June 8, 2021

Celebrating WCU’s 150 Years: The Evolution of the Sciences

WCU Spring MagazineAs we approach the celebratory launch this fall of the WCU sesquicentennial, the West Chester University Magazine continues to explore the University’s evolution. The latest issue delves into how the College of Health Sciences (CHS) and the College of the Sciences and Mathematics (CSM) have increased collaborations.

The West Chester Normal School once instructed students how to teach science. Today, students are also doing science.

Both CHS and CSM offer undergraduate and graduate students the opportunity to use state-of-the-art technology and equipment; to conduct research with faculty mentors; to attend and present at conferences; and to publish their research. Even more collaborative benefits await students when departments from both colleges move under one roof when the Sciences & Engineering Center and The Commons opens this fall. The CHS dean’s office and the Health, Nursing, and Nutrition departments will relocate there as well as CSM’s Physics and Engineering Department and the new Biomedical Engineering program.

“What excites me the most is that, rather than being in silos, our students work together with students pursuing other healthcare degrees,” says Scott Heinerichs ’99, CHS dean. “That way, they understand what other professionals are also doing, and understand the importance of collaboration to improve patient outcomes.”

“West Chester conducts science on a level that really puts our students among their peers at any institution,” says Radha Pyati, CSM dean. “We are attracting top-notch faculty who want to do cutting-edge science with their students.”

Professor emerita Sandra (Sandie) F. Pritchard Mather ’64, M’68 has noticed since her 1999 retirement that departments within CSM have become more focused on the teacher-researcher model. “Being a teacher-researcher brings excitement to your teaching because you’re out there in the field.”

Read more in the West Chester University Magazine.

 

CHS and CSM Points of Pride

WCU was one of the first institutions to:

  • create a pharmaceutical product development program.
  • establish one of the country’s first speech clinics (1923), which remains free.
  • make athletic training (AT, established 1970) one of the first programs in the U.S. to go co-ed. Professor emeritus Phil Donley also hired the first female college athletic trainer in the United States.
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