Specific areas of focus include:

• Evolution
• Ecology and environmental biology
• Organismal biology
• Cell and molecular biology, and biochemistry
• Genetics, bioinformatics, and genomics
• Anatomy and physiology
• Developmental biology

Many online support services are available to assist you as you progress through the program.

Of Special Interest for Dual-credit and Community College Instructors Needing to Meet HLC Standards

The Graduate Certificate in Biology is ideal for those who want to teach dual-credit courses and who need to meet Higher Learning Commission dual-credit qualification standards. These standards require teachers wanting to teach dual-credit courses in biology to hold either a master's degree in biology or a master's degree in another discipline (such as education), plus at least 18 credit hours of discipline-specific graduate coursework.

• If you hold a master's degree in a discipline other than biology, you can meet HLC standards by completing the 18 credit hour Graduate Certificate in Biology.
• If you plan to pursue the IU Online MAT in Biology, you may apply the 18 credit hours from the Graduate Certificate in Biology toward the master's degree.

 Your IU Online Graduate Certificate in Biology prepares you for such careers as: 

• Biology dual-credit teacher (high school)
• Biology instructor (community college) 

This 100 percent online, consortial program is taught by IU Bloomington, IU East, IUPUI, IU Kokomo, IU Northwest, IU South Bend, and IU Southeast. This consortial model allows you to take coursework from several campuses and learn from a wide range of faculty. 

Certificate Requirements

To earn the Graduate Certificate in Biology, you must complete 18 credit hours.

Requirements are broken down as follows:

• Core course (3 cr.)
• Molecular-cellular-level electives (6 cr.)
• Organismal-level electives (6 cr.)
• Capstone course (3 cr.)

Admissions 

To be accepted to this program, you must have:

1. A bachelor's degree
2. 3.0 GPA or above on a 4.0 scale

To apply to this program, complete an online application that includes:

1. Official transcripts from each undergraduate institution
2. A 250-word personal statement explaining your background and reasons for entering the program

Courses

Required Coursework

To earn the Graduate Certificate in Biology students will complete six graduate biology courses that meet the distribution and breadth requirements described below for a total of 18 credits. 

GC Biology students complete the following course:

• BIOL-T 570 Evolution (3 cr.)

GC Biology students complete two (2) courses selected from this list:

• BIOL-T 571 Introductory Biochemistry (3 cr.)
• BIOL-T 574 The Immune System and Disease (3 cr.)
• BIOL-T 575 Molecular Biology (3 cr.)
• BIOL-T 577 Molecular Genetics and Genomics (3 cr.)

 3.  Organismal Biology (6 cr.)

GC Biology students complete two (2) courses selected from this list:

• BIOL-T 582 Advanced Field Zoology (3 cr.)
• BIOL-T 583 Problems in Genetics - Higher Organisms (3 cr.)
• BIOL-T 585* Model Organisms in Research (*Counted only once) (3 cr.)
• BIOL-T 586 Principles of Ornithology (3 cr.)

 4.  GC Biology Capstone (3 cr)

GC Biology students complete one capstone course selected from this list:

• BIOL-T 585 Model Organisms in Research (3 cr.)
• BIOL-T 591 History of Life (3 cr.)
• BIOL-T 592 Social Implications of Biology (3 cr.)