Jillian Dempsey
A BANNER YEAR!
Sitterson Teaching Award
Professor Jillian Dempsey, who began her career at UNC in
2012 and over the past five years has developed a vibrant re-
search program in physical inorganic chemistry, which has
been supported by the NSF CAREER Program, Alfred P. Sloan
Fellowship, a Packard Fellowship for Science and Engineering,
the Department of Energy and an Air Force Office of Scientif-
ic Research Young Investigator Award, has indeed had a very
nate deserving faculty and graduate teaching assistants for the
awards and subsequently oversee the selection process.
The committee chose recipients who promote the value of un-
dergraduate teaching by example, demonstrate concern for
students through interaction and approachability inside and
outside the classroom, create meaningful learning experiences
and maintain high expectations of their students.
“Rewarding student-teacher relationships are the foundation
for success at our University,” said James W. Dean, Jr., Execu-
tive Vice Chancellor and Provost, at the award ceremony. “Car-
olina is always proud of its talented faculty, and it is especial-
ly satisfying when students help the University recognize the
meaningful impact our teachers make to their lives.”
Chemical Education
Later in the year, Jillian published an article discussing the ne-
cessity of technical writing in Chemistry. In it, she elaborates
on the need for writing skills, which often first becomes pro-
nounced during a chemist’s graduate studies. Beyond writing
of manuscripts and a thesis, many graduate programs require
students to write original research proposals in order to culti-
vate skills associated with proposing new ideas. This require-
ment is particularly helpful for those students who go on to be
academic faculty because writing grants and proposing new
research is a crucial part of running a laboratory.
accomplished year. It began by her being awarded the 2017 J.
Carlyle Sitterson Award for Teaching First-Year Students.
Sitterson awardees are selected by the University Committee
on Teaching Awards, based on input from students, who nomi-
14 | CHEMISTRY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA
In the article, Jillian points to the plethora of writing require-
ments and expectations for graduate students, which contin-
ues into their professional careers, particularly for academic
chemists, and raise an important question: when do students
learn the necessary skills, particularly good grant-writing
skills? A number of undergraduate-level writing courses or in-
class exercises have been proposed. However, states Jillian, it
is unclear what percentage of students have exposure to these
classes.
| CHEM.UNC.EDU