History of the Reg Friesen Lecture
The Reg Friesen lecture is a special part of a ChemEd conference. The honorary lecture was inaugurated at ChemEd 87 to recognize Reg Friesen’s outstanding contributions to the chemical education community. Reg was the founding editor of Chem 13 News in 1968 and was actively involved in the ChemEd conference series from its inception in 1973. Reg gave high school teachers a voice and encouraged them to share and learn together. The Reg Friesen lecturer is selected to reflect Reg’s belief that chemistry teachers can and do make a difference in students’ lives and in the chemistry community. After Reg passed away in 1998, the lecture took on additional meaning to the many in the ChemEd community who called him a friend.
Past Speakers:
Hubert Alyea, ChemEd 1987, Queens University, ON
Bassam Shakhashiri, ChemEd 1989, Queens University, ON
Irwin Talesnick, ChemEd 1991, University of Wisconsin, WI
Alfred Bader, ChemEd 1993, Butler University, IN
Mary Virginia Orna, ChemEd 1995, Old Dominion University, VA
Bob Becker, ChemEd 1997, University of Minnesota, MN
Steve Spangler, ChemEd 1999, Sacred Heart
University CT
Doug De La Matter, ChemEd 2001, York University, ON
Penney Sconzo, ChemEd 2003, Auburn University. AL
Ariel Fenster, ChemEd 2005, University of British Columbia, BC
Bette Bridges, ChemEd 2007, University of North Texas, TX
Joe Schwarcz, ChemEd 2009, Radford University, VA
John Fortman, ChemEd 2011, Western Michigan University, MI
Geoff Rayner-Canham, ChemEd 2013, University of Waterloo, ON
Ramsey Musallam, ChemEd 2015, Kennesaw State, Georgia
Lee Marek, ChemEd 2017, South Dakota State University, SD
Diana Mason, ChemEd 2019, North Central College, IL
(holding the yellow ball) with Robyn Ford
