March 23-24, 2000
ITEM 106-2009-R0300 Authorization to Restructure the Biology Department in the College of Letters and
Sciences; Montana State University-Bozeman
THAT: The Board of Regents of Higher
Education authorizes Montana State University-Bozeman, College of Letters and
Science to restructure the Department
of Biology, into two departments: 1) the Department of Ecology and 2) the
Department Cell Biology and Neuroscience.
EXPLANATION: The field of biology has grown tremendously in the past few decades, in terms of
depth and breadth of knowledge required of those involved in the discipline. As
biological sciences has expanded dramatically in its scope, modern education
requires the expansion of academic curricula along multiple lines.
The current Biology
Department has over six hundred students enrolled in four options, Biology,
Biomedical Sciences, Biology Teaching and Fish and Wildlife Management within
the Biological Sciences major. In addition, the Biology Department currently
has 50 graduate students in ecology and related areas and a growing number in
neurobiology. The faculty, in consultation with biologically-oriented departments
in the College of Agriculture and the College of Letters and Science, are
planning new and more cohesive curricula to increase the quantity, quality and
diversity of courses offered to the Biological Sciences undergraduate. These
majors will be served by each of the new departments, which will both design
new curricula addressing the specific educational needs of their students.
Formation of the new departments will allow the strength in Ecology to be
further enhanced and provide the Cell Biology and Neuroscience faculty the
opportunity to develop a strong graduate program.
A recent American
Association for the Advancement of Science panel of distinguished ecologists
invited to review Environmental Sciences at MSU concurs with this
recommendation. This recommended restructuring is in accordance with the
unanimous wishes of the faculty in the current department.
