Terri Beam

After graduation, I started working as a researcher in the Glass and Ceramic Division at Battelle Columbus Laboratories (large research and development corporation) in Columbus, Ohio. It was at Battelle that I met my husband, Bill. I started graduate studies at The Ohio State University in Ceramic Engineering, but soon learned that I liked Chemistry better. So I switched! My work and graduate studies in Ohio were interrupted by my move to California in 1983, so I completed a M.S. in Chemistry at California State University, Fullerton under the tutelage of Dr. W. Van Willis.

Before graduation from CSUF, I started working at the Orange County Sheriff's Department - Forensic Sciences Services (in Santa Ana, California), performing chemical analyses on ante-mortem toxicological samples and solid dose drugs. It was very interesting work, and testifying in court was fun. Then came the child-bearing years - my son was born in 1987;  my daughter was born in 1989.  They have kept me very busy! 

I began teaching on a part-time basis at Ohio State and Cal State Fullerton during graduate studies.  I went back to part-time teaching at Fullerton College and CSUF in 1990. When a full-time position became available in the Chemistry Department at Mt. San Antonio College in 1991, I applied and was hired. I've taught Chem 50 and 51 (General Chemistry I and II), Chem 40 (Introduction to General Chemistry), Chem 10 (Chemistry for Allied Health), Chem 20 lab (Introduction to Biochemistry), and Chem 58 (Skills to Succeed in Chemistry) courses since I have been at Mt. SAC.  In the 1995-1996 and 1998-1999 academic years, I was honored to be selected as an Educator of Distinction at Mt. SAC. In 2005, I was extremely honored to receive an Outstanding Faculty Award from Mt. SAC's Academic Senate.

At Mt. SAC I have been very involved with the development and implementation of computers for experimental data acquisition, and multimedia lecture software. Recently, I've added Web authoring, and have done consulting work, as well as online course development.  In the Spring '99 semester, I taught my first Distance Learning (hybrid) course, Introductory Chemistry (Chem 40, formerly Chem 2A), and then in Fall 2009 I taught my first hybrid Chem 10 course (Chemistry for Allied Health).  I've truly enjoyed all the technology development; it is a special interest of mine.

Since Fall 2002, I've taught 2 Distance Learning hybrid courses for Mt. SAC faculty -  Introduction to Online Learning ,  Online Teaching Strategies" .  I helped to create a website for faculty that drives the Certification for Online Teaching process, Skills and Pedagogy for Online Teaching ( SPOT ). More recently, I have taught many workshops for faculty on online learning topics.