Dr. Jim Chen
In his Element
Chemistry
Professor Jim Chen’s road to a career in education didn’t start with
teaching. In fact, it didn’t even start with chemistry.
“I took chemistry in high school, and I did not like it at all,” he says.
But while majoring in cell biology at the University of Michigan, Chen wanted more. Questions arose in his studies, and the answers he got from the biological perspective weren’t enough. He found himself diving into chemistry, and graduated with a double major: cell biology, as planned, and chemistry—the subject he had sworn he’d “never touch with a ten-foot pole.”
After earning his Ph.D. in biophysical chemistry from Stanford University, Chen conducted post-doctoral research at UC San Francisco. A move to Seattle got him involved in education at Shoreline Community College, then patent law in a Seattle law office. When a job opened up at South Puget Sound, Chen jumped at the chance. “They wanted someone to establish an organic chemistry program here. Those kinds of opportunities don’t come along that often.”
Now Chen is developing that program, slated to start up in fall 2006. “We have a very good foundation here at the college, and bringing in the organic chemistry sequence will give students that second step,” he says.
And of his turnaround from dismissing to professing chemistry, he says diligence is key. “You never know when things are going to click.”