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May 21, 2001
Sp 112
Contact: Sarah Maxwell
Director of Media Relations
507.646.4184
Written By Danny LaChance '01
Carleton College to Hold Annual Honors Convocation
Professor of Chemistry Jim Finholt to Give
Address
Northfield, Minn.- Members of the Carleton
College community will gather in Skinner Memorial Chapel at 3:00
p.m on Friday, May 25, to honor students' personal and academic
excellence at the College's annual Honors Convocation. The event
is free and open to the public.
Jim Finholt, the William H. Laird Professor of Chemistry and
the Liberal Arts will deliver the convocation address titled
"The Joys of Life in Academe."
"I'll be talking about the joy of learning, the excitement
of working with students, and the rewards of being able to work
with marvelous colleagues," Finholt said. He has been a
faculty member at Carleton for 40 years.
For Finholt, the chance to speak at Carleton's Honors Convocation
is itself an honor. "I was very pleased," he said.
"Being at Carleton for 40 years has been a wonderful life.
I wanted to have a chance to express that to the Carleton community."
Finholt will use his speech as an opportunity to illustrate the
visceral nature of learning. While faculty members normally sit
in risers behind the speaker at Carleton's formal convocations,
this year they will sit in the audience. The reason: Finholt
plans to demonstrate some chemistry experiments for the audience.
He will not divulge the details, but he will say this: "Safety
goggles will be supplied to those seated on the stage."
Finholt hopes that his lecture and demonstration will remind
audience members of the reasons they are connected to an academic
community. "Honors Convocation is more than just recognizing
academic excellence; it's about honoring all of us and what we
are engaged in: the pursuit of knowledge," he said.
Finholt received his B.A. in chemistry from
St. Olaf College and his Ph.D. in chemistry from the University
of California, Berkeley. He teaches courses at Carleton on inorganic,
physical, and introductory chemistry. He is currently developing
techniques for separating compounds that are mirror images of
one another and creating molecular modeling software for use
in his computational and introductory chemistry courses.
Reflecting on his career as a professor at Carleton, Finholt
noted significant changes in his field over the years. "Between
the 1950s and now I've watched the development of the computer
as a tool used in our research. I remember seeing the first computer
at Berkeley, watching others sign their life away for a chance
to schedule some time with it."
Better technology and increased access to equipment have made
chemistry teaching much less lecture-oriented, Finholt observed,
and much more hands-on. "Students in chemistry classes today
aren't just soaking up pearls of wisdom," he said. "They
are actively doing research, using tools and technology to really
learn about how science is studied. Even our freshman labs are
highly instrument-based."
Finholt plans to retire at the end of this academic year. In
his retirement, he will continue to be active in outreach programs
involving Carleton chemistry students and staff with high school
and grade school students. He will also be organizing a Cannon
Valley Elder Collegium lecture series next fall, which will feature
Carleton faculty from the arts. He hopes to do some writing and
become more familiar with some of the newer instruments in the
chemistry department, and travel with his wife.
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