Bachelor of Science Degree in Biology

The minimum number of semester credit hours required for the Bachelor of Science degree in Biology, including the Core Curriculum requirements, is 126. Thirty-nine of the total semester credit hours required for the degree must be at the upper-division level. All major and support work courses must be completed with a grade of "C" or better. Students seeking teacher certification should contact the Teacher Advising and Certification Center in the College of Education and Human Development for information. Undergraduates seeking elementary teacher certification must complete the interdisciplinary studies degree.

All candidates for this degree must fulfill the Core Curriculum requirements and the degree requirements, which are listed below.

Core Curriculum requirements: Students seeking the Bachelor of Science degree in Biology must fulfill University Core Curriculum requirements in the same manner as other students. The courses listed in the table below satisfy both degree requirements and Core Curriculum requirements; however, if these courses are taken to satisfy both requirements, then students will need to take additional courses in order to meet the minimum number of semester credit hours required for this degree. For a complete listing of courses that satisfy the Core Curriculum requirements see pages 9-13 of this catalog.

Degree Requirements

A. 51 semester credit hours in the major, 32 of which must be at the upper-division level:

1. 26 semester credit hours in biology are required:

BIO 1113 Biology I
BIO 1122 Laboratory Investigations in Biology
BIO 1123 Biology II
BIO 1143 Biology III
BIO 2313, 2322 Genetics and Laboratory
BIO 3513, 3522 Biochemistry and Laboratory
BIO 3813, 3822 Cellular Biology and Laboratory

2. 10 semester credit hours of upper-division biology electives; two of the following must be completed:

BIO 3283, 3292 Principles of Ecology and Laboratory
BIO 3413, 3422 General Physiology and Laboratory
BIO 3433, 3442 Neurobiology and Laboratory
BIO 3713, 3722 Microbiology and Laboratory
BIO 4143, 4152 Developmental Biology and Laboratory

3. 15 additional semester credit hours of biology electives, 12 of which must be at the upper-division level

B. 24 to 25 semester credit hours of support work:

1. 13 semester credit hours are required in chemistry:

CHE 1103 General Chemistry I
CHE 1303 General Chemistry II
CHE 1312 General Chemistry II Laboratory
CHE 2203, 2242 Organic Chemistry I and Laboratory

2. A minimum of 3 semester credit hours of mathematics selected from the following:

MAT 1214 Calculus I
STA 1993 Statistical Methods for the Life and Social Sciences

3. 8 semester credit hours of physics:

PHY 1603, 1611 General Physics I and Laboratory
PHY 1623, 1631 General Physics II and Laboratory

C. 18 semester credit hours of free electives, some of which need to be upper-division to meet University requirements of 39 hours of upper-division coursework