Senate Doc #2889S Approved 3/9/89 APC Document #24 Catalog changes in Biology a) Effective date: Fall 1989 1. Please ADD these courses to the listing in biology on page 75 of the 1988-89 catalog. 210 Principles of Animal Biology (4) Introduction to the study of animals. Emphasis will be on structural, physiological, and phylogenetic concepts. Prerequisite: 105 or permission of the instructor. 211 Principles of Plant Biology (4) Introduction to the study of plants. Emphasis will be on structural, physiological, and phylogenetic concepts. Prerequisite: 105 or permission of the instructor. ADD this course to the listing on page 77 after BIOL 352 356 Desert Ecology (4) Study of the major aspects of the desert environment in the southwestern United States including geologic formations and animal/plant adaptations to the harsh conditions. Course includes a field survey of desert conditions in Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. Prerequisite: 105 or permission of the instructor. 2. Please CHANGE these course numbers in the biology course listings. Biology 355 to Biology 455 on page 77. (Change references to this course.) Biology 245 to Biology 344 on page 75. (Change references to this course.) 3. Please DELETE Biology 131, 132, and 133 from the course listing in biology on page 74, and 251 and 252 from the listings on page 75. 4. DELETE statements numbered I.,II., and IV. from the description of the major on page 73 of 1988-89 catalog. 5. DELETE Biology 411 from the listing on page 77. DELETE the sentence "Biology 411 must be taken concurrently". Change the number of hours for 444 to (4). 6. Please ADD these statements to the description of the biology major on page 73 of the 1988-89 catalog. Track in Biology I. Required courses in the major - 15 hours, including 105, 210, 211, 451, and 452. II. Restricted electives in the major - 12 hours. A student majoring in biology must choose one course from each of the following groupings, A. Phylogenetic biology - 332, 333, 334, 335 B. Organismal biology - 345, 346, 455 C. Cellular biology - 344, 339, 443, 444 Page 2 III. (no change) IV. Required courses outside the major - 18 hours, including Chem 141, 142, and 231; MATH 163; STAT 185. Students familiar with microcomputers are advised to take CSCI 126. V. (no change) VI. It is strongly recommended that biology majors take genetics (Bio 443). 7. Please add "BIOL 210 or permission of the instructor" to the prerequisite list for these biology courses: 332, 333, 346, 350, 352, 455, and 444. 8. Please add "BIOL 211 or permission of the instructor" to prerequisite list for these biology courses: 234, 334, 335, 345, and 442. 9. Please make the following CHANGE regarding Biol 350. 350 Vertebrate Field Zoology (4) Develops skills necessary for conducting field research with vertebrates. Emphasis is on identification, quantitative sampling, experimental design, data analysis, and critical thinking. 10. Please CHANGE the title of BIOL 221 from Fresh Water Biology to Limnology. 11. Please DELETE first sentence of course description of Biology 451, p. 77. b. Environmental impact: These changes will not affect the university's general education requirements. These changes will affect the biology major and minor requirements and the requirements for teacher certification. The major will be affected by adding two more required courses, a change from 7 to 15 hours, but will reduce the requirements in the restricted elective part of the major from 20 to 12 hours. The certification students may have two courses added to their programs; however some of the state competencies may well be satisfied by 210 and/or 211. This would reduce the certification load. This biochemistry change may affect the chemistry department's clinical chemistry track requirements. Few students have chosen this track and the chemistry department has not taught the senior level clinical courses recently. The chairman of the chemistry department and I have agreed that should chemistry students need a biochemistry laboratory they could sign-up for chemistry's 411, but take the lab portion of 444. The greatest impact of these changes will be on the Environmental Studies program track in ecology and environmental biology. For this track students must take upper level biology courses, generally courses in animal and plant diversity. Taking these courses would now require ENVR students to take two extra Page 3 courses. BIOL 210 and 211 with 8 cr. This difficulty will be diminished by allowing students in ENVR to enter 210 and 211 without the BIOL 105 prerequisite. The topics covered in 105 are not ones Dr. Miller believes are essential to his program (cell biology, evolution, genetics, molecular genetics). In addition, students would be allowed entry into upper level biology courses by permission of instructor for the courses typically recommended for ENVR students. c. Rationale for: 1. BIO 210 and 211 are needed by biology majors to prepare them for upper level courses in organismal biology. The current introductory biology course is insufficient preparation in these areas. BIO 356 has been a special topics course that should now become a regular part of the curriculum. 2. These changes more accurately reflect the levels at which these courses are taught. 3. The biology department no longer offers these courses. 4. and 6. These changes in the major are needed to accommodate the addition of 210 and 211. The change in the stat requirement is based on consultation with the math department, and the csci change is meant to reflect the likelihood that many of our majors will have experience with microcomputers prior to enrolling at UNCA. 5. This change will tighten-up biology listings with 411 being incorporated into 444. Teaching the lab to students who are not taking the lecture portion of the course has proven to be difficult. 7 and 8. Changes in course prerequisites reflect the addition of 210 and 211. 9. This course is being taught for the first time in several years by a new faculty member. The focus of the course and the number of credits for the course reflect an adjustment in the role of this course in the curriculum from a loosely defined field experience to an experimental/research course preparing students for field research. 10. This change is at the request of Dr. Maas in ENVR, who teaches the course. He is teaching it as a true limnology course and the name should reflect that emphasis. 11. It is the department's hope that students will take the course before their senior year. Page 4