Don has especially enjoyed teaching his course on the Atomic Bomb with history professor, Larry Penrose. This course has been very well received by students and has resulted in lectures to HASP and to several church groups. This Senior Seminar program is one of Don's favorite teaching assignments and he is rewarded by seeing his sections among the first to close at registration. The student evaluations are always very positive which brings additional reward. Don also taught his First Year Seminar on “Discovers” for a second time.

Don's main focus continues to be the coordination of General Chemistry Lectures. Over the years, CAPA, the computer based homework system brought to us by Graham Peaslee, has been refined into a powerful pedagogical tool. Don and the General Chemistry team continue to refine the course each year with various relevant case studies and modules. This has helped to maintain student interest in a very broad and rigorous approach, the department's current design of the course. The nature of the course means that assessment of it is accomplished by using the A.C.S. standardized exam given at the end of the second semester. The results of that exam continue to be excellent. Each year all sections place in the high sixty or low seventy percentiles against national norms. Don enjoys the challenge of working with a heterogeneous mix of students. Some of these students have forgotten their tenth grade chemistry; others have just come from an advanced placement course but have chosen to "repeat" first year chemistry.

Don continues to review textbooks and inorganic journal articles. Several regional newspapers have published his editorials and essays on nuclear and energy issues. He continues his public service by serving on the Technical Committee of the Watershed Taskforce as well as the Ottawa County Environmental Appeals Board. He won the Sigma Xi Award for Outreach Efforts in April of 2001.