sweet briar magazine inside - Sweet Briar College

F A C U L T Y
N E W S
Rob Granger
LINuS BOOKS RECENTLY RELEASED TWO TExTBOOKS by
professor of chemistry Rob Granger, entitled “Chemistry: A Decidedly Pre-
Organic Approach” and “Chemistry: An Introduction to Advanced Topics.”
e set is designed for an emerging curricular trend in college chemistry,
which splits the general chemistry curriculum in two with organic chemistry
sandwiched in between. e first volume prepares students for success in
organic chemistry, while the second, taught after the organic sequence, acts
as a foundation for advanced topics.
“We switched to teaching the one-two-one sequence in the fall of 2006,”
Rob says, “but there wasn’t a book on the market that fit our style. I began
by trying to modify an existing textbook, and eventually wrote my own.
Students will be using the two-volume set this fall.”
At Sweet Briar, Rob not only enjoys teaching, but is dedicated to his
research on improving cancer drugs. He’s working with a selective cancer
fighting drug, enhancing its ability to preserve healthy cells as it attacks
harmful ones. He’s also designing a catalyst that mimics photosynthesis; in
essence, he’s working toward designing electrochemical cells that can recycle
air, similarly to trees and plants.
Rob has been at Sweet Briar since 1999 and has been published most
notably in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, the Journal of
Inorganic Chemistry, the Journal of undergraduate Chemistry Research and
the Virginia Journal of Science.
John Casteen
IN SPRING 2011, THE uNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA PRESS will release “For the
Mountain Laurel,” a collection of poems by visiting assistant professor John Casteen. Poems
from the manuscript have appeared in the Paris Review, Prairie Schooner, Shenandoah and other
literary magazines.
“My poems tend to start in the outside world and then to move inward,” John says. “I’m
interested in the associative moves that link abstract thought, which is private, to the
outside world, which is public: history, culture, religion, economics and art. I write less
and less about family and work, more and more about recovery and perseverance. I
like people who are resilient and resourceful, and I want to write poems that
emulate those qualities.”
Over the past several years, John has found a home at Sweet Briar, a
place of natural beauty filled with a supportive group of people where he
can teach and write. He says people’s openness has been a tremendous
gift.
Of writing, John says, “What I enjoy most is the feeling of preparing
to do justice to the creative impulse, and the occasional confidence
that I’ve done it well. When I find out from other people that they
find pleasure in the poems, that’s pretty much the best. Writers
ought to please themselves first and foremost, but they
can’t do it in a vacuum. e point is other people.”