allow students to jump from CHM 115 to CHM 230 without CHM 109 or CHM 116. Waivers are typically delivered with a warning that the student would be better taking CHM 109 as they are missing certain topics such as equilibria, acid-base etc.  

It is very important to make sure the student and advisor understand that a pre-requisite waiver does not allow the student to get CHM 109 credit on their transcript.  This is particularly important if a degree program or graduate program requires CHM 109.  For instance, Nursing requires CHM 109 for admittance, unless it is for the second-degree program--in the latter case, they only require CHM 230.

Pre-Nursing students  After some conversations with a pre-Nursing advisor (Mike Stoll), we agreed that we would allow CHM 115 as a pre-req for CHM 230 if the student earned a B- or higher in CHM 115. 

OSH majors  After some conversations with OSH professor Dave Huizen, we agreed that we would allow CHM 115 as a pre-req for CHM 230 if the student earned a C or higher in CHM 115.  Dave noted that he might recommend exceptions if he knew the student had made good academic progress in recent semesters.

Biomedical Engineers  We have a long-standing agreement with BME that their students can jump from CHM 115 to CHM 230.  As far as I know, the only requirement is that they pass 115. (DAL 6/2024)

We do not allow any substitutions in the CHM minor.  This is a long-standing policy and there are no exceptions.  For example:  

• A Physics major requested to substitute Physical Chemistry for Organic Chemistry.  This was denied because organic chemistry is considered to be part of the broad survey of topics needed for the minor.  This was treated similarly when a BMS major asked to use CHM 463 as a substitute for CHM 221.
• BMS majors often ask to substitute something for CHM 221, usually because of the difficulty of fitting it in their schedule.  The problem is that anything that would appropriately substitute for CHM 221 usually requires that course as a pre-requisite.
• Students seeking a Chemistry Teachable Minor must use SCI440 as their 6th class.  If they wish to change to a regular CHM minor, they should not use SCI440 as a substitute, and it is suggested they take another class.  Debbie Herrington noted that there is no point to SCI440 unless they are going into education, so they should take something else to make themselves more marketable. (DAL 6/2024)

Can BMS 250/251 serve in place of BMS 290/291 for the BIC major?  Biochemists decided: "No, this course has minimal CHM pre-reqs and does not count for the BMS major".  (DAL 6/2024)

In the past we have awarded BIC elective credit for students who have completed BMS 310, as long as they have also passed BMS 250/251.  (Dave Leonard, 7/2025)

Over the years, I have had several requests to use the online lecture only biochemistry class UNE 1050 from the University of New England as a course equivalent for CHM 461.  Typically, these requests have come from BMS majors who need to take or repeat CHM 461 to graduate, but they have moved away, or they have some good reason they don't want to come to campus.   More recently, the PA program has inquired about using this class to help students fulfill pre-requisites before they arrive at GVSU.  Because it does not have a lab, it cannot be equivalent to CHM 232.   For the record, we accept this class as CHM 461 because:

• It covers the content of that class reasonably well and has a two-semester organic recommended pre-req
• the syllabus states that it is an advanced class at the 300-level, which we typically bring in as 461
• the exams for this online class are proctored using webcams, ensuring strong academic integrity

I have been reluctant to establish an official course equivalency, because we are not keen to have CHM or BIC majors take this class.  We generally bring all it on a case-by-case basis (we use the notation "for this student only").  (Dave Leonard 3/2025)