After six years as department chair, Prof. Tim Funk is passing the reins to Prof. Don Jameson, who is taking on the job for a second time. Prof. Funk will be on sabbatical during the 2023 – 2024 academic year and looks forward to being responsible for nothing but his own research.
Prof. Shelli Frey is back from her year-long sabbatical during the 2022 – 2023 academic year after spending more than six months doing research in South Korea. Read more about her experience in the “Research and Professional News” section.
Two Visiting Assistant Professors joined us in the department for the 2022 – 2023 academic year: Prof. Alecia Achimovich and Prof. Shana Wagner. Prof. Achimovich—a Gettysburg College class of 2016 BMB major—received her Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences – Biophysics from the University of Virginia in July 2022. Prof. Shana Wagner joined us after getting her Ph.D. in Biological Chemistry from the University of Pittsburgh in the summer of 2022. Both Profs. Achimovich and Wagner taught general chemistry lectures and labs and biochemistry lectures and labs. We are happy to report that they will both be continuing in their roles during the 2023 – 2024 academic year.
A third Visiting Assistant Professor has also joined us this year: Prof. Julie Laudenschlager. Prof. Laudenschlager is also a Gettysburg College alumna—2016 BMB major—who recently received her Ph.D. in Chemistry with an Organic Chemistry concentration from the University of Virginia. She is teaching general and organic chemistry lectures and labs this year.
After completing the 2022 – 2023 academic year, Prof. Suv Sengupta moved onto a new position as the NMR Facility Director at the University of California, Irvine. We wish him good luck in his new job.
Prof. Joe Gryzbowski, who retired in 2016 after 36 years of teaching in the Chemistry Department, recently started a new chapter in his life, moving across the country from his home in the Gettysburg area to a new home in Washington.
Prof. Roger Heckman, Chemistry lab instructor from 2014-2021, also made a big life change. He moved from the Orrtanna home he built with his wife, Nancy, to an active adults community in New Jersey, close to his children and grandchildren. We are saddened to hear that Nancy passed away in August 2022.
