About

Are you contemplating graduate school or a career in education, industry, public health or environmental monitoring?

The Bachelor of Arts in biology degree is more adaptable than the Bachelor of Science in biology degree and provides a broad-based biological background with increased hands-on experience. The program provides flexibility for students to tailor their courses in key areas to facilitate career development in the STEM field.

The BA program in biology will allow you to focus on building industrially relevant knowledge and skills while reducing emphasis on prerequisite courses needed for medical and other health professional careers that are part of our current BS program. It will put you at the forefront of the technological shift toward biologics and position you to become a future leader in this field.

The BA in biology degree will allow you to design course requirements, making it possible for you to complete a double major in biology and science education in four years. This change will make the double major a more desirable option and help increase the number of highly qualified STEM teachers ECU produces.

ECU Advantage

We believe that our students and our faculty make our department special. Our faculty have been widely recognized by ECU and the University of North Carolina System with numerous awards, nationally with competitive grants, and internationally through publications in prestigious journals and awards from professional societies. We are united by an enthusiasm for research, a commitment to serving our community and region, and a passion for communicating our knowledge and skills to students.

Students graduating with a degree in biology from ECU gain admission to the most competitive graduate and professional programs.

What You Will Study

Program Coordinator: Grace Chen (2515 Life Sciences and Biotechnology Building; 252-328-9769; chenf21@ecu.edu)

The core curriculum in biology is intended to give majors a background in biodiversity, cell biology, evolution, ecology, genetics, molecular biology, and physiology.

The degree requires a minimum of 120 s.h. as follows:

1. General education requirements - 40 s.h.

(For information about courses that carry general education credit view the General Education Program section.)

  • CHEM 1150 - General Chemistry I
  • CHEM 1151 - General Chemistry Laboratory I
  • MATH 1065 - College Algebra or approved general education mathematics course
  • PHYS 1250 - General Physics I
2. Demonstrated foreign language proficiency through level 2004 - 12 s.h.

(For information about the foreign language requirement view Special Requirements for the BA Degree in the Academic Advisement, Progression and Support Services section and Placement Testing, Foreign Language in the Admission and Readmission section.)

    3. Core - 28 s.h.
    • BIOL 1100 - Principles of Biology I
    • BIOL 1101 - Principles of Biology Laboratory I
    • BIOL 1120 - Careers in Biology
    • BIOL 1200 - Principles of Biology II
    • BIOL 1201 - Principles of Biology Laboratory II
    • BIOL 2250 - Ecology
    • BIOL 2300 - Principles of Genetics
    • BIOL 3010 - Scientific Communication
    • BIOL 3030 - Principles of Physiology
    • BIOL 3260 - Cell and Developmental Biology
    • BIOL 3620 - Biological Evolution
    4. Cognates -11 s.h.
    • CHEM 1160 - General Chemistry II
    • CHEM 1161 - General Chemistry Laboratory II
    • MATH 2121 - Calculus for the Life Sciences I
    • PHYS 1251 - General Physics Laboratory I

    • Choose one of the following statistics courses:
    • BIOS 1500 - Introduction to Biostatistics
    • MATH 2228 - Elementary Statistical Methods I
    • MATH 2283 - Statistics for Business
    • PSYC 2101 - Psychological Statistics
      • Note:

      CHEM 1150, CHEM 1151, CHEM 1160, CHEM 1161 are required, but CHEM 1120 and 1130 will be considered for students transferring into the program.

      5. Biology laboratory requirements - 2 to 10 s.h.

      Choose at least two of the following groups:

      • BIOL 2015 - Introduction to Biological Anthropology AND
      • BIOL 2016 - Introduction to Biological Anthropology Laboratory
        • OR
      • BIOL 2100 - Biotechnology I AND
      • BIOL 2101 - Biotechnology Laboratory I
        • OR
      • BIOL 2130 - Survey of Human Physiology and Anatomy AND
      • BIOL 2131 - Survey of Human Physiology and Anatomy Laboratory
        • OR
      • BIOL 2140 - Human Physiology and Anatomy I AND
      • BIOL 2141 - Human Physiology and Anatomy I Laboratory
        • OR
      • BIOL 2150 - Human Physiology and Anatomy II AND
      • BIOL 2151 - Human Physiology and Anatomy II Laboratory
        • OR
      • BIOL 2251 - Ecology Laboratory
        • OR
      • BIOL 3110 - Biotechnology II
        • OR
      • BIOL 3220 - Microbiology AND
      • BIOL 3221 - Microbiology Laboratory
        • OR
      • BIOL 3230 - Field Botany AND
      • BIOL 3231 - Field Botany Laboratory
        • OR
      • BIOL 3504 - Research in Biology
        • OR
      • BIOL 3550 - Research in Biology with Writing
        • OR
      • BIOL 3660 - Introduction to Marine Biology AND
      • BIOL 3661 - Introduction to Marine Biology Laboratory
        • OR
      • BIOL 3740 - Animal Behavior AND
      • BIOL 3741 - Animal Behavior Laboratory
        • OR
      • BIOL 4010 - Estuarine Ecology AND
      • BIOL 4011 - Estuarine Ecology Laboratory
        • OR
      • BIOL 4050 - Comparative Anatomy AND
      • BIOL 4051 - Comparative Anatomy Laboratory
        • OR
      • BIOL 4060 - Advanced Developmental Biology AND
      • BIOL 4061 - Advanced Developmental Biology Laboratory
        • OR
      • BIOL 4200 - Population and Community Ecology AND
      • BIOL 4201 - Population and Community Ecology Laboratory
        • OR
      • BIOL 4300 - Ecosystem Ecology AND
      • BIOL 4301 - Ecosystem Ecology Laboratory
        • OR
      • BIOL 4440 - Wetland Ecology and Management AND
      • BIOL 4441 - Wetland Ecology and Management Laboratory
        • OR
      • BIOL 4450 - Aquatic Parasitology and Disease AND
      • BIOL 4451 - Aquatic Parasitology and Disease Laboratory
        • OR
      • BIOL 4490 - Applied Cell Biology AND
      • BIOL 4491 - Applied Cell Biology Laboratory
        • OR
      • BIOL 4600 - Biology of Invertebrates AND
      • BIOL 4601 - Biology of Invertebrates Laboratory
        • OR
      • BIOL 4630 - Ecology of Infectious Diseases AND
      • BIOL 4631 - Ecology of Infectious Diseases Laboratory
        • OR
      • BIOL 4640 - Entomology AND
      • BIOL 4641 - Entomology Laboratory
        • OR
      • BIOL 4740 - Behavioral Ecology AND
      • BIOL 4741 - Behavioral Ecology Laboratory
        • OR
      • BIOL 4770 - Ornithology AND
      • BIOL 4771 - Ornithology Laboratory
        • OR
      • BIOL 4860 - Research Experience in Cell Biology
        • OR
      • BIOL 4880 - Principles of Biochemistry I AND
      • BIOL 4891 - Principles of Biochemistry Laboratory
        • OR
      • BIOL 5150 - Herpetology AND
      • BIOL 5151 - Herpetology Laboratory
        • OR
      • BIOL 5450 - Histology AND
      • BIOL 5451 - Histology Laboratory
        • OR
      • BIOL 5510 - Transmission Electron Microscopy AND
      • BIOL 5511 - Transmission Electron Microscopy Laboratory
        • OR
      • BIOL 5520 - Scanning Electron Microscopy and X-Ray Analysis AND
      • BIOL 5521 - Scanning Electron Microscopy and X-Ray Analysis Laboratory
        • OR
      • BIOL 5550 - Ichthyology AND
      • BIOL 5551 - Ichthyology Laboratory
        • OR
      • BIOL 5600 - Fisheries Techniques AND
      • BIOL 5601 - Fisheries Techniques Laboratory
        • OR
      • BIOL 5900 - Biotechniques AND
      • BIOL 5901 - Biotechniques Laboratory
        • OR
      • BIOL 5950 - Taxonomy of Vascular Plants AND
      • BIOL 5951 - Taxonomy of Vascular Plants Laboratory
        • Note:
        • BIOL 1050, 1051, 1060, 1061, 1150, 1151, 2110, and 2111 may not count toward the Biology major.
        • BIOL 1100, 1101, 1200, and 1201 are core courses for Biology BA and may not count towards the laboratory requirements.
        • A student may only use one group of the 2000-level human physiology and anatomy coursework (e.g., BIOL 2130 and BIOL 2131 as a group) to fulfill the laboratory requirement.
        6. Minor or second major or 18 s.h. of approved structured electives

        Students can choose 

        • to complete a minor other than the Biology minor or the Science minor, or
        • to complete a second major other than the Biology, BS or
        • an area of specialization with at least 18 s.h. structured electives with the help of a biology faculty advisor. The structured electives must be approved by the departmental administration. Areas of specializations include, but are not limited to, bioinformatics, biotechnology, pharmacology, conservation, education/communication, and marine biology.
          7. Electives to complete requirements for graduation
            For more information about this degree visit the university's academic catalogs.
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