Degree Requirements
Requires 42 hours in Liberal Studies and the following 47 hours of core courses, as well as 25 hours of a concentration:
| Course Number | Course Name | Hours |
| BIOL 140 | Principles of Biology I | 4 hours |
| BIOL 141 | Principles of Biology II | 4 hours |
| BIOL 240 | Introduction to Genetics | 4 hours |
| BIOL 241 | Intro. to Ecology and Evolution | 4 hours |
| Variable | Senior Research | 3 hours |
| MATH 140 | Introductory Calculus | 5 hours |
| MATH 170 | Applied Statistics | 3 hours |
| CHEM 140 | Advanced General Chemistry | 4 hours |
| CHEM 241 | Organic Chemistry I | 3 hours |
| CHEM 242 | Organic Chemistry II | 3 hours |
| CHEM 272 | Organic Chemistry Lab | 2 hours |
| PHYS 130 | Introductory Physics I | 4 hours |
| PHYS 130 | Introductory Physics II | 4 hours |
A Concentration (25 hours) selected from one of the following:
Ecology and Evolutionary Biology: BIOL306; 467; 434 or 435, two electives from the Ecology and Evolution set, one elective from the Organismal set, one elective from the Cell and Molecular Biology set and one elective from either the Conservation Biology or Biotechnology set (may include two non biology courses).
General Biology: at least one elective from each set (Cell and Molecular Biology, Organismal Biology, Ecology and Evolution, Biotechnology and Conservation Biology; may include two non biology courses).
Pre-Health Professional: BIOL311, 333, 361 and one elective from the Cell and Molecular Biology set, one elective from the Biotechnology set, two electives from the Organismal Biology set and one elective from either the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology or Conservation biology set (may include two non biology courses).
Molecular Biology: BIOL333, 361, 421 and two electives from the Cell and Molecular Biology set, one elective from the Biotechnology set and two electives from two of the following three sets: Organismal Biology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology or Conservation Biology (may include two non biology courses).
General electives (6 hours at the 300/400 level), are required to complete the program.
At least 32 hours of the courses taken at WCU must be at the junior-senior level to meet one of the general university degree requirements.
Course sets
Cell and Molecular Biology
313 (3h, Microbiology in Health and Nutrition)
OR
413 (3h, Principles of General Microbiology)
AND
414 (2h, Methods in General Microbiology)
333 (4h, Cell and Molecular BioLogy)
361 (3h, Principles of Biochemistry)
416 (3h, Plant Molecular Biology)
417 (3h, Biochemistry)
419 (4h, Cell Biology)
Organismal Biology
311 (3h, Animal Physiology)
373 (4h, Invertebrate Zoology)
374 (4h, Vertebrate Zoology)
415 (3h, Plant Physiology)
425 (4h, Flora of the Southern Appalachians)
455 (4h, Vascular Plants)
Ecology and Evolution
304 (3h, General Ecology)
306 (3h, Evolutionary Biology)
420 (3h, Darwin's Origin of Species)
434 (4h, Terrestrial Ecology)
435 (4h, Aquatic Ecology)
453 (3h, Principles of Systematics)
467 (3h, Biostatistics)
471 (4h, Animal Behavior)
473 (4h, Microbial Ecology)
CHEM 461 (3h, Environmental Chemistry)
GEOL 305 (3h, Soils and Hydrology)
NRM 471 (4h, Landscape Ecology)
Conservation Biology
304 (3h, General Ecology)
306 (3h, Evolutionary Biology)
425 (4h, Flora of the Southern Appalachians)
434 (4h, Terrestrial Ecology)
435 (4h, Aquatic Ecology)
453 (3h, Principles of Systematics)
455 (4h, Vascular Plants)
476 (3h, Contemporary Fisheries)
NRM 344 (3h, Introduction to GIS)
NRM 442 (3h, Natural Resources Policy and Adm.)
PAR 330 (3h, Wilderness Ethics and Aesthetics)
PAR 333 (3h, Environmental Ethics)
Biotechnology
333 (4h, Cell and Molecular BioLogy)
361 (3h, Principles of Biochemistry)
414 (2h, Methods in General Microbiology)
416 (3h, Plant Molecular Biology)
417 (3h, Biochemistry)
419 (4h, Cell Biology)
421 (4h, Principles of Biotechnology)
467 (3h, Biostatistics)
CHEM 370 (3h, Instrumental Analysis I)
CHEM 432 (3h, Instrumental Analysis II)
CHEM 462 (3h, Molecular Bioinformatics)
CHEM 460 (1h, Advanced Instrumental Analysis Lab)
PAR 332 (3h, Biomedical Ethics)
Course Descriptions
Read the biology undergraduate course descriptions and prerequisites