Biology is the broad study of organisms. It examines every aspect of life from single-celled organisms to complex ecological interactions. Areas of biology include genetics, evolution, ecology, and other more focused fields such as botany, entomology, ornithology, and herpetology, just to name a few.
Biology attempts to understand, organize, and classify the living world around us from the subcellular mechanisms of individual cells to plant and animal diversity and behavior. Current advances in genetics, cellular and molecular biology, and ecology have greatly influenced areas of medicine, agriculture, and environmental science.
A biology degree from Defiance College will prepare you for a wide variety of career opportunities. After completing a set of core courses, you can tailor your learning experience to your individual long-term career goals. For example, if you have aspirations for graduate work in the field of molecular or microbiology, you may want to focus your undergraduate studies in courses such as histology, microbiology, immunology, or biochemistry. If, however, you enjoy the outdoors and wildlife, your may choose courses such as field botany or zoology, ecology, or restoration ecology. Whichever path you set your sights on, you can be assured that a biology degree from Defiance College will prepare you for whatever challenges you may face in your professional career.
Major Brochure | Courses | Sample Plan of Study
All science majors are encouraged to complete 200 hours of internship experience. Biology majors often intern in hospitals, veterinary clinics, zoos, or private laboratories.
Through internships, Defiance College’s science students receive actual work experiences at hospitals, and biological, chemical, and agricultural laboratories. Scientific information is expanding rapidly, but up-to-date information is sometimes slow to appear in classroom and laboratory materials. Therefore, students are encouraged to develop the skills needed to seek out and assimilate new developments in areas of their greatest interest. Faculty encourage and help students to develop the initiative and ability to understand and use new knowledge and theory in their field and related fields.
The biology program permits the most flexibility of the natural science majors. The program prepares students for teaching careers, graduate school, and a variety of other professional programs. Students in the past few years have gone on to graduate school in the fields of herpetology, molecular biology, conservation, and ecology. This program shares Defiance College’s stellar success rate in placing its graduates in top-notch professional and graduate schools.
Life Science Education
Students interested in obtaining a teaching license will complete education courses totaling at least 30 hours. These courses consist of an introductory education course taken the second semester of the freshman year, several field experience components in a school system, educational psychology, methods in the teaching field, and student teaching. This licensure allows one to teach any of the Life Sciences in grades 7-12.
Pre-Professional Programs
The science division at Defiance College offers pre-professional programs in the areas of Medicine, Veterinary, Dentistry, Optometry, and Chiropractic. Upon completion of the program you would be prepared to take entrance exams and apply to any Graduate Professional schools in these areas. The pre-professional program offers all the classes required for acceptance into professional and graduate schools. Our students have had great success getting into these programs because of the depth of their knowledge gained here. This is made possible due to small class sizes, tailored individual instruction and undergraduate research opportunities. Course selection is individualized from a broad range of science
courses and internships.
Nathan Griggs, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Biology
419-783-2592 |
ngriggs@defiance.edu
Spiro Mavroidis, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Biology
419-783-2494 |
smavroidis@defiance.edu |
Faculty Profile
Douglas D. Kane, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Biology
419-783-2593 |
dkane@defiance.edu |
Faculty Profile
Kenneth Adair, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Chemistry
419-783-2598 |
kadair@defiance.edu
Somnath Dutta, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Chemistry
419-783-2428 |
sdutta@defiance.edu
