Chemistry and Biochemistry

SDSU Chemistry: Personnel Through the Ages

Faculty Through the Ages

A-G	H-L	M-P	R-S	T-W
Abbott J. Adams Baker Bennett Bergdahl Burkey Carrano Chatfield Cobble Coffey Cole Cooksy Dahms Drescher Evans Gilkey Grotjahn Grubbs	Hardy Hellberg Harrington Iddings Isensee James Jensen Joseph Knowles Landis Laub Lebherz Leonhart Lewis Liang Livingston Love	Malik Mathewson McAlpine McNamara Merzbacher Messner Metzger Miller Mosen Moquin Nichols O'Neal Peterson Pullman Pierce Post	Richardson Ring Robinson Roeder Roehrig Ross Rowe Schwartz Sharts D. Smith Spangler Sheppard Somanathan Stewart Stumph Sun	Tong Wadsworth Walba Walsh Ware Wellman Wick Wilkinson Woodson Wyllie

Staff Through the Ages

A-D	E-H	I-L	M-R	S-T
S. Adams Ajami E. Carter R. Carter Cheney Chirico Cseri Cox Coleman Jackson DeGuzman Drown	Enders Fall Fischer Funk Genovese Goodner Grace Grant B. Hansen R. Hansen Hoffman	Ivey Janeck Johnson Keysaer Kuzniar Lafferty Lamoureux Leiser Long	Neslund Parady Penalosa Rice Rickel Rust	Schneider H. Smith Spingler Stock Stallbaumer Steed Thompson Tsuneyoshi

Acknowledgments

SDSU Chemistry: Faculty Through the Ages

Missing from this list are instructors in chemistry before there was a distinct Chemistry Department, as well as many lecturers and adjuncts who have given their time and effort to the instruction of our students. I have included some of our current and long-lived lecturers who have been active in the governance and research of the department. Dates are periods of service to the Chemistry Department. "SDSC" is San Diego State College, one of the former names of SDSU.

Mitchel (Ted) T. Abbott 1964-1992; Ph.D. UCLA. Biochemist studying pathways of biological oxidations. Funded by the NIH for many years. Abbott, Jensen, Malik, Mathewson, and Stewart all left during an administrative meltdown brought on by the budget crisis of 1992.
Joseph Adams 1994-1999, biochemist. Now at the Department of Pharmacology, UCSD.
Ross A. Baker 1952-. "A grand old retired professor, Ross Baker. He taught freshman laboratories and scientific glass blowing. The latter was not only a fun thing, it was a real service to the department as he could construct special apparatus. Glass blowing was also his hobby and he had a small shop at his Mt Helix home. I still have a 1" high pitcher with cobalt blue handle, a hero's engine, and a couple of other items which he gave us." -- Vince Landis. In 1945 Baker retired as Chairman of the New York Section of the A.C.S., largest of the 106 local sections. He was Professor of Chemistry at C.C.N.Y. His father taught chemistry at De Pauw University.
Larry Bennett 1970-2000, B.S. SDSU, Ph.D. '65 Stanford (Nobel Laureate Henry Taube), postdoc Columbia U. (Harry Gray, now at CalTech). Inorganic chemist studying transition metal ion redox reaction kinetics. Larry first joined the Department of Chemistry at the University of Florida, where he received NSF support and was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure. After his stay at the University of Florida, he joined SDSU, where he became a major contributor to the department's lower division courses. He designed Chem 105 in response to a clear need to bring students up to speed before entering the General Chemistry course. Retired in 2000 when the movers refused to relocate the 5-ft. high stacks of paper in his office to the new CSL building (okay I made that part up).
B. Mikael Bergdahl 1999-, M.S. and Ph.D. 1992 Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden; Postdoc 1994 Notre Dame (Helquist); Visiting scholar UCSD and Scripps Research institute (KC Nicolaou) 1999. Synthetic organic chemistry. Mike's specialization has been the total synthesis of biologically active compounds.
David J. Burkey 1997-2004, B.S. Colorado School of Mines, M.S., Ph.D. Vanderbilt (Tim Hanusa), postdoc U. British Columbia. Organometallic synthesis. One of our leading supervisors of undergraduate research and a dedicated lecturer, Dave single-handedly redesigned much of the Chem 200 lecture and lab syllabus. Left the department in 2004 to join the faculty at Allegheny College in Meadville, Pennsylvania.
Carl Carrano 2003-; B.S. UC Santa Barbara, Ph.D. U. Texas. Bioinorganic chemistry and x-ray crystallography. A prominent researcher, Carl joined the department as Chair with the hope of directing the expansion of the faculty to its former numbers, but has instead had to steer us through the worst state budget in a dozen years.
Dale Chatfield 1978-; A.B., M.S. Oakland U. Michigan, Ph.D. UNC (Maurice Bursey). Mass spectroscopist, and department Chair from 1998-2003.
James Cobble 1973-2001; A.B. Northern Arizona U., M.S. USC, Ph.D. '52 U. Tennessee and Oak Ridge Institute of Nuclear Studies (G. Frederick Smith). Physical chemist. Jim came to SDSU after being at Purdue U. as a Professor of Chemistry. Dean of the Graduate Division until his retirement.
DeWitt Coffey, Jr. 1968-1999; B.S. chemistry Abilene Christian College, B.S. chemical engineering U. Texas, Ph.D. '67 U. Texas (J. Boggs). Research in microwave spectroscopy and molecular structure. DeWitt collaborated with Leo Radom and Brian J. Smith on interpretation of vinyl-X rotational spectra. He served at various times as graduate and undergraduate advisor in the department and was a longstanding instructor in the General Chemistry course. He loved singing and biking, celebrating his 60th birthday with a 60-mile bike tour. Retired in 1999, and passed away in 2001.
Thomas E. Cole 1986-; B.S. '69 Purdue, Ph.D. '74 U. Texas, postdoc Purdue. Research in organic and organoborane chemistry.
Andrew L. Cooksy 1999-, B.A. '84 Harvard (Klemperer), Ph.D. '90 U.C. Berkeley (Saykally), postdoc Harvard/Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (Thaddeus/Klemperer). Physical chemist with research in spectroscopy and computational studies of organic free radicals. Joined the faculty from U. Mississippi.
A. Stephen Dahms 1972-. B.S. College of St. Thomas, Ph.D. Michigan State U. A biochemist, Steve is Executive Director of CSUPERB and CBBD.
Robert C. Drescher 1948-1948; A.B. SDSC. Assistant in Chemistry.
Ross A. Evans 1946-1949, A.B. SDSC, M.A. U. Kansas. His description in the Robinson History.
Wallace A. Gilkey 1925-1928. His description in the Robinson History.
Douglas B. Grotjahn 1997-; B.A. Reed College, Ph.D. U.C. Berkeley (Peter Volhardt). Organic and bioinorganic chemistry. Joined the department from U. Arizona, currently directs our graduate admissions.
Edward Grubbs 1961-1997, physical organic chemist; B.S. Occidental College, Ph.D. MIT (Herbert House), postdoc U. Illinois (David Curtin). His research was directed towards substituent field effects and nitrones. His postdoc with David Curtin at Illinois narrowly missed Bill Richardson's appearance in the group as a Ph.D. student. Grubbs' research at SDSU was supported by the NSF, NIH, PRF, and IBM.
Edgar E. Hardy ????-????. Polymer chemistry. Dr. Hardy came to SDSU as an adjunct professor after a long and successful career in industrial polymer chemistry. He studied in Switzerland and at the University of Minnesota, and taught at Cal Poly Pomona, UCSD, and SDSU. He was also an author and painter in watercolors. He passed away in 2009 at the age of 96.
Lars Hellberg 1956-1992 (and beyond); B.S. '51 Northwestern (Robert Burwell), Ph.D. '58 UCLA (Thomas L. Jacobs) organic chemist. Eat your heart out, Barry Sharpless: Lars is still easily the most widely recognized organic chemist in the greater San Diego area. Just try asking random people at the next Padres' game. A one-time northwest Chicago rough kid (once having to write "I will not throw snowballs" 103 times after attacking a school bus with his gang), Lars got his Ph.D. at UCLA, where he was a TA for Bill Richardson. Lars officially retired a few years back, but still has a desk in the department and occasionally e-mails us to ask after a book that someone has taken from his collection. He was also a founding member of the chemistry faculty at the graduate campus of the Tijuana Technological Institute, retiring in 2007.
Neil Harrington 1948-????; B.S. Monmouth College. Harrington had a Ph.D. in Chemical Education, in case anyone thinks that's a new idea, and he taught and coordinated Chem 2A which later became Chem 100. "His wife, also a veteran, taught business at SDJC (now SDCC). Because the JC's give credit for ANY graduate work, she was paid more than Neil." - V. Landis. His description in the Robinson History.
Carl Iddings 1922-1923. The first chemistry professor to last a year at what would become SDSU. (One professor preceded Iddings but left ignominiously.) His description in the Robinson History.
Robert Isensee 1948-1982; B.A. '41 Reed College, M.S. '43 and Ph.D. '48 Oregon State U. Organic chemist. Served as Chair (1958-1961) Graduate Coordinator in early sixties. As Chair in the late fifties coordinated the planning of the 1960 Chemistry/Geology Building. He and Hal Walba, in collaboration, received in 1954 San Diego State's first NSF supported research grant. During Chairmanships of Walba and Wadsworth served as Assistant Chair. His description in the Robinson History.
Carl E. James 1948-1949. His description in the Robinson History.
Reilly C. Jensen 1958-1992; Ph.D. '57 U. Washington (A.W. Fairhall). Research in radiochemistry and fission research.
Walter D. Jones 1962-1991; Ph.D. '58 Oregon State U. (J.C. Decius). Physical chemist. Jones set up an outstanding integrated senior physical-analytical lab program, featuring instruction in molecular structure research, interpretation of IR spectra, etc, and served as Chairman of the Chemistry Department for three years.
Lionel Joseph 1947-1972; B.S. '47 St. Louis U., M.S., Ph.D. Washington U. An organic chemist and licensed pharmacist, Joseph was one of the first active researchers in the department, working on biochemical projects funded by the Heart Association. Born in Scotland, Joseph returned to the UK upon his retirement, to a suburb of London. "A delightful British accent and philosophy helped us tide many crises. He pronounced 'part' as 'pot' which made some lectures a bit funny." - V. Landis. Department chair from 1952-1955. Joseph's description in the Robinson History.
Aileen F. Knowles ????-, enzymologist. Technically an adjunct and lecturer, Aileen is a well-established researcher in her field and has directed several graduate thesis projects.
Vincent J. Landis 1954-2000; Ph.D. '57 U. Minnesota (Robert Bradsted). Joined the Department at age 24, coming from U. Minnesota with a major in inorganic and a minor in analytical chemistry. "Hired as inorganic chemist. There were 230 faculty and 23 administrators in the catalog. I think there were 5,700 students. The faculty doubled in three years. I worked in freshman chem, analytical chem and advanced inorganic until I developed the graduate Inorganic Chemistry courses when we got the MS degree. Then Ring and Bennett were hired and took over Grad Inorganic so I coordinated freshman chem for about 17 years. Then I went full time analytical and undergrad advisor." - V. Landis. Retired after 45 years working in the Department, most recently as an outstanding undergraduate advisor. Now a Lakeside resident and frequent pit crew member for Mexican motocrosses.
Richard Laub Ph.D. U. Hawaii '74 (R.L. Pecsok). Famously announced his retirement by postcard from Tahiti.
Herbert G. Lebherz 1976-1996, biochemist specializing in enzymology, supported by NIH for several years. A "brilliant, enthusiastic biochemist/molecular biologist" - V. Landis.
Horst Leonhart 1966-1968, physical chemist with a specialty in photochemistry. He was German-born and came to SDSU after a post-doctorate with Prof. Livingston at the University of Minnesota. He committed suicide in the fall of 1968.
Urban J. Lewis 1948-1949; A.B. SDSC. Assistant in Chemistry.
Hong-Chang Liang 2001-2007; A.B. Occidental College, M.S. Johns Hopkins (Environmental Engineering), Ph.D. UIUC (Pat Shapley), postdoc Johns Hopkins (Ken Karlin). Environmental and synthetic inorganic chemist.
Robert Livingston 1966-1969, physical chemist. Effectively traded to us by U. Minnesota for his former student, William Ware. "Livingston was an inspiration in the measurement of rates and rate laws for several generations of chemists at U. of Minnesota. His chapters in Weissberger's Methods of Organic Chemistry guided hundreds of graduate students in their research. We were fortunate that he went into active retirement here for three years." - V. Landis. His description in the Robinson History.
John J. Love 2001-; B.S. SUNY Stony Brook, Ph.D. UCSD, postdoc CalTech (Steve Mayo). Protein design biochemistry.
James G. Malik 1957-1992; Ph.D. '54 Michigan State U. (Max Rogers). Physical-inorganic chemistry. Eventually became faculty representative for the Athletic department and a big wheel in the NCAA.
James H. Mathewson 1964-1992; B.A. Harvard, Ph.D. U.C. Berkeley. A biochemist and later marine chemist, heading the Oceanography program for quite a while. Mathewson is a Korean War veteran.
Shelli R. McAlpine 2000-; B.S. UIUC, Ph.D. '97 UCLA, postdoc Harvard. Organic chemist.
Kathy McNamara ????-, biochemist. Kathy is a scientist in Bill Stumph's lab and a lecturer in the department, heading up the biochem lab course for several years, and now also managing the combined Chem 100/105.
Claude F. Merzbacher 1947-????; B.S. U. Pennsylvania. A licensed chemical engineer, Merzbacher instructed the lower division courses before transferring to the Physical Science Department. His description in the Robinson History.
Elmer A. Messner 1931-1945. A.B., M.A. Stanford. A pharmacist, he taught quantitative analysis and was renowned for his high standards and occasional eccentricities. His description in the Robinson History.
Robert P. Metzger 1968-; B.S. UCLA, M.S., Ph.D. SDSU/UCSD (Arne Wick). Research in carbohydrate biochemistry. Robert received the first Ph.D. awarded by the department through the Joint Doctoral Program. He was originally hired into the Physical Sciences faculty, joining Chemistry when Physical Sciences was dispersed, where he continues his engagement in and advocacy for science education.
Dorothy A. Miller 1947-1952; A.B. SE Missouri State U., M.S. Iowa State U. Freshman instructor. Her description in the Robinson History.
Arthur W. Mosen 1950-1951; B.S. Oregon State U. An analytical chemist, Mosen left the department to join Gulf General Atomics. His description in the Robinson History.
William Neal Moquin 1946-1948; B.S. '36 UC Berkeley, Ph.D. Ohio State U. (M. L. Pool). Moquin had been a chemistry student at SDSU before completing his degree at Berkeley, and followed that with graduate training in radiation chemistry. His description in the Robinson History.
Ambrose R. Nichols 1939-1961, B.S. '36 UC Berkeley, Ph.D. '39 U. Wisconsin. The department's first physical chemist, the first official Chairman of the department (1946-1949), a Manhattan Project alum, and first Chairman of the San Diego State Faculty Senate, Nichols left San Diego State to become the first President of Sonoma State College. He stepped down from that position in 1970, continuing as a chemistry professor until his retirement in 1976. A classroom building at Sonoma State was named for him that year, and he was named the first President Emeritus by the CSU trustees in 1983. He served as president of the Santa Rosa Symphony Association Board and was active in bringing the Elderhostel program to northern California. He passed away in 2000, but his beneficial influence on the SDSU chemistry department is still resoundingly attested to by his former colleagues. His description in the Robinson History.
H. Edward O'Neal 1961-1994; B.S. '53 Harvard, Ph.D. '57 U. Washington (N.W. Gregory), postdoc USC (S.W. Benson). Physical chemist specializing in gas-phase kinetics and thermochemical kinetic calculations, an area that he pioneered as a post-doc with Professor Sidney Benson at USC. He and Benson co-authored the text Kinetic Data on Gas Phase Unimolecular Reactions. Ed was also active in photochemical kinetics of small molecules, which led to a close collaboration with Morey Ring on silane chemistry, and his work was supported by the NSF. Ed received SDSU's Outstanding Faculty Award in 1986.
Karen I. Peterson 1994-, B.S. SDSU, Ph.D. U. Colorado, postdoc Harvard (Klemperer). Spectroscopist. Karen is a former professor at U. Rhode Island who left to join the SDSU faculty as a lecturer, teaching at various times the advanced physical chemistry lab, graduate courses in thermodynamics and quantum mechanics, and freshman chemistry. She acquired the role of undergraduate advisor with Vince Landis' departure in 2000 and has also served as graduate advisor.
David P. Pullman 1994-, A.B. Princeton, M.A., Ph.D. Harvard (Nobel Laureate Dudley Herschbach), postdoc MIT (Silvia Ceyer). Surface scientist. A classic, big-machine physical chemist, Dave inherited the Ring/O'Neal lab in the basement of the old Chem/Geology building as the home for his ultrahigh vacuum system for characterizing desorption processes, and wishes he could have that room back after the mandated move to the new, compartmentalized CSL building.
Leo Francis Pierce 1923-1931. The first enduring chemistry professor in the department, and apparently one tough character. His lasting contributions include serving as an example and inspiration to his students, including Dr. Earl F. Nation, awarded SDSU's 2004 Alumni of Distinction Award. His description in the History.
Mrs. Lauren Post 1945-1946. Opera singer and instructor following Messner's departure. Her description in the Robinson History.
William Richardson 1963-1994, B.S. UCLA, Ph.D. U. Illinois (David Curtin), postdoc U. Washington (Ken Wiberg). Organic chemist. "An outstanding lecturer" - V. Landis.. A Navy vet of the Korean War (radar support on a destroyer) and among the most prominent and productive researchers in the Department's history, Bill's work is in the area of chemiluminescene centered on 1,2-dioxetanes. The work was supported by PRF, ARO, and NSF, and Bill was called to serve a term as an NSF program officer. Another interest is photochemistry, which was supported by a grant from IBM. In the early sixties he received The Distinguished Professor Award of SDSU and was nominated by SDSU for the Statewide Outstanding Professor Award. Although retired in San Diego, Bill continues his research into organic radicals using computational quantum methods, and has a 2003 J. Org. Chem. paper on the topic. He also recently taught an advanced Computational Chemistry class for the department.
Morey A. Ring 1962-1995; B.S. UCLA, Ph.D. '60 U. Washington (D. Ritter), postdoc '60-'61 Johns Hopkins. Research in main group inorganic chemistry, particularly silanes. Morey's research pursued the gas-phase synthesis and kinetics of silanes, enjoying a long collaboration with Ed O'Neal in this work and financial support from ARO, NSF, AFOSR, DOE, Xerox, and the California Comptech Program. A former department Chair, and recipient of SDSU's Outstanding Faculty Award in 1985.
Dudley Robinson 1928-????; B.S. Sugar Engineering U. Louisiana, M.S. U. Iowa, Ph.D. '42 UCLA (Anton Burg). He and Chesney Moe of Physics obtained their Ph.D.'s from UCLA night school while teaching here, pursuing research during summers and week ends. Long-time Chair of the department (1932-1946), WWII Navy veteran, Chairman of the Division of Physical Sciences (like a dean), he also lectured in freshman chemistry and wrote the original Department History. " A rare bird, a true San Diego native, his grandfather was a very early SD mayor." - V./ Landis. His description in the History.
Stephen B. W. Roeder 1968-; A.B. Dartmouth, Ph.D. '65 U. Wisconsin (E. Stejskal and W. Vaughn). Magnetic resonance spectroscopist. Steve was hired with a joint appointment to Chemistry and Physics, and continues to be active in both departments despite his recent appointment to Dean of SDSU's Imperial Valley Campus. His many terms of service to the University have included serving as Chair of the Department of Physics from 1975-78 and Chair of Chemistry from 1979 to 1985, then again Chair of Physics from 1991-1994 and Chair of Chemistry from 1995-1998. He was appointed Interim Dean of the College of Sciences from 1998-2000, and served as coordinator of the off-campus centers for three years before taking on the position in the Imperial Valley. Steve has also been active in the development of the Liberal Studies Program at SDSU.
Gillian A. Roehrig 2002-2004; B.S. U. Southampton, M.S., Ph.D. U. Arizona. Research in chemical education. Left to join the faculty at University of Minnesota, our second professor lost to the Golden Gophers.
Melvyn K. Ross 1939-1949; A.B. SDSC, M.S. USC. An inorganic chemist and one of the few to keep the department running during the war years, Ross started as a lab assistant in 1939 and rapidly rose to teach the general and organic lectures as well as courses in Physics. His description in the Robinson History.
Robert D. Rowe 1946-1972; A.B., Ph.D. Stanford. Analytical chemist. Department Chair from 1949 to 1952. "He taught analytical chemistry which I think he learned training chemistry technicians for Shell in WW II." - V. Landis. His description in the Robinson History.
Eva H. Schwartz 1946-1951; B.S., M.S. U.C. Berkeley. An extraordinarily dedicated freshman lab instructor. Her description in the Robinson History.
Clay M. Sharts 1962-1999; B.S. Berkeley, Ph.D. '59 Cal Tech (John Roberts, a leading physical organic chemist). Organic chemist specializing in fluorocarbons. "Clay served in Navy Chemical Warfare labs during the Korean period (I think). He retired from the Navy Reserves as a four-striper (Captain), which is impressive. After a brief stay at DuPont, Clay came to SDSU where he was active in the Freshman program and pursued research in the synthesis of organofluorine compounds. He co-authored a book with William Sheppard on Organofluorine Chemistry, which is a milestone in the field." - W. Richardson.
Diane K. Smith 1990-. B.S. Lewis and Clark College, Ph.D. MIT, postdoc U. Delaware. Electrochemist. Diane has been the mainstay of Chem 201, the second semester general chemistry course.
John Spangler 1946-????; A.B., Ph.D. '42 W. Virginia U. (E.C.H. Davies). A WWII and Korean War Navy vet, Spangler chaired the department twice (1952, 1955-1958) and taught analytical and physical chemistry. His description in the Robinson History.
John Sheppard 1955-????. Obtained his B.S. from SDSU and Ph.D. from Washington University in St Louis. Came from the Hanford Works to SDSU and set up our Radiochemistry program. Sheppard was Larry Bennett's undergraduate research advisor on a project in transition metal complex kinetics.
Ratnasamy Somanathan ????-, synthetic organic chemist. Sam received his Ph.D. at the University of London and post-doc'd at UC Davis. Sam is technically on the equipment support staff, but is also an adjunct in his capacity as an excellent synthetic chemist of bioactive compounds. With Hellberg, Sam is a founding member of the chemistry faculty at the graduate campus of the Tijuana Technological Institute.
Charles (Jack) J. Stewart 1955-1992, biochemist with research interest in CoA. received his B.A. in 1950 from San Diego State College (later SDSU), his Ph.D. from Oregon State, and did postdoctoral research in Germany. "I had Amby Nichols, Dudley Robinson, Bob Rowe, Bob Isensee, John Spangler and Lionel Joseph as profs. Hal Walba joined the faculty during my Senior Year. After 4 years at Oregon State and a Fulbright to Germany I returned as a Lecturer, Fall 1955. (A story in its self) The faculty had increased to Amby Nichols, Dudley Robinson, Bob Rowe, Bob Isensee, John Spangler, Lionel Joseph, Hal Walba, Vince Landis, and Neal Harrington. Vince was just completing his degree, Harrington was teaching the Chem 2A, 2B (Chem 100) Lecture and Labs. Vince and I had 4 freshman labs to teach in temporary buildings T22A. or B or T 27, with class size raging from 27 to 36." - C.J. Stewart. A former department Chair (1967-1970), Jack "was admired and appreciated for his creative and considerate scheduling of faculty teaching schedules." - H. Walba.
William E. Stumph 1983-, B.S. Purdue, Ph.D. Cal Tech. Biochemist specializing in molecular mechanisms of gene expression in higher organisms.
Lifang Sun 2000-2004, B.S. East China Metallurgical Engineering Institute, Ph.D. U. Minnesota. Analytical chemist with research in designing chromatographic substrates.
William G. Tong 1985-; B.S. Mandalay U., Ph.D. Iowa State U. (E.D. Yeung). Analytical spectroscopist. Bill's interest is in the application of multiwave mixing to low detection limit quantitative analysis, most recently in the area of nucleic acid characterization.
Earl P. Wadsworth, Jr. 1956-1990; B.S. U. New Hampshire, Ph.D. '56 Iowa State U. (C.A. Goetz). Analytical chemist, and served as Chair from 1970 to ????. "Largely responsible for the excellent instrumentation in our 1960 Chemistry/Geology Building. As Chair he hired Bill Tong and accomplished an Herculean feat getting Bill's lab equipped. He was very supportive of the research efforts of young faculty members." - H. Walba. "Earl gave 200% effort when he played baseball. We played a game with the faculty against the students in the old stadium, and Earl got all banged up. He would explain the theory behind any question you asked, so you could never get away in 5 minutes." - L. Hellberg.
Harold Walba 1949-1986; B.S. '46 U. Massachusetts, Ph.D. U.C. Berkeley (G.E.K. Branch). An organic chemist, Chair of the department 1961-1964, and instrumental in securing the Joint Doctoral Program in the department. Hal Walba graduated from the famous Boston Latin School (1939) and received his BS degree from the U. of Mass. During WWII (1943-1945) he was a lead navigator on B17 "Flying Fortresses" and flew 30 missions over Germany. After the war he received his Ph.D. at U.C. Berkeley and then came to SDSU. In the early sixties, Hal administered the NSF Undergraduate Research Programs. Virtually all the chemistry faculty involved in research supervised students in this program. One of the first participants in the URP program was Larry Bennett. Also see collaboration with Isensee above. Walba's description in the Robinson History.
Patrick Walsh 1994-1999; B.A. '86 UCSD, Ph.D. '91 UC Berkeley (R. Bergman), Postdoc Scripps (K.B. Sharpless). Organometallic chemist and NSF Career Award recipient, specializing in the development of ligands for transition metal complexes. Now on the Chemistry faculty at the University of Pennsylvania.
William Ware Physical chemist, 1962-1966. "Bill Ware's research area was in Photochemistry where he was a pioneer in Flash Photochemistry, a method to detect and characterize species with extremely short life-times. His work was generously supported by the NSF. The University of Minnesota 'stole' him from us and he later joined the Photochemistry Center at the University of Western Ontario. He was an avid collector of violins." - W. Richardson. Ware's description in the Robinson History.
?? Wellman 1964-1965.
Arne Wick 1958-????. Wick "was a distinguished carbohydrate biochemist. He came to us from Scripps Metabolic Clinic with major grant support, and 30+ publications. Robert P. Metzger earned his Ph.D, the first in the Joint Doctoral Program, with Arne as his mentor. Arne was chairman of the department 1964-1967 and headed the Joint Doctoral Committee set up to work out relationships with UCSD." - H. Walba.
Eugene P. Wilkinson 1939-1940. The first "Assistant in Chemistry," he left for the Navy and rose to Vice Admiral and Commander of the Atlantic Submarine Fleet. His description in the Robinson History, and his entry in Wikipedia.
John Woodson 1964-2003; Ph.D. '59 Northwestern U. (A. Frost). A physical chemist, John received his Ph.D. under the direction of Arthur Frost, coauthor with Ralph Pearson on a well-known kinetics text. John also served as our long-time coordinator of the freshman chemistry labs.
John G. Wyllie 1951-1952; A.B. SDSC. Assistant in Chemistry.

SDSU Chemistry Staff Through the Ages

This is never going to be a complete list, in part because there are periodic oscillations in administrative philosophy towards the assignment of staff to individual departments versus centralized groups, especially in the case of the technical staff. The more things change....

Susan Adams Administrative Support Coordinator (ran the main office), following Michelle Johnson, for several years. Susan moved in 2001 to support the less nervous faculty in Astronomy for her last few years at SDSU, retiring at the end of 2006.
Massoud Ajami Electronics technician, and a master at keeping legacy technology on its feet. Retired in October 2005.
Erlene Carter Assigned to the department in 1961, and a linchpin for over a decade. "After Irene Janeck went to the office of the Division of Physical Sciences with Robinson, we generally had to use the college's secretarial pool. We were able to get her assigned to the department in 1961. She was really our first departmental secretary and a great one." - H. Walba. "Mary [Coleman] and I could tell Earl and Erlene stories till the cows came home. When he was chair, they both smoked up a storm as they shared an office in CG. She was a good old gal. Washingtonian like me. She was from Cowiche by the Tieton reservoir near Yakima... Now that's country! She married Pete, retired navy chief, and they moved to the Ozarks and went fishing." - V. Landis.
Ralph Carter Solutions Storeroom supervisor. Retired in 1978.
Kristen Cheney Administrative Support Coordinator, i.e. Person Who Really Runs the Department, from 2001 to 2005, who handled the TA assignments and coordinating things with the Dean's and other stratospheric offices so that others could concentrate on teaching students.
Jerry Chirico Electronics technician. Yet another ex-Navy man, Jerry worked with Bill Hansen until about 1981.
Steve Cseri Glassblower. Originally from Hungary, Cseri is still remembered by many as an outstanding glassworker. "Steve Cseri was one of the most talented glassblowers that I had encountered. I addition, he was a nice guy. If you could draw a sketch of it, Steve could make it. He made some specialized photochemical glassware for me which couldn't be found in a catalog and it proved very useful. One of his greatest contributions was building vacuum racks, which is a custom job that requires the glassblower to be on site. He built one for me which got a lot of use, but this was minor compared to those he built for Ring and O'Neal. They had a large laboratory almost completely filled with vacuum racks. The cost to hire a glassblower on site to make these would have been prohibitive." - W. Richardson.
Mary Coleman Jackson Our much beloved graduate secretary and department archivist, she joined the department in 1972 and retired at the end of 2004 after a year in the short-staffed Biology department.
Dustine Cox Ran the front office -- reception and scheduling seminar speaker itineraries and tons of clerical work and all the dealing with floundering students and faculty -- from Fall 2004 through Fall 2005.
Annie DeGuzman Secretary.
Valeta Drown-Keen Secretary.
Marlin Enders Electronics technician. "Marlin Enders was a genius at coming up with our electronic needs. How he loved to conjure up a gadget for us. As with many technicians in the department, Marlin was a retired Chief Petty Officer." - W. Richardson.
John Fall Current stockroom supervisor for the freshman labs.
William Fischer, Jr. Stockroom supervisor.
Brian Funk Machinist, pump repairman, and general person-for-every-tough-job from 1970 to his retirement in 2001. Brian learned many of his machining skills on the job, working first with Larry Rickel and then taking over the Chem shop when Larry was moved to the College.
Jan Genovese Secretary and Receptionist from about 1995 to 2001.
Rose Goodner Secretary.
Marie Ayers-Grace Secretary, moved to run the show in Geological Sciences, and retired from SDSU at the end of 2006.
Evan Grant Glassblower.
Bill Hansen Electronics technician. An Air Force veteran whose second career at SDSU spanned 26 years. Bill, along with Larry Rickel, was lost to the College staff in the mid-90's. He knew better than to stick around for long after that, and retired in 2000. Bill passed away in early 2007.
Randy Hansen Glassblower. Worked with Steve Cseri, and still operates San Diego's only technical glass shop downtown.
Joan Hoffman Secretary.
Margaret Ivey Administrative Support Coordinator. A superb organizer and a longtime lynchpin of the Department Office.
Irene Janeck Our first department secretary, hired in 1946, and also wife to Dudley Robinson. She went with Robinson to the Division of Physical Sciences (later the College of Sciences) and from there to a communal college secretarial pool.
Michelle Johnson Secretary.
Kay Keysaer Secretary.
Lois Kuzniar Secretary.
LeRoy Lafferty NMR Facility Director. LeRoy received his Ph.D. with Reilly Jensen at SDSU, and now runs the 3-spectrometer NMR lab, contributing a great deal to the considerable synthetic work in the Department.
Richard Lamoureux Safety Officer and Organic Labs Storeroom Supervisor. Richard for a time was also maintaining the chemistry computer lab.
Lindore Leiser Our first department technician, hired in 1946. "He was Bill Fischer's predecessor. In the 1950's and early 60's he ran the department. No one was allowed in the storeroom without his permission. He was an ex-Navy Chief. You did it his way or else. I got along with him because I treated him with civility and respect. " - C. Stewart.
Kendall Long Business Manager. An SDSU alum, Ken has worked as the organic stockroom supervisor as well as the shipping/receiving and budget manager for the department.
Raquel Neslund Secretary.
Tom Parady Machinist from 1960 to 1970.
Maria Penalosa Solutions Storeroom Supervisor.
Ruth Rice Secretary.
Larry Rickel Machinist from 1970 until absorbed into the College staff during one of the periodic Staff Upheavals sought by the administration. Retired in 2000.
Frank Rust Stockroom supervisor. Frank was born in Nebraska, served in WWII and Korea, retiring from military life in 1965 to come to SDSU Chemistry, where he worked until 1982. He passed away in 2006 at the age of 86, preceded just the month before by his wife of 61 years, Vera Verdale Rust. "I think Frank was the last (followed Fischer) of a series of Navy Chief hospital corpsmen in our stockrooms and solutions room. They knew filing, procedures et cetera, and we always had great first aid on hand. He went from freshmen to top dog. Loved square dancing." - V. Landis. "I had the great experience of working along side Frank here at San Diego State in the Chemistry Department. He was a man of great honesty and character. Although nearly thirty-five years older than I, he would run me ragged when I tried to keep up with him. He was missed when he left SDSU and I miss him even more now. While the University makes it clear that none of us are irreplaceable, Frank came close." - K. Long.
Florence Schneider Switchboard operator who assisted with the department's clerical work until Irene Janeck was hired.
Heidilinn Smith Efficient clerk/typist/receptionist, from 2000 to 2003.
Benno Spingler Machinist hired to replace Brian Funk when Brian retired. Benno learned machining in his father's medical equipment shop in Germany, and has since added experience in owning shops for cabinetry and bicycle parts manufacture. An avid fisherman and motorcyclist.
Dorothy Curtis Stock Dorothy was the secretary for Grubbs, Hellberg, and Richardson. "She was outstanding in typing and to our embarrassment many times grammar. An avid runner and hiker." - W. Richardson.
Rosemary Stallbaumer Administrative Support Coordinator for the 2001/2002 academic year.
Robert Steed Analytical technician. Bob Steed retired from the Navy as a Lt. Commander and later attended SDSU where he received a BS in Chemistry. Bill Richardson remembers him as "an outstanding student in Qualitative Organic Analysis. He was later hired as an instrumental technician, where he performed an invaluable service to the department."
Harold Thompson Electronics technician.
Miki Tsuneyoshi Secretary to Jim Cobble, for his work both at the Graduate Division and in Chemistry.

Acknowledgments:

The initial list was compiled by Andrew Cooksy from Dudley Robinson's history for pre-1973 data and Cooksy's dim recollection and dimmer research for more recent data. Substantial additions and corrections are thanks to Marie Ayers-Grace, Lars Hellberg, Vince Landis, Ken Long, Bill Richardson, Steve Roeder, Jack Stewart, and Hal Walba; many of their additions are quoted without attribution. Thanks in particular to Mary Coleman for providing the electronic version of the Robinson history. The remaining errors are Cooksy's.