Chair: Keith Snyder
Faculty: Joyce Azevedo, Randy Bishop, Aaron Corbit, Ann Foster, Noemi Gonzalez, Lucinda Hill, David Nelsen, Keith Snyder, Ben Thornton, Tim Trott
Adjunct Faculty: Richard Brown, Belen Geach, Rick Norskov
Program Coordinators:
The study of Biology constitutes one of the most exciting and important fields of scientific investigation, since it provides a better understanding of ourselves and the living things around us. Even the casual observer of Biology who pauses long enough to take a course may derive a lifetime of pleasure and fulfillment from a hobby such as bird watching, shell collecting, or wild flower photography.
The Biology Department exists as an integral part of Southern Adventist University with its mission to provide a quality Seventh-day Adventist Christian undergraduate education, emphasizing the balanced development of the spiritual, intellectual, physical, and social dimensions of men and women. Within the framework of a Christian understanding of the origin and workings of biological systems, the department seeks to provide opportunities for its academic and local communities to understand the value, process and limitations of scientific inquiry as well as to develop an awareness and understanding of the biological world and our responsibility to it. Its curricula are designed to provide students with high quality preparation for careers in the biological and biomedical professions.
In order to help evaluate the department's teaching effectiveness and the academic achievements of its graduates, all seniors except those obtaining teacher certification are required to take the ETS Major Field Achievement Test in Biology. The results of these exams are used by the department staff to evaluate class offerings as well as program requirements.
A major in Biology is an excellent starting point for numerous careers which are both rewarding and challenging. With a degree in Biology, one may pursue graduate study leading to research in the basic sciences (anatomy, physiology, ecology, microbiology, cytology, etc.), teaching at the college or graduate level, or employment in industry or government. A biology degree is also the degree of choice in preparation for high-school teaching, medicine, dentistry, optometry, careers in wildlife, forestry or zoo management, health education, public health, biostatistics, epidemiology, and environmental health, to name a few.
The Biology Department makes available a number of experiences, both curricular and extracurricular, to enrich its students' academic programs. The department offers courses which include field experiences in Indonesia, Canada, Smoky Mountains, and the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge. The Tennessee Aquarium in nearby Chattanooga provides additional learning resources. The department is also affiliated with Walla Walla University's Rosario Beach Biological Field Station (see Student Life and Services).
Extracurricular opportunities include membership in the Beta Beta Beta national biological honor society, a yearly lecture series on natural history and research topics, as well as premedical and predental preceptorship programs (see Medicine/Dentistry).
The Rosario Beach Marine Station is a teaching and research facility operated by Walla Walla University in affiliation with Southern Adventist University and other Adventist colleges. Located seven miles south of Anacortes, Washington, the station occupies 40 acres of beach and timberland. In addition to some of the biology courses listed in this Catalog, classes taught for five quarter credits through WWU are equivalent to 3.3 semester hours. For current class offerings, see rosario.wallawalla.edu.