Dear Colleagues
I teach in a biology department in a middle sized (10,000 students)
state supported university with a growing M.S. program. We are
currently evaluating our freshman major curriculum in biology. At
present, we have three courses: Molecular & Cellular Biology followed
by (organismal) General Botany and General Zoology. We are
considering consolidating this sequence into a two semester
integrated Biology 1, Biology 2 sequence. This proposal is sure to
engender a lot of debate in our department, particularly from the
classicists who feel that taxonomy and systematics are already
slighted in our core required curriculum. I would appreciate hearing
from others as to what sort of courses are required for freshman
biology majors at their school. Also any comments about this problem
that might be useful in our ongoing debate would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance for your help.
John S. Choinski, Jr.
Professor of Biology
University of Central Arkansas
e-mail: johnc at cc1.uca.edu
