“However many ways there may be of being alive, there are vastly more ways of being dead.” — Richard Dawkins
Biology Courses
Links
This listing below includes all courses taught by the Department of Biology, as well as courses taught by other departments that may be accepted for credit towards the biology major. A description of each course, including prerequisites, may be found by clicking on the course number.
Looking for course requirements? See the details for the major or minor. You may also find the Advise-O-Matic or typical four year plan helpful in planning your major.
Looking for courses that meet certain requirements? Try the Course Search page.
A complete listing of course descriptions is also available. For a current course schedule, see the Registrar's Class Schedule Search
Important note: The semester listings on this page reflect the normal offerings but are not a guarantee that a course will be taught during a particular semester or year.
| Number | Title | Credits | Instructor | Offered | Satisfies* |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Non-majors courses — 100-level courses may not be used for credit towards the Biology major | |||||
| BIO 149 | Human Biology | 3 | Shibata | I | |
| Introductory courses — The General Biology sequence may be taken in either order | |||||
| BIO 201 | General Biology: Organismal and Population | 3 | Staff | II, S | |
| BIO 202 | General Biology: Cell and Molecular | 3 | Staff | I, S | |
| BIO 205 | General Biology: Organismal and Population Laboratory | 1 | Staff | II | |
| BIO 206 | General Biology: Cell and Molecular Laboratory | 1 | Staff | I | |
| BIO 297 | Directed Research | 0-2 | Staff | I, II, PS, S | |
| Note: |
BIO 201 and 205 together replace the single older course, BIO 212.
(BIO 212 counts towards the major as BIO 201 and 205 do.) BIO 202 and 206 together replace the single older course, BIO 211. (BIO 211 counts towards the major as BIO 202 and 206 do.) |
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| Upper-level courses — General Biology is a prerequisite for most of these courses | |||||
| BIO 310 | Biostatistics | 4 | Cullum | I, II, S | Lab |
| BIO 317 | Genetics | 3 | Brockhouse/Cho | I, II, S (OD) | Cell |
| BIO 318 | Genetics Laboratory | 1 | Brockhouse | I | Lab |
| BIO 335 | Zoology | 4 | Shea | I | Lab, Org |
| BIO 341 | Botany | 4 | Taylor | I | Lab, Org |
| BIO 362 | Cell Structure and Function | 3 | Staff | I, II, S (OD) | Cell |
| BIO 371 | Animal Behavior | 3 | Burk | I, S | Org |
| BIO 372 | Animal Behavior Laboratory | 2 | Burk | II | CW, Lab |
| BIO 383 | Vertebrate Natural History | 3 | Staff | II | Pop |
| BIO 384 | Vertebrate Natural History Laboratory | 1 | Staff | II | Lab |
| BIO 385 | The Ecology, Geography and Health of Lakes | 4 | Schalles | PS (AY) | CW, Lab, Pop |
| BIO 390 | Environmental Science | 3 | Vinton | II | Pop |
| BIO 397 | Directed Independent Research (Extramural) | 0-3 | Taylor | I, II, PS, S | |
| BIO 419 | Molecular Genetics Laboratory | 2 | Austerberry/Cho | II | CW, Lab |
| BIO 425 | Development of Biological Thought | 3 | Brockhouse | PS (OD) | |
| BIO 432 | Immunology | 3 | Shibata | I | Cell |
| BIO 433 | Vertebrate Comparative Anatomy | 4 | Rivera | II | Lab, Org |
| BIO 435 | Coastal and Estuarine Ecology | 4 | Schalles | PS (AY) | Lab, Pop |
| BIO 439 | Parasitology | 4 | Shea | II | Lab, Org or Pop |
| BIO 445 | Environmental Physiology | 3 | Rivera | I | CW, Org |
| BIO 449 | Animal Physiology | 3 | Fassbinder-Orth/Cullum | I, II, S (OD) | Org |
| BIO 450 | Animal Physiology Laboratory | 1 | Fassbinder-Orth | I | Lab |
| BIO 451 | Microbiology | 4 | Staff | II | Lab, Cell |
| BIO 460 | Environmental Remote Sensing | 4 | Schalles | II | Lab, Pop |
| BIO 461 | Entomology | 4 | Burk | I (AY) | Lab, Org or Pop |
| BIO 462 | Neurobiology | 3 | Shibata | I | Cell or Org |
| BIO 463 | Neurobiology Laboratory | 2 | Shibata | I | CW, Lab |
| BIO 467 | Developmental Biology | 4 | Reedy | I | Lab, Org |
| BIO 481 | Terrestrial Ecology | 4 | Vinton | I, S (OD) | CW, Lab, Pop |
| BIO 485 | Marine and Freshwater Ecology | 3 | Schalles | I | Pop |
| BIO 486 | Freshwater Ecology Laboratory | 2 | Schalles | I | Lab |
| BIO 490 | Seminar in Undergraduate Biology Laboratory Instruction | 1 | Staff | I | Lab† |
| BIO 492 | Seminar in Undergraduate Classroom Instruction | 1 | Staff | I | |
| BIO 493 | Directed Independent Readings | 1-3 | Staff | I, II, S | |
| BIO 495 | Directed Independent Study | 1-3 | Staff | I, II, S | |
| BIO 497 | Directed Independent Research | 0-3 | Staff | I, II, S | |
| BIO 501 | Bioinformatics: Genomics Approach | 4 | Cho | II (AY) | Lab |
| BIO 517 | Current Topics in Genetics | 3 | Brockhouse | I | CW |
| BIO 520 | Genomes and Chromosomes | 4 | Brockhouse | I (AY) | Lab |
| BIO 523 | Environmental Toxicology | 3 | Schalles | II | |
| BIO 532 | Current Topics in Cellular and Molecular Biology | 3 | Austerberry | II | CW |
| BIO 539 | Ecology of Zoonotic Diseases | 3 | Fassbinder-Orth | II | CW |
| BIO 541 | Advanced Topics in Plant Biology | 3 | Taylor | II (AY) | CW |
| BIO 545 | Plant Diversity and Evolution | 4 | Taylor | II | CW, Lab, Pop |
| BIO 559 | Special Topics in Physiology | 3 | Cullum | II (AY) | CW |
| BIO 567 | Current Topics in Neuroscience | 3 | Shibata | ||
| BIO 580 | Current Topics in Ecology | 3 | Vinton | II (AY) | CW |
| BIO 581 | Evolution | 4 | Staff | I | Lab, Pop |
| Outside courses — One of the following may be applied towards the Biology major (not minor) | |||||
| BMS 521 | Principles of Biochemistry | 4 | |||
| CHM 371 | Biochemistry of Metabolism | 3 | |||
| PHY 353 | Introduction to Biological Physics | 3 | |||
- CW - satisfies one of the college's Certified Writing requirements
- Lab - satisfies one of the Biology major's laboratory requirements
- Cell - counts as a molecular/cellular course for the Biology major's area of study requirement
- Org - counts as an organismal course for the area of study requirement
- Pop - counts as a population/ecology/evolution course for the area of study requirement
Note - Courses listing two areas of study can count as one or the other, not both.
†BIO 490 counts as one laboratory course if taken twice. See the major requirements for more information.