Basic Chemistry

Karen Timberlake is an emeritus professor of chemistry at Los Angeles Valley College, where she has taught chemistry for allied health and preparatory chemistry for 36 years. She received her bachelor's degree in chemistry from the University of Washington in 1962 and her master's degree in biochemistry from the University of California at Los Angeles in 1965. She has also taken graduate courses in science education during a sabbatical at the University of Northern Colorado.

Professor Timberlake has been writing textbooks for general, organic, and biological chemistry for 28 years. During that time, her name has become associated with the strategic use of pedagogical tools that promote student success in chemistry and the application of chemistry to real-life situations in health and medicine. More than one million students have learned chemistry using texts, laboratory manuals, and study guides written by Karen Timberlake. In addition to General, Organic, and Biological Chemistry: Structures of Life, Platinum Edition, she is also the author of Chemistry: An Introduction to General, Organic, and Biological Chemistry and the accompanying Study Guide with Solutions for Selected Problems, Laboratory Manual and Essentials Laboratory Manual.

Professor Timberlake belongs to numerous science and education organizations, including the American Chemical Society (ACS) and the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA). In 1987, she was the Western Regional Winner of Excellence in College Chemistry Teaching Award given by the Chemical Manufacturers Association. She has participated in education grants for science teaching including the Los Angeles Collaborative for Teaching Excellence (LACTE) and the Title III grant at her college. She often speaks at conferences and education meetings on using student-centered teaching methods in chemistry to promote the learning success of students.

Her husband, Bill, is also a chemistry professor and contributes much to Professor Timberlake's textbooks. When the Professors Timberlake are not writing textbooks, they relax by hiking, traveling to Mexico and Europe, trying new restaurants, and playing lots of tennis. The Timberlakes' son, John, and daughter-in-law, Cindy, live in Long Beach, California, where he is in curriculum sales. The Timberlakes' one year-old grandson, Daniel, does not know what he wants to be yet.