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The Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at The University of Texas at Austin is currently ranked ninth among the best chemistry programs in the country according to US News & World Report. The generous support of individual and corporate donors has played a significant role in helping us achieve this stature and accomplish our mission of excellence in education and research. Our students receive a top tier education to prepare them for future employment and leadership in all areas of the chemical sciences. The research conducted in our department has an impact throughout Texas, the nation, and the world. In concert with President Powers' vision for the University of Texas to become "the great public university in America," we seek to establish this department as one of the top five in the country. Continuing support from alumni and friends will be critical to our success as we advance toward this goal.

	Current Priorities
	Additional Opportunities for Giving
	How to Give
	Donate Online Now!

Current Priorities

Faculty Recruitment and Retention
The Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry must be able to compete nationally with peer institutions, which are becoming increasingly aggressive in their pursuit of our faculty. The availability of adequate endowments for professorships, chairs, and excellence funds is critical to our success in this effort. Although we have a number of such endowments, more are needed if we are to expand and retain our exceptional faculty.

At more than 38:1, the department's student/faculty ratio exceeds the University's overall ratio of 20:1, making it one of the highest at UT. We must reduce this ratio so we can better educate our students, strengthen current research programs, and develop new initiatives in emerging areas of chemistry and biochemistry.

Chairman's Academic Excellence Fund
The department has established an endowment target of $5 million to provide discretionary funds for use by the chair to respond quickly to urgent, unanticipated needs. These monies will also support a variety of important programmatic activities such as seminars, symposia, graduate student recruitment, and other activities that are not funded by the University. The Larry R. Faulkner Endowed Chair in Chemistry & Biochemistry is being created and named in honor of our department alumnus and former president.. Contributions to support the department may be made to this endowment or to other discretionary departmental funds.

Mallet Chemistry Library
Faculty and students increasingly rely on electronic resources provided by their academic libraries to support their research and coursework. The Mallet Chemistry Library currently lacks the electronic archives of many of the most important chemistry and biochemistry journals. To regain its stature among the most comprehensive chemistry libraries in the United States, the library must acquire these archives at a cost of approximately $500,000. A fund is being established to achieve this goal.

Additional Opportunities for Giving

Undergraduate Programs
Undergraduate scholarships enable students to devote more time to their studies and participate in research activities that help prepare them for productive careers as leaders in academia, medicine, and industry. To enhance the undergraduate experience, the department recently established the Freshman Research Initiative (FRI) in the College of Natural Sciences. Rather than taking the traditional freshman general chemistry or biology laboratories, selected incoming students participate in a special laboratory program consisting of topical "streams," in which they conduct experiments that are an integral part of active research programs. Many of these students then initiate an independent research project under the supervision of faculty members.

You may help our undergraduates in several ways. For example, you may make a contribution as a one-time gift, or you may create an endowed scholarship. We are also establishing a "Friends of FRI" that will help support outstanding students who participate in this program and will help underwrite the development of new research "streams."

Support for the Graduate Program
Competition with other graduate programs is fierce, with many of our peer institutions providing lucrative, multi-year financial packages and fellowships for prospective students. Graduate fellowships play a key role in attracting the best students in the country to our department, and in order for us to be competitive, we must be able to offer the same recruiting incentives. You can help us by making contributions to graduate student fellowships or you may create a new endowed fellowship.

How to Give

The College of Natural Sciences has helpful information about various methods for giving to the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. You may choose from outright or planned gifts, endowments, excellence funds, and other options. Every gift is significant and appreciated.

You may donate online through the University of Texas at Austin's Development Office secure website. For your convenience, you may direct your gift to any of our established endowments by specifying "other" and listing the name of the endowment. Click here to learn more about the extensive benefits of endowed gifts. You may also choose to make a contribution to the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and designate how you wish your gift to be used.