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Monday, March 18
The Indiana Daily Student

Biology department offers new concentrations

Within the bachelor’s of science biology degree, there are now three concentrations students can choose to pursue: cell biology and molecular genetics, biology of disease, and integrative and organismal biology. Each concentration requires 18 hours of coursework in the area and will show up officially on students’ transcripts as an area of concentration.

Students can still choose to get a degree in biology without a 
concentration.

Richard Hardy, professor of biology and associate chair of teaching, said the concentrations were 
designed by faculty, whereas in the past advisers and students worked together to achieve a combination of classes that would meet the students’ desires. Adviser Danielle Murry-Knowles said the point of the new tracks is to provide students with a “deeper” and “more coherent” education in one area.

“We’ve tried to make the classes in the areas of concentration make sense and, in a way, be progressive on one another so that a student ends up with a deeper immersion in a particular area of biology,” Hardy said.

The addition of tracks within the biology degree is something students have desired for years, Mary Ann Miller, biology advisor, said. Hardy said the initial push for concentrations, which started a few years ago, failed because there were too many concentrations without enough distinction between them.

So far, Miller said the students who showed the most interest in the concentrations at the majors fair held during Welcome Week were pre-med students. She said the extra credential the concentration gives could make students feel more competitive when applying to 
medical school.

Russell Davies, a freshman biology major, said he is interested in pursuing the biology of diseases concentration because he is pre-med with a specific interest in becoming an infectious disease physician.

“I’ll take more classes ... that hopefully will prepare me more for what I’ll do later on,” Davies said. “Plus, if I take classes that I’m interested in, I’ll probably do better and study more.”

The core sequence of introductory labs and lectures is the same for all biology majors, regardless of concentration. Upper-level courses begin to differentiate, and for any concentration there is a requirement for an advanced skills course. This is a class where students focus on reading and analyzing primary scientific documents, such as scientific journals, instead of textbook summaries of 
reports.

These advanced skills courses have always been available, but at least one is required for a student to earn a concentration.

“If you’re in a career in scientific research, even beyond direct schooling, those would be useful skills to develop — being able to engage with the latest research that has come out, think critically about it and incorporate it into your own interests,” Murry-Knowles said. “I think in some ways that’s a real life skill. It helps them engage in science beyond being in the classroom.”

In the near future, Hardy said the department intends to add a fourth concentration in ecological systems, which would focus on large-scale biology dealing with ecosystems, whether the system be in the intestine of an animal or in a rainforest.

Hardy said the department plans to monitor the interest level in the various concentrations, as well as continue considering new concentrations as desire for them emerges.

“I think we’ve always got to be listening to voice of students to try to understand what the desire is out there and what students feel is going to be useful to them,” Hardy said.

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