Biological and Environmental Sciences
Chair: Indiren Pillay
Professors: Dave Bachoon, Andrei Barkovskii, Melanie DeVore, Ellen France, Ashok Hegde, Kalina Manoylov, Al Mead, Sam Mutiti, Indiren Pillay, Tom Toney
Associate Professor: Gretchen Ionta, Kasey Karen, Christine Mutiti, Bruce Snyder, Katie Stumpf, Allison VandeVoort, David Weese
Assistant Professors: Richard Adams, Dominic DeSantis, Gregory Glotzbecker, Matthew Milnes, Arnab Sengupta, Kristine White
Senior Lecturer: Kwan Christenson, Leeann Kelley, Emily Parrish, Lori Robinson
Lecturer: Daniel Burt
Mission
The Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences supports the liberal arts mission of Georgia College by practicing excellence in teaching, scholarship, service, and student success. The department provides transformative and high-impact learning experiences through undergraduate curricula in the biological and environmental sciences and graduate curricula in biological sciences. Students gain an advanced understanding of living organisms and the ecosystems with which they interact through competitive research and scholarship and build public understanding and community engagement of the living world by collaborating with local community, state, regional and international entities. The department is committed to supporting the University's mission and creates an environment within the campus community that values diversity of intellectual thought, experiences, and identity. The department embraces inclusivity to advance excellence through diversity, global responsibility, and sound ethical principles.
Student Success
Earning a college degree is a significant milestone in one's life and requires dedication to one's studies and tremendous effort to succeed. In order to enable students to achieve this goal, we have dedicated ourselves to developing measures that help ensure student success in our department's programs. This process begins with the First-Year Academic Seminar, in which students are introduced to the faculty and students who make up the departmental community. First-year students will get an overview of the subject matter covered in the major, explore career possibilities, and to develop techniques for getting the most out of college courses and activities. Students will also learn about departmental and University expectations, policies, and resources. Because the college experience at Georgia College is more intense than at many other schools, we have designed the curriculum to help in each step of the way. In addition, we are committed to offering the courses necessary to ensure that students who follow the program of study will graduate in four years.
Career Information
The Biology and Environmental Sciences majors are designed to give students flexibility to prepare for a variety of career or graduate education tracks. Special advisement is provided to those who plan to enter education and professional schools to help students meet prerequisites for those programs. Internships afford majors the opportunity to learn by working for an industry, agency, or institution in a scientific capacity.
Department graduates usually go into one of four career tracks: industry, for example as microbiologists, food and drug technologists, environmental consultants, laboratory technicians, biotechnologists and scientists; state and federal government, for example as entomologists, environmental scientists, plant pathologists, zoo curators, horticulturists, agronomists, fisheries, wildlife and forest conservationists; or professional self-employment as physicians, veterinarians, dentists, optometrists, environmental attorneys, landscape architects; or K-16 educators, from the junior high school to college level. A small number of graduates pursue careers as academic scientists becoming faculty at masters and doctoral degree granting institutions.
A biology or environmental science degree qualifies graduates for immediate entry into some of these careers and enables them to qualify for others (especially in government and industry) with little additional work. The degree also qualifies graduates to apply to professional schools (i.e. medicine), graduate schools, and higher-level jobs in government and industry.
Teacher Certification
Students may pursue secondary teacher certification through GCSU's Master of Arts in Teaching program, which allows the student to receive both certification and a master degree in one extra year of study after earning their Bachelor of Science degree. In addition the department recommends that you become engaged as an undergraduate in programs that provide you teaching experience (e.g. the Early College program) in order to start making contacts in the John H. Lounsbury College of Education and to learn more about this Masters of Arts in Teaching (M.A.T.) degree. Students who plan to pursue teacher education are encouraged to take the following courses: ASTR 1000; BIOL 4010, CHEM 1211, CHEM 1212, CHEM 3010, CHEM 4211, ENSC 1000, GEOL 1121, GEOL 1122, IDST 2405, PHSC 4010, PHYS 1111, PHYS 1112, PHYS 2211, PHYS 2212.
Students aspiring to earn a M.A.T. degree with a concentration in biology should take the two GACE Content Assessment tests in their senior year. There are separate tests for teaching life sciences in middle grades or in high school. Information on registering for the GACE tests is available at www.gace.nesinc.com. Both GACE content tests must be passed to obtain teacher certification in Georgia for teaching biology in grades 6-12. Students may also need to pass GACE Reading, Mathematics, and Writing tests for admission to the M.A.T. program and for Georgia certification.
For more information about the M.A.T. program and admission requirements, contact the College of Education.