Biology

Schedule | Curriculum | Courses | Faculty

The Biology Department at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown ensures all students receive a broad-based biology education, with core classes in Biology, Ecology and Cell. Students choose upper division courses from among three areas, including Cellular and Molecular Biology, Organismal Biology, and Ecology and Evolution. Our degree program allows students to specialize depending on their interests, while ensuring all students receive the appropriate foundational courses for their post-graduation career, whether that be a health profession, graduate school, or immediate employment.

The Biology Department provides myriad opportunities for students to succeed. The program offers a contemporary biology curriculum emphasizing laboratory work and/ or field experiences and allows students the opportunity to get Real World experience through an experiential capstone. The campus spans 655 acres, much of which is forest and field, thus providing rich opportunities for hands-on learning for classes in the Biology Department and other majors in the Division of Natural Sciences. In addition, Pitt-Johnstown is the first Pennsylvania campus to be certified as an Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary, signifying our commitment to the environment.

In collaboration with the Education Division, the department offers courses toward a Bachelor of Science degree in secondary education -- biology, and certification to teach high school biology.

One of the many distinctive features of the biology program is the opportunity to gain real-world experience through our strong undergraduate research program. Faculty mentored research is varied, and includes topics such as disease, conservation, phylogenetics and animal communication. In addition to faculty-mentored research, students benefit from a collaboration with the Chan Soon-Shiong Institute of Molecular Medicine at Windber. At the Chan Soon-Shiong Institute, students are working alongside scientists to research topics including genetics and prostate cancer in African American men. Many students present their research projects at national conferences and publish their findings in professional journals. The annual Symposium for the Promotion of Academic and Creative Enquiry (SPACE), provides students with another opportunity to showcase their research findings. Students who participate in research have an advantage in employment and graduate school.

Students in the Biology Department also have the opportunity to join a National Honor Society, Beta Beta Beta, which is dedicated to students in the Biology field. Tri-Beta provides students with the option of getting involved in campus and community activities while learning about career opportunities in the field.

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Schedule

Below is a sample of the likely schedule for students in Pitt-Johnstown’s biology major.

Curriculum

• Biology »
• Biology Minor »
• Biology Upper Electives »