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The requirements for our Bachelor of Arts in Microbiology represent our consolidation of the specifics indicated by prospective employers and feedback from graduates into what is reasonable for a good, average student in our baccalaureate program. Our Bachelor of Arts degree is designed to be flexible, and yet provide disciplinary breadth for pre-professional students and students interested in an entry-level career in microbiology, the life or health sciences, or environmental sciences.

Included in this program of study are:

• A set of core courses
• Focus groups from which students choose electives to provide breadth -
  (biomedical, integrated, and advanced core courses)

The program is intentionally broad in focus within the discipline in order to expand the opportunities of the graduate. The curriculum requires a set of core courses needed by all microbiology majors, focus courses that provide more breadth in coverage of disciplines within the field, and elective courses to complement the students' career objectives.

Student Learning Outcomes

Our curriculum is designed to educate our majors in a variety of important microbiological disciplines, as well as to promote and develop skills and competencies that have enduring value beyond the classroom. These include:

• Molecular Microbiology: the physiology, biochemistry, and genetics of microorganisms, including such topics as structure, function, diversity, metabolism, and the genetics of metabolic regulation;
• Microbial Pathogenesis: the immune response and disease-causing microorganisms, including aspects of the humoral, cell-mediated, and non-specific immune responses, as well as the molecular basis for pathogenesis;
• Environmental Microbiology: the taxonomic, ecological, and genetic relationships among microorganisms, including such topics as nutrient cycling, microbial diversity, and the biotechnological application of microorganisms to solve environmental problems;
• Scientific Method: hypothesis generation and testing, including the development of theoretical and practical skills in the design and execution of experiments; and
• Scientific Communication: the development and execution of oral and writing skills necessary for effective communication of experimental results, the ability to think critically regarding a discipline topic, and the conveyance of scientific principles to audiences of both scientists and non-scientists.

Specialized Knowledge

Students graduating with a B.A. in Microbiology will be able to:

1. Define/explain within multiple microbiology disciplines the core theories and practices;
2. Describe/explain the processes used by microorganisms for their replication, survival, and interaction with their environment, hosts, and host populations;
3. Explain the theoretical basis of the tools, technologies, and methods common to microbiology; and
4. Demonstrate practical skills in the use of tools, technologies, and methods common to microbiology, and apply the scientific method and hypothesis testing in the design and execution of experiments.

In addition, in upper-level courses, students will be able to:

5. Evaluate and respond to a complex question or challenge, using perspectives and scholarship drawn from microbiology and from cognate and non-cognate fields;
6. Construct a summative project or paper that draws on current research, scholarship, and/or techniques in microbiology.

Intellectual Skills – Communication Fluency:

Within the framework of specialized knowledge developed in our courses, our students will communicate science as assessed by their ability to:

• Utilize microbiological concepts to summarize, analyze, and synthesize scientific and microbiology-related literature,
• Describe methodological information,
• Apply microbiological concepts and basic research findings through description, interpretation, and analysis,
• Articulate conclusions and implications of research, and
• Communicate with both specialist and non-specialist audiences using genres commonly used in microbiology.

Sample Plan of Study

This schedule integrates requirements for the major, the College of Arts and Science (CAS), and the ÍÃ×ÓÏÈÉú Plan, and provides a structure for completing them over a 4-year period.

The required and recommended courses in the major are specifically noted because many of them must be taken in sequence, and some of them may be offered only once a year. To fulfill the ÍÃ×ÓÏÈÉú Plan and CAS requirements, you will take a certain number of credit hours from several categories of courses. Progress towards the fulfillment of the requirements for the major is provided online for each student (and their advisor) through their Degree Audit Report (DAR).

All students in the College of Arts and Science must pass the CAS A requirement for a foreign language, which is to complete a course at the 202 level or higher. Although we have built in a two-year sequence beginning with 101 in our suggested schedule, you may be able to leverage your previous foreign language study in high school and bypass some of the introductory foreign language coursework. Alternatively, the schedule will accommodate the study of a new language.

Ask your advisor how certain elective courses may contribute to your particular professional goals. Some students will devote their elective course hours to obtain a second major or co-major, such as Chemistry, Spanish or Premedical Studies; other students may use these hours for additional preparation for professional school standardized tests.