Westminster College to Host Ken and Nancy Long Chemistry Lecture

The Westminster College Department of Chemistry will host alumna Dr. Kim Dunbar for the inaugural Ken and Nancy Long Chemistry Lecture Thursday, Oct. 30, at 7 p.m. in the Sebastian Mueller Theater of the McKelvey Campus Center. The event is free and open to the public.

Dunbar, an acclaimed inorganic chemist, will speak about her research, "Metals in Medicine throughout the Ages: From Ancient Egypt to Victorian England to the 21st Century."

Dunbar, a distinguished professor in the Department of Chemistry at Texas A&M University, maintains a large and active research group that studies the chemical and biological properties of new and interesting metal-containing compounds.

She is the associate editor of Inorganic Chemistry and was the 2007 chair of the American Chemistry Society's division of inorganic chemistry.

The 1980 Westminster graduate earned a Ph.D. in inorganic chemistry from Purdue University.

The lecture series is funded by Dr. Ken Long, Westminster professor of chemistry emeritus, and his wife, Nancy, to invite outstanding chemists to speak to Westminster students.

Long, who worked with Dunbar at Westminster, said, "Kim Dunbar was outstanding as a student and has been highly successful as a graduate. We are proud of her accomplishments and are delighted she is the first Ken and Nancy Long Chemistry Lecturer."

Contact Dr. Peter Smith, Westminster associate professor of chemistry, at (724) 946-7299 or e-mail smithpm@westminster.edu for more information.

Dr. Kim Dunbar