Department of Biological Science

For more information about degree offerings from the faculty of biological science, visit the Department of Biological Science webpage.

Biological science offers a personalized departmental advising system, ease of access to all professors, high quality student peers, student clubs, and research opportunities for undergraduate students to work in the laboratories of faculty members. Facilities include electron microscopes, equipment for studies in cellular and molecular biology, immunology, genetics, and field biology. Faculty research and expertise are diverse, spanning such areas as ecology and systematics, developmental biology, and molecular and cellular biology.

Mission

The undergraduate mission of the Department of Biological Science is to provide a broad foundation in the biological principles that will permit students to successfully pursue a variety of career options including academic work in a diversity of graduate and professional programs.

Undergraduate Academic Programs

The faculty of biological science offer courses leading to the Bachelor of Science in Biological Science (B.S.B.S.)  degree and the Bachelor of Arts (B.A.)  degree in biology, Degree requirements are purposely flexible, providing the student with career choices in biotechnology, organismic biology, cellular biology, environmental biology, medicine, dentistry, veterinary medicine, or further graduate training. Coursework in the major, combined with studies in the University-wide Tulsa Curriculum, gives the student the background required to excel in writing and reasoning and to adjust to the complexity of modern society and its component technologies.

Because of the variation and frequent changes in entrance requirements among professional schools, students interested in medicine, dentistry, veterinary medicine, optometry, physical therapy, or other professional fields should obtain a preprofessional advisor within the Department of Biological Science as early in their college careers as possible.

Program Learning Outcomes

Students who complete the undergraduate program in biological science or biology will demonstrate skills relevant to:

• Display fundamental understanding of basic genetics and evolution through (a) responses on lecture quizzes and tests, (b) responses on laboratory quizzes and practical exams, or (c) written reports from laboratory exercises.
• Demonstrate basic knowledge of cell structure and function and molecular biology through (a) responses on lecture quizzes and tests, (b) responses on laboratory quizzes and practical exams, or (c) written reports from laboratory exercises.
• Demonstrate basic knowledge of comparative organismic diversity through (a) responses on lecture quizzes and tests, (b) responses on laboratory quizzes and practical exams, or (c) written reports from laboratory exercises.
• Demonstrate an understanding of basic organismal adaptations to ecological environments through (a) responses on lecture quizzes and tests, (b) responses on laboratory quizzes and practical exams, or (c) written reports from laboratory exercises. 5. Analyze and evaluate scientific data and/or current literature; this will be assessed through experimental design, problem solving, presentations, class discussions, class essays, or term papers.

Teacher Education Program

Students seeking secondary teacher certification in biology must declare education as a second major. This double major leads to teacher certification in Oklahoma (and preparation for certification in other states). In order to qualify, students must complete all the tasks listed on the Department of Education  page in this Bulletin, including acceptance into the Teacher Education Program and to the Student Teaching Semester.

Biology education majors are assigned two faculty advisors, one in the Department of Biological Sciences and one in the Department of Education .

Faculty

Programs

• Biology, B.A.
• Biology, B.S.B.S.
• Biology, Pre-Med Option, B.S.B.S.

• Biology Minor

Courses

• BIOL 1001 Introduction to Biological Science
• BIOL 1003 Genetics and Human Diversity
• BIOL 1011 Plants and Society Laboratory
• BIOL 1013 Plants and Society
• BIOL 1031 The Environment and Humanity Laboratory
• BIOL 1033 The Environment and Humanity
• BIOL 1043 Biology: A Way of Knowing
• BIOL 1051 Plagues and Pestilence Laboratory
• BIOL 1053 Plagues and Pestilence
• BIOL 1113 The Human Body
• BIOL 1123 Introduction to Indoor Air Quality
• BIOL 1603 Introduction to Organismal and Evolutionary Biology
• BIOL 1611 Introduction to Organismal and Evolutionary Biology Laboratory
• BIOL 1703 Introduction to Molecular and Cellular Biology
• BIOL 1711 Introduction to Molecular and Cellular Biology Laboratory
• BIOL 2013 Ecology
• BIOL 2121 Genetics Lab
• BIOL 2123 Genetics
• BIOL 2143 Evolution
• BIOL 2151 Human Anatomy Laboratory
• BIOL 2153 Human Anatomy
• BIOL 2171 Human Physiology Laboratory
• BIOL 2173 Human Physiology
• BIOL 2524 Field Botany
• BIOL 3084 Fundamentals of Microbiology
• BIOL 3164 Field Ecology
• BIOL 3174 Ornithology
• BIOL 3204 Comparative Vertebrate Anatomy
• BIOL 3224 Vertebrate Physiology
• BIOL 3254 Comparative Vertebrate Embryology
• BIOL 3314 The Fungi and Algae
• BIOL 3363 Medical Parasitology
• BIOL 3454 Plant Anatomy
• BIOL 3504 Plant Diversity
• BIOL 3513 Medical Entomology
• BIOL 3991-3 Independent Research
• BIOL 4003 Protein Structure and Function
• BIOL 4023 Environmental Microbiology
• BIOL 4054 Histology
• BIOL 4093 Population Ecology
• BIOL 4103 Tropical Ecology
• BIOL 4113 Pathogenic Microbiology
• BIOL 4123-4 Selected Topics in Microbiology
• BIOL 4133 Immunology
• BIOL 4143 Introduction to Virology
• BIOL 4153 Animal Behavior
• BIOL 4163 Experimental Techniques in Molecular Biology
• BIOL 4173 Principles of Neuroscience
• BIOL 4183 Biology of Cancer
• BIOL 4193 Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering
• BIOL 4203 Food Microbiology
• BIOL 4213 Environmental Ethics and Conservation
• BIOL 4223 Species Invasions
• BIOL 4234 Comparative Animal Physiology
• BIOL 4243 Mechanisms of Animal Development
• BIOL 4253 Molecular Evolution
• BIOL 4263 Selected Topics in Molecular Genetics
• BIOL 4283 Selected Topics in Molecular Cell Biology
• BIOL 4333 Experimental Design
• BIOL 4343 Advanced Molecular Biology
• BIOL 4383-4 Selected Topics in Biological Science
• BIOL 4393 Introduction to Computational Neuroscience
• BIOL 4464 Plant Physiology
• BIOL 4473 Advanced Cell Biology
• BIOL 4603 Selected Topics in Invertebrate Zoology
• BIOL 4613 Selected Topics in Vertebrate Zoology
• BIOL 4623 Medical Botany
• BIOL 4643 Bioinformatics
• BIOL 4933 Senior Research in Biological Science I
• BIOL 4943 Senior Research in Biological Science II
• BIOL 4971 Senior Seminar
• BIOL 4991-3 Independent Research
• BIOL 5253 Seminar in Organismic/Environmental Biology
• BIOL 5263 Seminar in Cell/Molecular Biology
• BIOL 5333 Phylogenetic Theory
• BIOL 5863 Selected Topics in Biology