Designing and Incorporating Green Chemistry Courses at a Liberal Arts College To Increase Students’ Awareness and Interdisciplinary Collaborative Work

Two green chemistry courses have been introduced into the liberal arts curriculum at Susquehanna University. Green chemistry was integrated into an existing course, Chemical Concepts, and offered as Green Chemical Concepts for nonscience majors. This course is designed to instill an appreciation for green chemistry in a large and diverse group of students. The course follows a separate interactive lecture and laboratory format, consists of an atom economy workshop, and ends with students’ collaborative group presentations on “life cycle assessment of a greener product”. A chemistry elective, Green Chemistry, was also developed and offered to science majors. It is important that students from various areas of science be exposed to green chemistry, as many innovative science discoveries are made today through interdisciplinary collaborative work. This course follows a unique workshop style, integrating lectures with laboratory activities, and ends with student proposal presentations on “designing a greener product or process”. These courses will help students in all areas make intelligent decisions in the future and explore solutions based on green chemistry principles, which will eventually serve a greater community, thereby supporting the liberal arts mission.