Bachelor of Science in Biology

Biology and the General Education Requirements

For students entering the University after 2006

To obtain either a Bachelor of Science (BS) or Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in Biology you will need to meet the General Education Requirements in Foundations, Approaches, and Connections. Those students completing a BA degree in Biology will also have to meet the supplemental education requirement using either the distributive or integrative options. Listed below are those courses that are offered by Biology and fulfill one of these requirements as well as those courses required for Biology majors that meet one of these requirements.

Foundations

The only foundation course that can be taken in the sciences is Quantitative Reasoning (QR). For the BS MATH 231 and for the BA MATH 130, 152, 231; COMP 101, 161; STOR 151,155, or 215 meet the requirement for the degree in Biology and also meet the Foundations QR requirement. The requirements in English composition and rhetoric, foreign language, and lifetime fitness will need to be met with courses from other departments.

Approaches

The approaches physical and life sciences requirement can be met with BIOL 101/L and CHEM 101/L. The requirements in social and behavioral sciences and humanities/fine arts will have to be met with courses from other departments.

Connections

The communication intensive (CI) requirement can be met with BIOL 101/L but you must take both the lecture and the lab. BIOL 424, 522, and 691 (but not 692) also meet this requirement.

The requirement for a second quantitative reasoning or quantitative intensive course can be met by BIOL 201, 452; MATH 232; COMP 101, 161; STOR 155 or 215.

The experiential education requirement can be met by BIOL 395, 463, 555, 564L, and 661. It can also be met by BIOL 293 or 295, but you should note that these two courses do not count as a course in Biology for the major. More detail on Biology 395, 293 and 295 can be found under Biology research and honors in this manual.

The only course in Biology which meets the global issues requirement is BIOL 262.

The remainder of the connections requirements will have to be met with courses from other departments.

Supplemental General Education Requirement

BA students will have also to meet the supplemental education requirement using either the distributive or integrative option. This requirement does not apply to BS students. For the distributive option, students may not use any course from Biology or any other department within the Division of Natural Sciences and Mathematics. In contrast, one of the courses taken to fulfill the integrative option may both come from the major division and fulfill a major requirement.