William Mungall Named to
Hartgerink Chair in Chemistry

William S. Mungall of the Hope College chemistry faculty holds the Elmer E. Hartgerink Professor of Chemistry.

He is the first member of the faculty appointed to the chair, which was established by Elmer S. Hartgerink of South Haven in 1991 through the college’s “Hope in the Future” fund-raising campaign.

A native of Zeeland and a 1939 Hope graduate, Hartgerink began his career as a research chemist at Chemical Specialties Inc. in Zeeland in 1941, after completing a master’s degree at Washington University in St. Louis, Mo. He remained with the company after Miles Laboratories Inc. acquired it in 1947, and assumed positions of greater responsibility with Miles in Zeeland, Granite City, Ill., and Elkhart, Ind.

After serving with Miles for 38 years, he retired in 1979 as the corporate director of environmental control. Only three days later, he became chair and chief executive office of Wkcoff Chemical Company Inc. in South Haven. His son, Ronald, succeeded him as president of the company in 1989, and as CEO in March of 1991, with Hartgerink remaining with Wyckoff as chairman of the board.

Mungall joined the Hope faculty in 1971 as an assistant professor, and was promoted to associate professor in 1974 and to full professor in 1982. He was the chair of the department of chemistry from 1982 to 1986, and from 1989 to 1990.
He teaches courses and laboratories in organic chemistry. He also conducts original, collaborative research with Hope chemistry students during both the academic year and summer.

Mungall is the co-author of “Experimental Organic Chemistry,” a one-year introductory textbook published in 1980, and has had several articles published through the years, in publications including the “Journal of the American Cancer Society,” the “Journal of Medical Chemistry” and the “Journal of Organic Chemistry.” He has also presented several papers at professional conferences concerning his research.

He has received grants in support of both his research and the college’s chemistry program. Recent awards include funding in support of a computational chemistry laboratory at the college from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and through a CAChe Scientific Higher Education Grant; a grant from the Pew Midstates Science and Mathematics consortium for a 1994 “Faculty Development Workshop for Computational Chemistry in the Undergraduate Curriculum”; and support from the Parke-Davis Pharmaceutical Research Division of the Warner-Lambert Company for an on-going “Symposium of Synthetic Organic Chemistry.”

Mungall has been a visiting professor at both the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University. He has also served as a consultant for several chemical and pharmaceutical companies.

He graduated from the State University of New York at Buffalo with a bachelor of arts degree in chemistry, and he holds a doctorate in organic chemistry from Northwestern University. While doing his graduate work he received both an NSF Graduate Traineeship and an NSF Graduate Fellowship.

Endowed chairs are established by donors who wish to assist the college on a permanent basis through the support of a faculty member. The gift is placed in the college's endowment fund with investment income used to support the work of the honored professor. In addition to recognizing faculty members for excellence, endowed chairs provide funding for summer research projects as well as some salary support.

Learn more about establishing an endowed professorship