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Student Resources
CHEM course Textbooks & information in brief
Full course descriptions and prerequisites can be found in the appropriate La Sierra University Undergraduate Bulletin.
Introductory Chemistry Series: CHEM 105, 105L, 106, 106L
- Introduction to inorganic chemistry, organic chemistry, and biochemistry topics designed for pre-allied health students and to fullfill general education requirements. Does not count towards a chemistry or biochemistry major or minor.
- Entire sequence is equivalent to a two semester/one year introductory chemistry sequence.
- CHEM 105 & 105L are offered every fall, winter, and summer quarter.
- CHEM 106 & 106L are offered every winter, spring, and summer quarter.
- Lecture textbook is General, Organic, and Biological Chemistry: Structures of Life, 6th Edition, Timberlake ©2019 | Pearson.
- Lecture homework access is required and is Modified Mastery Chemistry from Pearson.
- Lab textbook is Laboratory Manual for General, Organic, and Biological Chemistry (Subscription), 3rd Edition, Timberlake ©2014 | Pearson.
- All courses require a scientific (non-graphing) calculator with the TI-30X IIS recommended.
General Chemistry Series: CHEM 111, 111L, 112, 112L, 113, 113L, 121, 122
- Comprehensive and in-depth undergraduate course in inorganic chemistry as a scientific basis to pursue further study in chemistry. Designed for students seeking a degree in a science field or completing requirements to apply for further study in science, medicine, dentistry, and pharmacy.
- Sequence takes three quarters/one year as CHEM 111, 112, 113 and two quarters as CHEM 121, 122.
- CHEM 111 & 111L are offered every fall and summer.
- CHEM 112 & 112L are offered every winter and summer.
- CHEM 113 & 113L are offered every spring and summer.
- CHEM 121 & 122 are available to students with permission of the instructor and cover one semester of general chemistry in one quarter of time (6 units each). If you are repeating general chemistry for a better grade or because a professional school requires more recent credit or you have taken CHEM 111 and were close to passing, please contact jhelbley@lasierra.edu for more information and to see if you qualify.
- Lecture textbook is Chemistry: Atoms First 2e openstax.org/details/books/chemistry-atoms-first-2e, free access, print is totally optional.
- Lecture homework access is required and is from Aktiv Chemistry accessed at
- Lab textbook is provided as digital items during class.
- All courses require a TI-30X IIS calculator.
- Lab requires use of Google Docs and Google Sheets through a @lasierra.edu account.
Organic Chemistry Series: CHEM 281, 281L, 282, 282L
- Comprehensive and in-depth undergraduate course in organic chemistry as a scientific basis to pursue further study in chemistry. Designed for students seeking a degree in a science field or completing requirements to apply for further study in science, medicine, dentistry, and pharmacy.
- Entire sequence (two quarters) is equivalent to a two semester/one year organic chemistry sequence.
- CHEM 281 & 281L are offered every fall, winter, and summer quarter.
- CHEM 282 & 282L are offered every winter, spring, and summer quarter.
- Lecture textbook is Organic Chemistry, 8th Edition; Brown, Iverson, Anslyn, Foote; ©2018 | Cengage.
- Lecture homework access is required and is OWLv2 for the textbook from Cengage.
- Lab textbook is A Small Scale Approach to Organic Laboratory Techniques, 4th Edition; Pavia, Kriz, Lampman, Engel; ©2016 | Cengage.
- Lab homework access is required and is OWLv2 LabSkills for Organic Chemistry, 2nd ed. from Cengage.
- For Lecture and Lab textbooks and homework access it is recommended that students purchase Cengage Unlimited.
- Lab notebook required with duplicate pages.
- It is recommended that students have a calculator for lab.
- ChemDoodle software required for lab. The Chemistry & Biochemistry Department purchases a license every year for all students to use. Please request a Site Code at https://www.ichemlabs.com/support/request-site-code/ , be sure to use your @lasierra.edu email address. Also use this link to request a code if you already have the software installed from last year. Download ChemDoodle from https://www.chemdoodle.com/#trial and when prompted by the software after installation, enter your code that you will find in your @lasierra.edu inbox, if you requested a code. Problems? contact Dr. Helbley .
Biochemistry Series: CHEM 431, 432, 481L, 482L
- Comprehensive and in-depth undergraduate course in biochemistry as a scientific basis to pursue further study in biochemistry. Designed for students seeking a degree in a science field or completing requirements to apply for further study in science, medicine, dentistry, and pharmacy. Lab sequence is those seeking a Biochemistry major or a career involving biochemical research.
- Entire lecture sequence is equivalent to a two semester/one year biochemistry sequence.
- CHEM 481 offered every fall quarter.
- CHEM 482 & 481L are offered every winter quarter.
- CHEM 482L is offered every spring quarter.
- Lecture textbook is Fundamentals of Biochemistry: Life at the Molecular Level, 5th Edition; Voet, Voet, Pratt; ©2019 | Wiley.
- Lecture homework access is required and is WileyPlus from Wiley.
- Lab does not have any required materials.
Chemical Analysis Series: CHEM 224, 427
- Comprehensive and in-depth undergraduate courses in chemical analysis. Designed for students seeking a degree in chemistry or biochemistry.
- CHEM 224 is offered every spring quarter.
- CHEM 427 is offered every fall quarter.
- Lecture textbook is Quantitative Chemical Analysis 19th Edition; Harris, Lucy; ©2020 | W.H. Freeman.
- Lab notebook required with duplicate pages.
- Calculator required.
Physical Chemistry Series: CHEM 345, 353
- Comprehensive and in-depth undergraduate course in physical chemistry. Designed for students seeking a degree in chemistry or biochemistry.
- CHEM 345 is offered every winter quarter and is a required class for all Chemistry & Biochemistry degrees. It is an elective for some majors in other departments.
- CHEM 353 is offered spring quarter every other year (next offering spring 2025).
- Lecture textbook is Physical Chemistry 10th Edition, Atkins, ©2014 | Oxford University Press.
- Lab notebook required with duplicate pages.
- Calculator required.
- GaussView is available through Dr Allard for CHEM 353.
Molecular Science Research Series: CHEM 321, 322, 421, 422
- Comprehensive introduction to research in chemistry or biochemistry in an undergraduate setting. Designed for students seeking a degree in chemistry or biochemistry.
- Permission is required to join a research lab and students are encouraged to speak with professors during the fall quarter before expected enrollment in 321.
- CHEM 321 and 421 are offered every winter quarter.
- CHEM 322 is offered every spring and fall quarter.
- CHEM 422 is offered every spring quarter.
- No textbook required.
- Calculator required.
Topics Courses: CHEM 316, 380, 380L, 475, 485B, 485C
- In-depth and advance exploration of chemistry & biochemistry topics in an undergraduate setting. Designed for students seeking a degree or minor in chemistry or biochemistry.
- Please contact the listed instructor for to verify textbooks before purchase.
- CHEM 316 textbooks: Inorganic Chemistry, 5th Edition Gary L. Miessler | Paul J. Fischer | Donald A. Tarr Copyright 2013 Pearson 9780321811059 & recommended: Group Theory and Chemistry (Dover Books on Chemistry), Revised Edition David M. Bishop Copyright 1993 9780486673554
- CHEM 380 & 380L textbooks: Intermediate Organic Chemistry, 3rd Edition, Ann M. Fabirkiewicz, John C. Stowell ISBN: 978-1-118-66220-5 July 2015 & a lab notebook with duplicate pages
- CHEM 475 textbook: The Art of Writing Reasonable Organic Reaction Mechanisms, 3rd Edition, Grossman, ©2019 | Springer ISBN-13: 9780387215457
- CHEM 485B textbook: Not Selected Currently
- CHEM 485C textbooks: LibreTexts Principles of Pharmacology, Book: Principles of Pharmacology (Rosow, Standaert, and Strichartz) is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Carl Rosow, David Standaert, & Gary Strichartz | LibreTexts & LibreTexts Medicinal Chemistry (Supplemental Modules for Biological Chemistry), Medicinal_Chemistry, | LibreTexts
More Information
Here is some additional information the Chemistry & Biochemistry Department thinks students might find helpful. Missing something? Please let Dr. Helbley know at jhelbley@lasierra.edu.
Please access the La Sierra Chem Canvas instance at:
- The La Sierra Chemistry & Biochemistry Department uses a self-hosted instance of Canvas for communicating grades, class information, notes, lecture recordings and other information to students.
- There is no phone app access to Canvas because our system is self-hosted.
- Please add admin@lasierrachem.com to your address book to ensure that you receive emails from the system.
- First time users: you will receive and email from admin@lasierrachem.com saying an account was created for you and give you a link to create a password. If it is Sunday before classes start for the quarter (or during the quarter) and you have not received this email, please email Dr Helbley at jhelbley@lasierra.edu to request assistance in getting your account created. Make sure you check your spam folder first though!
- Having trouble logging in? Please email Dr Helbley (jhelbley@lasierra.edu) for assistance in resetting your password. Please note that this account information is not the same as your @lasierra.edu password. Having trouble keeping track of all your passwords? Dr Helbley recommends using https://bitwarden.com/ . It is free for you to use on all your devices and computers.
Finding the syllabus for a course:
- If you are looking for a class syllabus for a class you are currently enrolled in, please check La Sierra Chem Canvas at https://lms.lasierrachem.com . If you are having trouble logging in to the system please email Dr Helbley at jhelbley@lasierra.edu for assistance.
- If you are looking for a class syllabus for a class you have completed, please contact the College of Arts and Sciences office at syllabi@lasierra.edu or through the contact information at https://lasierra.edu/arts-and-sciences/ .
- If you are looking for a class syllabus for a class that hasn't yet started...you can try emailing an instructor to see if they have a previous syllabus they are willing to send you but chances are you'll need to wait until the class is published or close to starting to get a response.
Office Hours
- Each instructor has office hours listed in the syllabus and we hope you will use them to get questions answered. If those times don't work for you, email your professor with a few time you are available to make an appointment. We want to see you succeed and office hours are a chance to take your questions to a professional.
- Do come with questions that are thoughtful. If you just come to ask what the answer is you are likely to not get the results that you ultimately want. But come with questions like, "I thought that this did but it doesn't seem to always do that. Can you help figure where I went wrong?" Or "Here is the work I did to solve this problem but it doesn't get the right answer. Can you help me troubleshoot where I went wrong?"
- Professors are people too! Are you nervous? Don't know what to do in office hours? It is okay. Take a deep breath and remember we want to hear from you about how you need help and what we can do to help you.
- Don't wait until the end of the quarter/right before an exam to ask questions. Work on your homework and studying with enough time to attend office hours with questions.
Advising
Chemistry & Biochemistry Faculty are available to discuss any of the following items that you might have questions about.
- Which classes count towards what requirements.
- What major would work well for your goals.
- Should you get a chemistry or biochemistry minor.
- What can you do you with a major in biochemistry or chemistry.
Here is a brief listing of the faculty. Please send an email to request an appointment to talk with them about advising and give them some background about yourself in the email.
- Dr Krista Motschiedler, kmotschi@lasierra.edu: Honors advising, pre-health professions advising
- Dr Marco Allard, mallard@lasierra.edu: Graduate school advising
- Dr Michael Gutierrez, mgutierr@lasierra.edu: Graduate school advising, BS degree advising, pre-health professons advising
- Dr Jesica Jones, jjones1@lasierra.edu: Graduate school advising, BS degree advising
- Dr Sarah Herrmann, sherrman@lasierra.edu: Pre-nursing, pre-allied health advising
- Dr Jennifer Helbley, jhelbley@lasierra.edu: Senior contracts for BA or BS degree, course sequencing for degree completion, BA advising
SciFinder is considered as the best source of chemical information worldwide. It is a database of chemical & bibliographic information that allows for keyword searches as well as structure (including subsctructure) & reaction searches.
To access SciFinder, you will need to create an account (one time process).
- Go to (from on campus) https://scifinder.cas.org/registration/index.htmlcorpKey=AE464269X86F3503FX216989A343B641E296
- Create an account & password (don't immediately try to log in).
- Close your browser, fully.
- Then go to https://lasierra.edu/library/journals/ and select Chemistry & you'll see SciFinder links and log in at one of those links.
After you have an account you can log in on campus (and off campus if you use the library's proxy service) using the links at https://lasierra.edu/library/journals/ and select Chemistry and use the appropriate link.
Other Help
La Sierra University is full of services here to help you, the student. Please see this partial list and contact a faculty or staff member if you are unsure where to go for the help you need.