Department of Biological Sciences

Biology Program

Environmental Option

The Environmental Option is designed to cover the aspects of biology, chemistry, and earth science most applicable to employment, consultation, or graduate studies in environmental protection and remediation.  Consequently, the overall curriculum and many of the individual courses are interdisciplinary.  Furthermore, the program specifically provides opportunities for students to interact with others who are following the Environmental Option associated with Chemistry and Geology majors.     

Curriculum

The matrix below is a sample plan for all coursework required for this program.

•  Freshman

  Fall		Spring
  ENGL 1013 Composition I1	3	ENGL 1023 Composition II2	3
  MATH 1113 College Algebra	3	Social Sciences1	3
  BIOL/PHSC 1004 Principles of Environmental Science	4	U.S. History/Government1	3
  BIOL 1011 Orientation to the Biological Sciences	1	BIOL 2124 Principles of Zoology	4
  BIOL 1114 Principles of Biology	4	Statistics5	3
  Total Hours	15	Total Hours	16

•  Sophomore

  Fall		Spring
  ENGL 2053 Technical Writing	3	Fine Arts & Humanities1	3
  Social Sciences1	3	Social Sciences/Fine Arts/Humanities/Communication1	3
  CHEM 2124 General Chemistry I	4	CHEM 2134 General Chemistry II	4
  BIOL 2134 Principles of Botany	4	BIOL /CHEM/GEOL 2111 Environmental Seminar	1
  		Elective3	3
  Total Hours	14	Total Hours	16

•  Junior

  Fall		Spring
  CHEM 3254 Fundamentals of Organic Chemistry	4	CHEM 3264 Mechanistic Organic Chemistry	4
  PHYS 2014 Physical Principles I	4	PHYS 2024 Physical Principles II	4
  BIOL 3043 Conservation	3	BIOL/CHEM /GEOL 3111 Environmental Seminar	1
  BIOL 3124 General Physiology or BIOL 3174 Physiological Ecology	4	BIOL /FW 3114 Principles of Ecology or BIOL 4094 Coastal Ecology2	4
  		Electives3	3-4
  Total Hours	15	Total Hours	16-17

•  Senior

  Fall		Spring
  CHEM 3353 Fundamentals of Toxicology	3	Fine Arts & Humanities1	3
  BIOL 3034 Genetics	4	CHEM 3313 Environmental Chemistry	3
  BIOL 3054 Microbiology	4	BIOL 4024 Limnology	4
  Math Elective4	3-4	BIOL/CHEM /GEOL 4111 Environmental Seminar	1
  		BIOL Elective (3000-4000 level)	4
  Total Hours	14-15	Total Hours	15

¹See appropriate alternatives or substitutions in "General Education Requirements". ECON 2003 Principles of Economics I and SOC 1003 Introductory Sociology are recommended for Social Science courses.
²BIOL 4094 Coastal Ecology which is offered during the May mini-term can serve as an alternative to BIOL 3114 Principles of Ecology.
³Recommended electives include: AGSS 2014 Soils, ANTH 2103 Ozark-Ouachita Studies, FW 4014 Forest Ecology and Management, FW 4034 Geographic Information Systems in Natural Resources, GEOL 1014 Physical Geology and GEOL 3153 Environmental Geology, POLS 2013 Introduction to Political Science, COMM 2003 Public Speaking, SOC 3033 Environment and Society, or SOC 3113 Social Movements and Social Change (but also see the following footnote, relative to calculus).
⁴FW 3173 Biostatistics or MATH 2914 Calculus I is recommended if you are considering graduate school in this field. Furthermore,MATH 2924 Calculus II should be considered for a general elective. Otherwise MATH 2243 Calculus for Business and Economics is recommended.
⁵MATH 2163 Introduction to Statistical Methods, PSY 2053 Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences, or SOC 2053 Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences.