Welcome
to the Department of Biology
The 21 st century will be the age of biology, extending a century-long revolution in the biological sciences, with the future quality of human existence being strongly dependent on future advances in the life sciences. Key historic developments in agriculture, medicine, and technology have reduced human mortality rates, causing a human population explosion. This, in turn, has driven accelerating demands for basic and applied biological knowledge, particularly in cellular-molecular-and-developmental-biology with implications for medicine, agriculture, genetic engineering, and forensic science; and in evolution-and-ecology with implications for the conservation of natural resources and restoration of ecosystems severely disturbed by human activities.
Demand for undergraduate programs in biology has been increasing and will continue to do so because of a vital need for graduates with focus and training in the biological sciences, particularly in the core areas related to medicine, cellular-molecular-and-developmental-biology, and evolution-and-ecology.
 FACILITIES
The Department of Biology is housed in Starcher Hall, completed
in 1981. In addition to classrooms and specialized teaching laboratories, the
building houses an herbarium, three greenhouses, environmental chambers, animal
rooms for terrestrial and aquatic organisms, observation rooms, vertebrate
and invertebrate museums, a darkroom, and isotope and tissue culture facilities.
The Department also maintains two natural areas (virgin prairie and wooded
stream valley) for teaching and research.
FACULTY
J. Carmichael, R. Crawford,
D. Crossley, D. Darland , A. Fivizzani (Emeritus), B. Goodwin, S. Kelsch, J. La Duke (Associate Dean, Arts and Sciences), P. Meberg, K. Mehl, R. Newman, M. Potvin (Dean of Arts and Sciences), S. Pyle (Director of Honors), S. Ralph, T.
Rhen, I. Schlosser (Chair), R. Simmons, W. Sheridan, R. Sweitzer, V. Tkach, and J.
Vaughan.
Department Office: 701-777-2621
2009 Northern Plains Biological Symposium
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