Hill College Foundation funds new chemistry lab at Hillsboro campus

  Jessyca Brown
  Wednesday, December 16, 2020 10:44 AM
  Academics

Hillsboro, TX

Chemistry students at the Hill College Hill County Campus are getting an upgraded chemistry lab thanks to a $70,000 donation from the Hill College Foundation.

The lab needed safety upgrades, and the donation allowed for a complete renovation of the room including new student workstations, sinks, gas and electric outlets, and storage for equipment.

“The electrical outlets needed upgrading, and all the chemical use throughout the years created a buildup of residue on the sinks,” said Hill College Assistant Dean of STEM Dr. Alisa Carter. “There was no path around the island in case of an emergency, the emergency shower needed replacing, and the fume hood sounded like a jet plane on a tarmac.”

The lab will be open for the spring semester and will serve all chemistry classes on the campus.

Chemistry instructor Dr. Esmaeel Masadeh said the renovations were necessary for maintaining creativity and flexibility in teaching lab experiments. With the new workstations, students will now also be able to quickly analyze experiments with computers.

“You have to change how you teach students as time and students change,” said Masadeh. “For us to develop new and various experiments, we needed the infrastructure and a lab with certain capabilities. We can do experiments now that we couldn’t do before, and we can modify our experiments so our students can better relate to what they’re learning. Our students now have everything they need.”

As a thank you to the Foundation, the chemistry department presented representatives with a scrapbook showing how far the lab has come.

“It is a small gesture of thanks, but we want our foundation to know just how much this generous gift means to our students,” Carter said. “These renovations wouldn’t have been possible otherwise, and we cannot thank them enough for all they have done to help us with this project.”

The Hill College Foundation is a 501 (c)(3) corporation that exists to assist in and contribute to the academic, vocational and educational purposes and physical growth and development of Hill College. Since its inception in 1997, gifts from the Foundation have been made to develop Hill College’s Jerry Norton Wallace Campus, renovate Bailey Hall and the Hill County Campus Library, fund student scholarships, and purchase special equipment for college programs.

For more information about Hill College’s chemistry program, please visit www.hillcollege.edu. To learn more about the Hill College Foundation, please visit https://www.hillcollege.edu/About/Development/Give/Foundations.html.

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