2024-2025 Undergraduate and Graduate Catalog
Department of Biological Sciences
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Jennifer M. Burns, Ph.D., Chairperson
Professors: Bradley, Burns, J. Carr, Densmore, Gollahon, Kingston, McIntyre, Olson, Ray, Rice, Rock, Sheridan, H. Zhang, K. Zhang
Associate Professors: Brelsfoard, Brown, Held, Johnson, Keyel, Manthey, Phillips, Salazar-Bravo, Schmidt, Schwilk, N. Smith, van Gestel, Wakeman, Xie
Assistant Professors: Banerjee, Bono, Chen, Harris, Limeri, McMillan, Onyango, Reid, A. Tice
Associate Professor of Practice: Lockwood
Assistant Professors of Practice: Hartgraves, Navlekar, C. Tice
Research Associate Professor: D. Carr
Research Assistant Professor: J. Smith
Senior Lecturer: Boros
Lecturer: Monje
Instructor: Griffith
Adjunct Faculty: Alviña, Balguera-Reina, J. Chen, Fokar, Fon Tacer, Karamysheva, Li, McGuire, Morgan, Patino, Payton, Rosa, Serra-Moreno, Shi, Stevens, Tumban, Xin
Emeritus: Burns, Chesser, Collie, Coulter, Deslippe, Diamond, Dini, Heintz, Holiday, Houck, Jeter, C. J. Phillips, Proctor, Rodgers, Rylander, San Francisco, Schmidly, Strauss, Wilde, Zak
CONTACT INFORMATION: 108 Biology Building | Box 43131 | Lubbock, TX 79409-3131 | T 806.742.2715 | https://www.depts.ttu.edu/biology/
About the Department
This department supervises the following degree programs:
Undergraduate Program
The department offers five distinct undergraduate programs which lead to a Bachelor of Science. These majors are biology, cell and molecular biology, microbiology, biology with a concentration in ecology and environmental biology, and biology with a concentration in premedical health sciences.
Any students entering in Fall 2018 or later must meet the TTU Assured Admission Standards to declare as a DBS major (see Admissions ). Internal TTU transfer students must have a TTU GPA of 2.5 or better with a minimum 12 completed semester hours. External transfer students from other colleges and universities must have a GPA of 2.5 or better with a minimum 12 completed semester hours to declare as a DBS majors. Any student whose TTU GPA drops below 2.5 shall have one long semester to bring their TTU GPA back to 2.5; a student who fails to do so within that time limit shall be transferred out of DBS.
Departmental Requirements. Two semesters of organic chemistry are required of all majors within this department. Students are urged to take organic chemistry during their second year of study, and those whose area of interest requires a strong background in chemistry should complete a chemistry minor.
Biology majors and students in the ecology and environmental biology concentration must take either MATH 1451 (calculus) or MATH 2300 (statistics). Cell and molecular biology majors must take one semester of calculus (MATH 1451 ). Microbiology majors must take either MATH 1451 or MATH 2300 .
Students majoring in biology, biology with a concentration in ecology and environmental biology, cell and molecular biology, or microbiology must complete PHYS 1403 and PHYS 1404 or PHYS 1408 and PHYS 2401 .
Unless otherwise noted, all prerequisite courses with BIOL, MBIO, and ZOOL prefixes must be passed with a grade of C or higher. Courses with a grade of D cannot be counted toward fulfillment of requirements for a major or minor (including adjunct requirements and minors from other departments) in any program in the department.
BIOL 1401 and BIOL 1402 will satisfy the laboratory science requirements for the College of Arts & Sciences. Students can test out of BIOL 1401 and BIOL 1402 by taking the AP biology test in high school and achieving a score of at least three (3) or by passing the CLEP-S test administered by Academic Testing Services. Advanced placement scores for BIOL 1401 and BIOL 1402 will not be accepted as credit toward major requirements in the department.
BIOL 1403 and BIOL 1404 (or courses with Texas Common Course Numbers BIOL 1406 and 1407) are required for all majors in the department. Students can test out of BIOL 1403 and BIOL 1404 by taking the AP biology test in high school and achieving a score of five (5).
Communication Literacy Plan. Biological Sciences majors must complete 3 Communication Literacy courses (9 credits). Courses in the CL Plan for the B.S. in Biological Sciences in all concentrations are BIOL 1403 , BIOL 1404 , BIOL 3393 , BIOL 3404 , BIOL 3405 , BIOL 3416 , BIOL 4307 , BIOL 4320 ; MBIO 4303 , MBIO 4367 , MBIO 4401 ; ZOOL 3403 , ZOOL 3406 , ZOOL 4313 , ZOOL 4410 , and ZOOL 4421 . Guidelines for CL courses can be found on the Office of the Provost website.
Research Opportunities. The department encourages undergraduate students to work with departmental faculty to obtain first-hand experience with research in the life sciences. Students involved in research projects may have the opportunity to receive competitive grants, present papers at scientific meetings, and co-author papers published in scientific journals. Information describing research interests of the faculty is available from advisors or on the departmental website at www.biol.ttu.edu. Students should contact faculty members with whom they wish to conduct research prior to registering for BIOL 4100 or BIOL 4300 . No more than 6 hours of undergraduate research credit may be counted toward any major in the department. Students conducting biologically relevant research under the mentorship of faculty in other departments can petition to have their efforts credited towards their degree.
Departmental Residency Requirement. At least 10 hours of upper-division biological sciences courses for all majors in this department and at least 6 hours of upper-division biological sciences courses for biology minors must be taken at Texas Tech.
Teacher Education. Students who complete a major in biology and satisfy other requirements for the B.S. degree, including 18 hours of professional educational courses, will be qualified to teach high school biology in the public schools of Texas. The following courses meet both the major and the certification requirements in life science:
• BIOL 1403 and BIOL 1404 , BIOL 3320 , BIOL 3120 , BIOL 3416 ; MBIO 3401 ; BIOL 3404 or BIOL 3401 ; ZOOL 2403 or ZOOL 3405 ; ZOOL 3406 or ZOOL 4407 .
• At least one of BIOL 3309 , BIOL 3307 , BIOL 3305 , or ZOOL 4312 .
• PHYS 1403 and PHYS 1404 or PHYS 1408 and PHYS 2401 ; CHEM 1307 , CHEM 1107 , CHEM 1308 , CHEM 1108 , and one semester of organic chemistry, which may be satisfied with CHEM 3305 and CHEM 3105 .
Students may satisfy the requirements for the teaching of high school biology under the multidisciplinary science major with an emphasis in biology. Alternatively, students interested in becoming high school teachers should minor in secondary education. Both the multidisciplinary science major and the secondary education minor are administered by the Department of Teacher Education, in the College of Education, and interested Biology students should consult with advisors in those programs as well.
Minors. Students majoring in biology may minor in any other field not offered by this department or in Health Professions .
Graduate Program
For information on graduate programs offered by the Department of Biological Sciences, visit the Graduate Programs section of the catalog.
Undergraduate Program Offerings, Course Descriptions & Curricular Tables
(Click on program for curricular table.)
ProgramsBachelor’sUndergraduate MinorCoursesBIOL - Biology (Undergraduate Courses)MBIO - Microbiology (Undergraduate Courses)ZOOL - Zoology (Undergraduate Courses)
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