Benny Chan, a celebrated teacher-scholar in inorganic chemistry, has been appointed dean of the School of Theoretical and Applied Science at Ramapo College of New Jersey. He formerly served as a professor and chairperson of the department of chemistry at The College of New Jersey (TCNJ). He has been widely recognized for his contributions to STEM education and finding student success through inclusive teaching practices. Chan’s journey is a testament to finding success through authenticity, particularly as an out and proud LGBTQ activist.
Chan’s journey to academic leadership began in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where he discovered his passion for chemistry not in the classroom but in the research lab. “I wasn’t the strongest student in the classroom, but the research is what really turned me to having an interest in chemistry,” he recalls. After completing his undergraduate studies at Franklin & Marshall College, Chan briefly worked in the chemical industry before realizing that corporate life couldn’t satisfy his need for independent thought and idea generation that research could.
The pivotal moment in his career came during graduate school at Penn State University, where he came out and began to understand how his identity would shape his professional choices. When ExxonMobil offered him a lucrative position after completing his Ph.D., Chan made a decision that would define his career trajectory: he turned it down because the company wasn’t LGBTQ-friendly and didn’t offer domestic partner benefits.
“It was hard to turn down because I grew up in a blue-collar family, so the paycheck is important,” Chan said. This choice led him to pursue postdoctoral work at Colorado State University and Los Alamos National Laboratory and then a one-year visiting professorship at Dickinson College. Eventually he joined the TCNJ faculty. His decision was partly influenced by New Jersey’s progressive policies on gay rights and domestic partner benefits.
At TCNJ, Chan didn’t just find acceptance, he found a platform to become a social justice warrior. His transformation began with Safe Zone training, where he learned the social science behind systemic change. “As a scientist, we’re not trained in that,” he said. “I ended up learning all the social science that’s behind social change: intersectionality, identities, and how to work through that.”
This training became the foundation for Chan’s revolutionary work in inclusive pedagogy. Recognizing that traditional chemistry education was failing many students, particularly those from underrepresented backgrounds, Chan embarked on a comprehensive redesign of his teaching methods. The inspiration came from working with students who were predominantly black and Latino and from low-income backgrounds. “We have to stop using individual solutions for systemic oppression,” Chan emphasizes. “For me to address systemic oppression, I have to actually change how I teach.”
Chan’s teaching transformation involved extensive trial and error, with colleagues observing his classes and conducting scholarly research on effective pedagogical approaches. The result was a complete reimagining of chemistry education that emphasized active learning, inclusive practices, and meeting students where they are academically.
One innovative example is Chan’s module on the Flint water crisis in Michigan, where students learn to test for lead content while exploring the social justice implications of why low-income neighborhoods had higher lead levels. “We just start off with testing lead in water, which is the basic science for the class, and then we can dive into social issues,” Chan explains.
The timing of Chan’s innovations collided with the pandemic. Traditional lecture-based teaching failed spectacularly in virtual environments, but Chan’s active learning strategies adapted seamlessly. “Nobody else had a strategy to teach students in that environment, and the strategies that we were using in our classes actually melded very well with the pandemic,” he said.
What sets Chan apart is his focus on systemic rather than individual change. At TCNJ, he convinced other general chemistry instructors to adopt his inclusive teaching methods, and the department now intentionally recruits faculty who embrace this philosophy. The results speak for themselves: improved outcomes for all students, with particular benefits for those from underrepresented backgrounds.
Chan’s approach extends beyond curriculum to creating inclusive classroom environments. He asks students for their pronouns and has discovered that 10 to 20% of his students have questions about their gender identity. “Giving them space to think about that, that’s something simple that all instructors can do,” he argues, while respecting those who choose not to share their pronouns.
His philosophy is straightforward: “Don’t be racist, sexist, gendered, homophobic. Cut that all out. That’s the baseline for everything.” From there, he advocates for active learning, careful alignment between teaching and assessment, and creating safe spaces to fail where students can practice for test taking.
Chan’s work has gained national recognition. As a fellow of the American Chemical Society since 2020, he has mentored over 30 undergraduate students, many from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. He has also led the development of workshops on managing diverse and inclusive teams, now part of the ACS leadership development program.
His research extends beyond traditional chemistry into pedagogical innovation, supported by multiple National Science Foundation grants. This broad definition of scholarship, which includes teaching as legitimate academic work, has been crucial to his success and is something he hopes to bring to Ramapo.
Chan acknowledges the current political climate’s impact on diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in higher education. His response is strategic. Rather than abandoning inclusive practices, he advocates for universal approaches that benefit all students while keeping “an eye on our most vulnerable students. By redesigning our curriculum based on the data that we understood from the low-income students, now we’re helping everyone,” he explains. This approach addresses concerns about perceived favoritism while maintaining focus on equity and inclusion.
As a dean at Ramapo, Chan plans to implement his proven strategies on a larger scale. He envisions systematic approaches to student success, increased participation in undergraduate research, and broader definitions of scholarship that value pedagogical innovation alongside traditional research. He wants to ensure that someday “everybody who wants a science degree and is willing to work hard at it becomes a scientist or engineer or science adjacent.” He believes diverse teams consistently outperform homogeneous ones and wants to cultivate broad-based scientific literacy across society.
Chan’s story demonstrates how authenticity can be a career asset rather than a liability. “Being out has actually been extraordinarily helpful in my career,” he reflects. “If I weren’t out, I would have never participated in that Safe Zone training and really started to understand how all of this works together.”
Chan shows how embracing one’s full self can lead to innovative thinking, meaningful impact, and professional recognition. His success underscores the importance of a welcoming and supportive environment for all identities. He acknowledges his privilege in the support he received that allowed his ideas to flourish. His work demonstrates that creating more inclusive educational environments isn’t just equitable, it’s also more effective for all students.
At Ramapo College, Chan will continue to prove that success comes not from conforming to traditional expectations but from bringing one’s whole self to the work of education and social change. “I came into my interview with my mohawk and dyed hair and they loved it,” he reflects. His personal style choices represent symbols of a broader commitment to authenticity that has reshaped how science education can and should work. For LGBTQ academics and professionals, his story offers a powerful message: authenticity isn’t a barrier to success, it’s the foundation for creating meaningful change in the world.
