Biology Major

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The Biology major prepares those who plan to work in the applied fields of allied health, podiatry, dentistry, medicine, veterinary medicine, medical technology, nursing, pharmacology, physical therapy, public health, agriculture, horticulture, agronomy, forestry, plant pathology and forensic biology.

The Biological and Environmental Science Department allows one grade waiver at any level.

Major Requirements (35 semester hours):

35 semester hours of which 20 must include:

BIO 123 - Biology I 3 Credit Hour(s)
BIO 123L - Biology I Laboratory 1 Credit Hour(s)
BIO 124 - Biology II 4 Credit Hour(s)
BIO 223 - Genetics 4 Credit Hour(s)
BIO 224 - Cell and Molecular Biology 4 Credit Hour(s)
BIO 311 - Biology Seminar 1 Credit Hour(s)
BIO 312 - Evolution 3 Credit Hour(s)
A capstone course as described below.

Additional Requirements:

The remainder of hours may be in BIO, BCH (BCH 316 , BCH 316L , or BCH 416 only), or ENS/WSS (ENS 234 ; WSS 210 , WSS 305 , WSS 335 only), but cannot include BIO 110 /BIO 110L , BIO 115, BIO 205 , or BIO 370 . Twelve of the 35 hours of BIO or BCH/ENS/WSS courses must be at the 300 or higher level. No more than 8 hours of BIO 121 , BIO 122 , BIO 363 , and BIO 364 may be applied towards the major.

Allied Courses:

All biology majors must take:

CHM 111 - General Chemistry I 4 Credit Hour(s)
CHM 112 - General Chemistry II 4 Credit Hour(s)
PHY 101 - General Physics 4 Credit Hour(s)
PHY 102 - General Physics 4 Credit Hour(s)

And two courses from:

MTH 120 - College Algebra 3 Credit Hour(s)
MTH 121 - Elementary Functions 3 Credit Hour(s)
MTH 219 - Statistics II 3 Credit Hour(s)
MTH 222 - Calculus I 3 Credit Hour(s)
MTH 223 - Calculus II 3 Credit Hour(s)
MTH 119 - Statistics I 3 Credit Hour(s) or
BIO 205 - Biostatistics 3 Credit Hour(s)

Note:

These courses are not considered “within the major” for purposes of either the grade waiver rule or residency requirements for transfer students.

Capstone Requirement:

All Biology majors are required to complete with a C- or better a capstone experience designed to heighten their understanding of their chosen field. To this end, majors are asked to take one of the following courses, a principal component of which is a semester-long research project:

BIO 318 - Human Medical Genetics 3 Credit Hour(s)
BIO 325 - Microbiology 4 Credit Hour(s)
BIO 329 - Cancer Genetics 3 Credit Hour(s)