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BL - Biology

General Program Information

Program Title

Biology

College

CAS

Department(s)

Program Level

GR

Program Type

MAJOR

Degree Designation

MA

Biology, M.A.

The graduate program in Biology prepares students for professional careers or doctoral studies in a variety of biological disciplines.

The Department of Biology offers courses of study leading to either a Master of Science or Master of Arts degree. Both degree programs provide students the opportunity to increase their knowledge through formal coursework. Additionally, the Master of Science degree requires candidates to complete a major research project resulting in a master’s thesis.

Admission Requirements

  • Students seeking to enter the M.S. program in Biology must contact faculty in the department to determine if those professors are accepting graduate students. Contact information and the research interests of Biology faculty can be found on the department website: http://sites.jcu.edu/biology/

  • The equivalent of a Bachelor of Science with a major in Biology as offered at John Carroll University. Completion of related majors (Environmental Science, Cell and Molecular Biology, etc.) will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

  • For both the M.S. and M.A. programs: a statement of purpose, curriculum vitae, completed application form, official undergraduate transcripts, and at least two letters of academic evaluation from former professors. See below for additional admissions information.

  • Students may be granted provisional or full admission to the program. The minimum requirements for full acceptance are a 3.0 GPA in biology courses and a 3.0 overall GPA. In some cases, provisional acceptance may be granted to students with a GPA as low as 2.5 in their biology courses and an overall GPA as low as 2.5. Students granted provisional acceptance must obtain a 3.0 GPA in their first two JCU biology courses (6 credits minimum). In addition to normal admission requirements, all international applicants whose native language is not English must demonstrate the necessary level of proficiency in English language by taking the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), or the International English Language Testing System (IELTS). A student from abroad whose native language is English, who has completed his or her work in a foreign university where English is the language of instruction, or who has studied at or graduated from an American institution, is exempt from this testing requirement.

Application Process And Graduate Education Funding

Master of Science (M.S.)

Students accepted to the Master of Science Program in the Department of Biology cover JCU tuition by one of three options: 1) working as a Graduate Teaching Assistant (i.e., G.A.) for the department; 2) working as a Graduate Research Assistant (i.e., R.A.) in one of our research labs; or 3) self-funding. These funding options are more fully explained in the Biology M.S. program page.

Master of Arts (M.A.)

Students accepted to the Master of Arts Program in the Department of Biology pay tuition as self-funding students. Students in the M.A. program do not conduct thesis research, but degree requirements will include coursework and passing a comprehensive exam. M.A. students are required to have an academic advisor (typically the Graduate Program Director for the Department of Biology) who will help the student to define a course sequence that meets the needs and objectives of the student. This advisor will also help the M.A. student to determine which other faculty will comprise the examination committee. M.A. students generally are not eligible for G.A. positions.

Timeline for Decisions about Acceptance to M.S. and M.A. Programs

M.S. Program: Typically, students are accepted to begin classes at the beginning of the fall semester. For priority consideration, applications and application materials for acceptance to the M.S. program and G.A. positions must be received by February 1 (or the following Monday if this date falls on a Saturday or Sunday); decisions will be made within 30 days of this deadline. 

M.A. Program: There is no deadline for submission of application materials for this program, and students can begin matriculating in any semester. Decisions about admission will be made within 30 days of application.

Course Descriptions

Many courses offered by the Department of Biology include laboratory and/or field work as an integral part of the course. These are listed separately below, immediately following the corresponding lecture course descriptions.

Program Learning Goals in Biology

Students will be able to:

  1. Demonstrate a deep knowledge of biology and develop advanced competency in specific areas of interest consistent with the primary focus of the program that the student develops with their faculty-based committee.

  2. Demonstrate a deep knowledge of how to use an empirical approach (with appropriate methods, experimental design, and data analysis) to evaluate biological phenomena in new ways.

  3. Application of critical thinking to design, collect, interpret, and present the student’s own original scientific data in a laboratory/field course.

  4. Accurately evaluate biological information (data, concepts, phenomena) from primary literature that is relevant to the student’s original research.

  5. Communicate new biological knowledge (typically obtained during the thesis research) effectively in written, oral, and visual formats.

  6. Communicating original thesis research effectively in written format.

  7. Communicating original thesis research effectively in oral format.

  8. Communicating original thesis research effectively in visual format.

  9. Demonstrate the ability to conceive, design, and conduct original scientific research (for MS students only).

  10. Conceive and design original research.

  11. Implement and complete original research.

Degree Requirements

The M.A. consists of:

  1. 30 hours of formal class credit, at least half of which must be from courses numbered above 499.

  2. A Comprehensive Exam.

The M.A. does not require thesis research. M.A. students may petition to take up to 8 credit hours of biology-related courses from other John Carroll departments or from other institutions.

Note: For any Biology course that is cross-listed at both the 400 and 500 level, graduate students must take the 500-level course. The 500-level courses typically require an additional oral presentation, project, or paper beyond the requirements for the corresponding 400-level course.

Notes on the Comprehensive Exam

Students in the M.A. program are required to pass a comprehensive examination upon completion of the other requirements (typically during the last semester). Only two opportunities are granted to take this exam. If a student fails the first exam, a second comprehensive exam must be taken no sooner than 30 days after the first exam. Failure to pass this exam on both attempts will result in dismissal from the program, and no graduate degree will be granted. The format of the exam will be determined by the student’s committee as follows:

Oral and/or written examination is required. The format of the examination is decided by the student’s examination committee. In some cases, a student and the committee may feel that an alternative examination would be appropriate. In this case, the associate dean may be petitioned via the chair of the Department of Biology.

Program Faculty

Christopher Sheil

Chair; Professor; Herpetology; Developmental and Evolutionary Morphology; Systematics

Ralph A. Saporito

Associate Professor; Graduate Program Director; Chemical Ecology; Tropical Ecology; Behavior; Evolution

Carl D. Anthony

Professor; Ecology; Behavior; Evolution

Rebecca E. Drenovsky

Professor; Botany; Plant Physiology; Plant Ecology

Jeffrey R. Johansen

Professor; Phycology; Ecology; Systematics

Erin E. Johnson

Professor; Microbiology; Innate Immunity; Molecular Biology; Cell Biology

James L. Lissemore

Professor; Molecular Biology; Genetics

Michael P. Martin

Professor; Molecular Biology; Cell Biology; Molecular Genetics; Systematics

Pamela J. Vanderzalm

Associate Professor; Developmental Genetics; Molecular Biology; Cell Biology

James I. Watling

Associate Professor Conservation Biology; Geographic Information Systems; Landscape Ecology

Cyrilla H. Wideman

Physiology; Endocrinology; Cell Biology; Neuroscience