VCU ranks No. 6 nationally in undergraduate chemistry degrees awarded to women

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Virginia Commonwealth University's Department of Chemistry has risen six spots to No. 6 in a national ranking of undergraduate chemistry degrees awarded to women.

VCU's 2013 class of chemistry students was 58 percent women. In recent years, the department's ranking in terms of B.S. degrees awarded to women has climbed significantly. It ranked No. 12 in degrees awarded to women in 2012. In 2008, the department was ranked No. 45 in the country. In 2003, it was ranked No. 144.

Additionally, the chemistry department ranked No. 3 among non-Historically Black Colleges and Universities in undergraduate degrees awarded to African-American students from 2011 to 2013, according to 2013 data compiled by the National Center for Educational Statistics. Overall, the department ranked No. 15 in undergraduate degrees awarded to African-Americans.

The department was ranked No. 12 nationally in the total number of undergraduate chemistry degrees awarded in 2013.

"We're very proud of our tradition of offering access to women and underrepresented groups in the department," said Scott Gronert, Ph.D., department chair and professor of chemistry. "And we're also proud that we've become one of the largest undergraduate programs in the country."

VCU's chemistry department in College of Humanities and Sciences had the second-highest number of degrees awarded to women in Virginia, behind only the University of Virginia, which ranked No. 5 nationally.

VCU has a long tradition of supporting female students and faculty in chemistry, dating back to the department's inaugural chair, Mary Kapp, Ph.D., in the 1960s, and earlier.

"We are a department that has one of the highest percentages of women faculty in the country," Gronert said. "By having many women faculty as mentors and leaders in the department, it makes it a very attractive and supportive place for women to get their degrees."

Jim Coleman, Ph.D., dean of the College of Humanities and Sciences, said the department is a "major force in producing a talented and diverse array of undergraduate chemistry majors, many of whom go on to careers in STEM fields."

"The fact that VCU chemistry produced the sixth largest number of female chemistry grads in the nation is a testament to the department's history and commitment to drawing on the talents of female scientists from its inception in 1940 and the appointment of its first, trailblazing chair, Dr. Mary Kapp, to growing a program where 38 percent of the tenured faculty are leading female scientists," Coleman said.

He added that it is also "gratifying to see the huge impact that department is having on launching underrepresented minority students into STEM fields."

 

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