BOSTON—The American Council on Education (ACE) announced today that Professor Rachael Kipp, chair of the Division of Physical Sciences in Suffolk University’s College of Arts & Sciences, has been named an ACE Fellow for academic year 2019-20. Kipp was one of 39 fellows selected this year from across the country.Kipp, an analytical chemist, was appointed chair of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry in 2014. Two years later the Division of Physical Sciences was formed by the department’s integration with the Department of Physics and Engineering. In addition to her leadership responsibilities Kipp continues to teach numerous chemistry courses.In the classroom, Kipp stresses experiential learning in the natural sciences. She has supervised more than 26 senior research projects and converted the general chemistry laboratory sequence requirements into a modern inquiry-based curriculum focused on the “flexibility of discovery.”“Instead of coming up with a concrete answer, I want students to look at their experiment results and try to understand what happened based on their particular data,” said Kipp. “My goal is to help students become adaptable and creative scientists who can advance their fields while enjoying their work.”Kipp’s efforts to expand and modernize the curriculum have led to new teaching practices and many student-driven research projects.“Rachael Kipp balances a drive for scientific discovery with the responsibility of mentoring students and faculty and developing innovative and flexible curriculum,” said Maria Toyoda, Dean of Suffolk University’s College of Arts & Sciences.Kipp has been active in service activities at all levels at Suffolk, including as a member of the University’s inaugural Faculty Senate and as co-chair of the working group that created a new department for environmental science. She currently serves as the faculty representative on the steering committee for Suffolk’s Strategic Planning Initiative. “Rachael Kipp is a talented faculty leader,” said Suffolk University President Marisa Kelly. “She is committed to her students, her research, and to working to advance Suffolk University as a whole. She will be an outstanding ACE Fellow.”Kipp holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Rochester and a PhD from Tulane University. After an NIH-funded postdoctoral fellowship at Princeton University, she joined the Suffolk faculty in fall 2004.About the ACE Fellows ProgramEstablished in 1965, the ACE Fellows Program is designed to strengthen institutions and leadership in American higher education by identifying and preparing faculty and staff for senior positions in college and university administration through its distinctive and intensive nominator-driven, cohort-based mentorship model. More than 2,000 higher education leaders have participated in the ACE Fellows Program over the past five decades, with more than 80 percent of fellows having gone on to serve as senior leaders of colleges and universities.The program combines retreats, interactive learning opportunities, visits to campuses and other higher education-related organizations, and placement at another higher education institution to condense years of on-the-job experience and skills development into a single year. Fellows also conduct projects of pressing concern for their home institution and seek to implement their findings upon completion of the fellowship placement.At the conclusion of the fellowship year, fellows return to their home institution with new knowledge and skills that contribute to capacity-building efforts, along with a network of peers across the country and abroad.—–Suffolk University, located in historic downtown Boston, with an international campus in Madrid, is a student-centered institution distinguished by excellence in education and scholarship. Suffolk University offers a wide range of undergraduate and graduate programs. Its mission is to empower graduates to be successful locally, regionally and globally.ACE is a membership organization that mobilizes the higher education community to shape effective public policy and foster innovative, high-quality practice. As the major coordinating body for all the nation’s higher education institutions, ACE represents more than 1,700 college and university presidents and related associations. For more information, please visit www.acenet.edu or follow ACE on Twitter @ACEducation.
