Academic Bulletin 2024-2025 
    
    Dec 06, 2024  
Academic Bulletin 2024-2025

Biology Major


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Faculty: Coenen, Dawson, Demi, French, Hersh, Houtz, Humphreys, Kadmiel, Lundberg, Nelson, Venesky, Whitenack

The Biology major is a program in the Mathematics and Natural Sciences Area of Study Biology majors may not double major in Biochemistry.

Biology Program Learning Outcomes:

Students who successfully complete a major or minor in Biology will be able to:

  • Apply principles and laboratory techniques of biological sub-disciplines;
  • Design and execute independent or collaborative research to investigate novel biological questions;
  • Communicate, in written and oral forms, the results of scientific research and the societal implications of those results; 
  • Apply concepts, skills, or approaches of other scientific fields to inform biological practices.

The Biology Major

The Biology major, consisting of 58 credits, leads to the Bachelor of Science degree. At graduation, Biology majors must have a GPA of at least 2.0 in the major. All Biology courses taken for a letter grade at Allegheny are included in the calculation, with the exception of repeated courses. Only the most recent grade is considered for courses that have been repeated. All courses required for the major must be taken for a letter grade. Biology courses exceeding the minimum requirements for the major may be taken on a Credit/No Credit basis. Transfer credits may count toward the major in consultation with the department chair.

The major in Biology requires the successful completion of 34 semester credit hours in Biology, or courses cross-listed with Biology, including the following:

Three 300-Level Biology Courses:


One from each of the three areas defined below:

Area A - Cellular and Molecular Biology:


Area B - Organismal Biology and Physiology:


Area C - Population Biology and Ecology:


Junior Seminar:


Two Additional Four-Credit Courses from the list below:


 These cognate courses in the sciences should be chosen to complement the student’s sub-disciplinary interest in Biology and shold be determined in consultation with a Biology academic advisor. Courses numbered in the 190s may not be used to fulfill the two-course requirement.

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