Chemistry Handbook

When a student repeats a course, the grade they receive for the second attempt will replace the older grade.  The older grade is still visible on the transcript, but it is no longer used to in the GPA calculation.  There are several important considerations:

• If a student gets a lower grade the second time they take the class, the lower grade will replace the higher grade.  This is a fairly common experience, and I know of no exceptions granted by the Registrar to this rule.
• Current policy is that if a student takes a different course with a different course number, the new grade will not replace the old grade, no matter how similar the course.  This is most relevant for students who fail CHM 245 and take CHM 241 instead.  There are exceptions made to this in very rare circumstances--most notably, when a student does not meet the 2.0 GPA in the major and can't graduate.  This is a Dean-level decision and should never be advertised to students. (Note: this policy was updated by the Curriculum Committee in August, 2025--search for "245")
• It is important to note that some graduate programs (notably medical schools) do not exclude grades from repeated classes, but instead average all attempts. (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)

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)

Virtual/at-home/simulated labs can supplement but not replace in person experiences for the foundational and in-depth courses. 

Chemistry is an empirical science that requires the safe and effective physical manipulation of materials, equipment, and instrumentation.  This first-person experiential expertise cannot be developed solely through simulations.

Remote Lab Experiences

• One introductory laboratory course (prior to the foundational courses) may be conducted remotely or outside of the University laboratory environments.
• Kitchen chemistry experiments can supplement the in person experience in non-major and introductory chemistry sequences.
• Kitchen chemistry remote labs involve using everyday items that you can find in your kitchen or local discount store to explore basic chemistry.   Appropriate safety precautions must be considered in designing these remote lab experiences.   (American Chemical Society)

Update:  now that we have moved to CHM 234, CHM 115 is an automatic pre-requiste, so this question is moot (DAL 7/2026)

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)

University policy states that students should resolve their incompletes by the end of the next semester (excluding Spring/Summer).  The Dean's office will remind you of the need to resolve any outstanding incompletes.  There are a few things to consider:

• Despite the above guidelines, there is no enforcement mechanism about resolving an incomplete after one additional semester.  If you feel a student had a good reason to get a further extension, you have full authority to grant that.  I would recommend not letting it go beyond 3-4 semesters though.
• If a student does not respond to your inquiries about resolving their work, you can either give them more time and check again, or resolve to the "work not completed" grade agreed to when the I was granted.  A student cannot graduate with an I on their transcript, so even if they ignore your outreach, they will have to eventually. 
• Sometimes an instructor doesn't hear from a student, they resolve to an F, and then the student comes back and complains or offers an excuse.  If you choose to allow them to complete their work at that point, there is no problem to resolve the F back to a new grade--this is handled quite simply by carrying out a regular grade change.  (DAL 6/2024)

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)

The university requires that the last 30 credits towards an undergraduate degree be earned at GVSU.  Students who interrupt those last 30 credits must request a waiver of this policy. For instance:

• a student moves away, or is having financial trouble and needs to take a class at a community college. 
•  transfer credit is not applied until the last year, even though the actual class was taken much earlier.  

The University is relatively generous about this, but it is best not to advertise it until other options have been exhausted.  The form (titled Request for Residency Waiver Form ), with appropriate signatures, is then submitted to the Student Academic Success Center in 200 Student Services for a decision. (DAL 6/2024)

The university requires 2 SWS courses completed with a grade of C or higher (not C-).  It is no longer necessary to have one of the SWS classes in the major.  I know of no case where this requirement has been waived. (DAL 6/2024)

The University has a fairly defined policy on when incompletes are appropriate, but in reality, we have a bit of flexibility.  If you are not sure if an incomplete is in order, please let me know and I will advise.  If you plan to grant an incomplete, there are 3 simple steps:

• Submit the incomplete via the following form:

           https://www.gvsu.edu/clas/cms-form-edit.htm?formId=D1D036E6-991B-FB81-99565C594BF8147E

           ******When it asks for Unit Head's email, enter [email protected]*******

• Give a grade of I for the final grade for the class.
• Discuss with the student when they would like to make up the material.  Ideally, this should be done fairly quickly, but it could hypothetically be at any time next semester.  Once the work is completed, you resolve the incomplete with a simple grade change form.   (DAL 6/2024)

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)

The Department feels that Junior Seminar is an important part of the curriculum for all CHM, BIC and CHMX majors, and is therefore not generally waived.  Under very rare circumstances, it may be possible to make alternative arrangements, for instance:

• in some cases transfer students need to take CHM 391 in the Fall and CHM 491 in the Winter to graduate on time, and all 391 speaking slots are taken.  
• senior double majors sometimes have a required class in their other curriculum that meets at the same time as 391 in the Fall.

In such cases, it may be possible to waive CHM 391 on the condition that the student is required to a) attend several senior seminars and b) take US 301 Internship and Job Search Strategies.  This exception should not be advertised to students, and is subject to approval by both the Associate Chair of Student Affairs and the CHM 391 instructor.  (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

Students who study abroad sometimes wish to take Chemistry classes at a foreign institution, and receive credit for a GVSU class.  Standard procedure dictates that the Chemistry Department makes the decision about such credits.  The rationale for such decisions is similar that used for judging courses from U.S. institutions:

• Does the course cover the majority of the same content? (we don't expect perfect alignment--that never happens)
• Would a student who completes the class be ok in more advanced classes that use it as a pre-requisite?
• Does the class have a lab that is reasonably similar to the GVSU class?

Beyond these general guidelines, it is not possible to summarize how to make these judgments.  These decisions are handled by the Associate Chair for Student Affairs (in consultation with relevant instructors if necessary).  (DAL 6/2024)

Students who struggle with CHM 115 can drop down to CHM 100 as part of a special "parachute" program.  There is a Parachute information page and a Parachute sign-up page.  The former can be found under "student forms" on the department website.  It will be available at all times, and will be sent to all advisors (department and CLAS) to help make sure everyone understands the process.  The sign-up page is not publicly available, but instructors can send a link to eligible students after they meet to discuss the program. 

By special arrangement with the registrar, this process is different from the normal late drop/add in several ways:

• The students will be dropped from both lecture and lab for CHM 115.
• They will receive a 100% refund for the CHM 115 course and are expected to pay for the CHM 100 course at the time of the switch. This should resolve itself by applying any refund from CHM 115 to CHM 100.
• The Dean's office will not need to sign off.
• We will not charge any late fees.  
• No grade will be reflected on the students record. The course registration record for CHM 115 can only be found in our system. 

Procedure:

• Students can switch to CHM 100 ONLY during the first week (add/drop via Banner) OR using the parachute option during week 4 (deadline is Friday 3 pm).  
• CHM 115 must have an assessment that addresses concepts from CHM 100 during week
• Send emails to any students who receive less than 60% on assessment IF they have completed other class requirements to date.
• If after the instructor talks to the student both agree that the switch to CHM 100 would be good, student is provided with the link to the form to fill out. 
• When ACSA receives a submission through this form, all instructors involved (115 and 100, lecture and lab) will be emailed to ensure the student's eligibility and to let the everyone know the student is going to be transferred soon. 
• ACSA sends a final list of all parachute students to all instructors after the deadline, just to cap it off.
• Sarah Clark (or some other CHM 100) will contact Aktiv to have all parachute students moved from the CHM 115 to the CHM 100 course.

Students who have lecture credit but not lab credit, are quite common:

• Students who score a 5 on the AP exam or receive a 4 on the IB exam or a 65 on the CLEP exam, but who do not have a high-quality laboratory experience have the option of taking just the lab portion of CHM 116. 
• Student who transfer from a school that has separate lecture and lab courses
• Guest students who passed a lecture section but failed the lab and want to take the lab only (usually in the summer) 

The office staff can set up a special section of CHM 180 (1 credit) in which the student can enroll.  The grade they receive will be based solely on the work they do in the lab.  At passing this CHM 180 class, the student can request that the department inform the registrar to grant full CHM 116 credit on the transcript. 

Students have a variety of reasons they might ask for a late withdrawal.  They may act like it is routine and "just requires your signature", but in fact, the department has a set of criteria that must be met before we sign off on it.   In order to make it easier on faculty, we have a made a form that helps us collect the appropriate information.  Please tell students: 

The Chemistry Department has a special form that helps us decide whether we can approve a late withdrawal (it is not automatic).  Please follow the link below and answer all of the questions.  It is important to continue going to class until you receive a written response.  The University has a deadline of 5 pm on the last day of classes, so it is important to submit the department form in advance of that.  

https://www.gvsu.edu/chemhandbook/cms-form-edit.htm?formId=02D1B32F-B9E3-E3EE-0D9AEBA9359DC44E

As the instructor, you do not need to do anything else, but I may contact you for information about grades, attendance etc.  If you have a strong opinion for or against the withdrawal, you can pass that on to me as well.  (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)

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

Sometimes students transfer from a school on trimester or quarters, and the equivalencies can be tricky.  The first trimester of a 3 trimester general chemistry sequence is not generally good enough to get CHM 115 credit, especially .  Two trimesters might equal CHM 115 and three might be CHM 115/116.