Departments & Programs

Biology

Major in Microbiology—B.A.
Purpose

The B.A. degree is designed to provide training in microbiology for those students who do not intend to obtain an advanced degree in microbiology or attend medical, dental, or optometry school. The degree is suitable for students who are double majors as well as those individuals whose career goals include being a laboratory technician or working in an outside field, such as business or environmental studies.

Required Courses

Students must complete the following courses with a minimum grade of C– in each course:

  1. L112 Foundations of Biology: Biological Mechanisms (3 cr.) and L113 Biology Laboratory (3 cr.).
  2. L211 Molecular Biology (3 cr.).
  3. M250 Microbiology (3 cr.) and M315 Microbiology Lab (2 cr.).
  4. M440 Medical Microbiology: Lecture (3 cr.) or M460 Biology of the Prokaryotes (3 cr.).
  5. M480 Microbial and Molecular Genetics (3 cr.).
  6. Either M350 Microbial Physiology and Biochemistry (3 cr.) or L312 Cell Biology (3 cr.).
  7. Two additional courses from the following: B351, L312, L321, L472, M375, M416, M430, M440, M460, or BIOT T310. A course selected in section 4 or section 6 cannot be selected for credit in section 7.
  8. One additional laboratory from the following: M360, M435, M445, M465, M485, or BIOT T315.
Additional Requirements

Students must also complete the following with a minimum grade of C– in each course:

  1. CHEM C117-C127 and C341 or R340. Students planning to attend professional school should check to see what additional chemistry courses they will need.
  2. PHYS P201-P202 or P221-P222.
  3. MATH M119 or M211, or an approved mathematics course, or one of the following statistics courses: MATH K310, PSY K300 or K310, LAMP L316, STAT S300 or S303, or SPEA-K 300 or K310. (Note that although SPEA-K 300 or K310 fulfills the statistics requirement, it does not count toward College of Arts and Sciences credit hours if the total hours allowed outside the College have been met.)

Students must also meet the degree requirements for the B.A. degree in the College of Arts and Sciences.