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2024-2025 Undergraduate & Graduate Catalog

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Biology

For additional information about opportunities your college offers, please refer to the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences section in this catalog.

Website: gvsu.edu/biology

The study of animals and plants has fascinated people for thousands of years. All of us have wondered at some time about how animals are put together and how they function, why plants flower, how organisms interact with each other and respond to the environment, or why some bacteria cause disease and others do not. Biology is an exciting and dynamic field filled with the satisfaction of answers to many questions and the challenge of others waiting to be explained.

As a science, biology offers the opportunity to study and experiment with animals, plants, fungi, and bacteria in the laboratory and outdoors. Biologists make contributions in widely varying areas, including medicine, aquatic ecology, biotechnology, botany, conservation biology, evolutionary biology, genetics, microbiology, molecular biology, terrestrial ecology, and zoology.

Degrees Offered

Master of Science in biology, Bachelor of Science or Bachelor of Arts in biology, biology major and minor for secondary teaching certification, biology minor.

Preparation for Graduate School

Students planning to do graduate work in biology should consult early with their advisors. There is no absolute list of courses required for admission to graduate school. Generally, in addition to mathematics, students will need a full year of physics and two full years of chemistry, including CHM 241 and CHM 242.

Related Program

Natural Resources Management Major

Website: gvsu.edu/biology/nrm

The natural resources management program prepares students to care for the land- and water-based ecosystems of Michigan and beyond, as well as to service the people whose well-being depends on these resources.

Honors Organizations

Beta Beta Beta (TriBeta) is an honor society for students, particularly undergraduates, dedicated to improving the understanding and appreciation of biological study and extending boundaries of human knowledge through scientific research.

Requirements: Undergraduates shall have completed at least one term of the second year of a four-year curriculum, completed at least three courses in biological science, of which at least one is not an introductory course, with an average grade of B or its equivalent in those biology courses, and shall be in good academic standing.

Program Requirements

The following programs are available:


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