Following a year-long, comprehensive review of the curriculum in 1993, the Chemistry Department faculty assembled a 5-year development plan. The most significant proposed curricular change derives from the perceived need to develop a new approach to laboratory work for third-year chemistry majors. This laboratory replaces traditional laboratories for our Physical, Advanced Inorganic, and Advanced Analytical Chemistry courses and uses an interdisciplinary, integrative approach to scientific problem-solving. The Unified Laboratory, to be titled Advanced Techniques in Experimental Chemistry (ATEC) course contains truly integrated laboratories, not just a collection of experiments from didferent subdisciplines. As the final major instrumental acquisition for ATEC, the Department of Chemistry is purchasing a tunable laser system and associated components for spectroscopic and kinetic measurements. Acquisition of this highly flexible system allows faculty to give students solid experience in the extremely important area of laser spectroscopy. *
