Summary:  Biology classes fill every semester; it is very very rare for any biology class to be cancelled.  We can offer more with another full-timer.  The chair is finding it very difficult to continue to patch classes with adjuncts.

From Chair: 

A new faculty position is required to support expanding instructional offerings to accommodate student needs.  This position would allow the Department to increase its offering of 'in-demand' courses such as 'Introduction to Biology' (BIO 110) and 'Human Biology' (BIO 115) as well as to offer more DL sections of departmental offerings.  Additionally, the requested position would support new instructional initiatives such as offering flexibly scheduled, accelerated, half-semester courses to enable pre-Health Profession students to meet programmatic entrance requirements in a shorter period of time.  The position will also support our plan to develop a 'Horticulture' certificate program - either because the new hire would have a strong botanical foundation (an ideal situation) or because it would allow refocusing of our present botanist's teaching assignments. 

The Biology Department offers a Liberal Arts - AS degree in Natural Science in conjunction with SEA (Science, Engineering, Architecture) and Math.  The Department also offers supporting coursework to a large cohort of students preparing for AAS degrees in a variety of Health Profession Programs.  Prior to acceptance in specific allied health programs these students are considered to be in a 'Pre-Med' pathway administered by the Biology Department.  Additionally, the Biology Department offers a wide range of General Education courses taken as science electives by students pursuing various liberal arts degree programs. 

Data from the 2016 'Transfer Activity Report' produced by Institutional Research shows that over a six-year period (AY 2010-2011 through AY 2015-2016) there were 524 degrees awarded through the AS Natural Science Program and 240 (45.8%) of these graduates continued their education following transfer to a four-year institution.  Moreover, the the date show a 44% increase in graduates when data from the first two years (AY 10-11 and AY 11-12) are compared with data from the most recent years, AY 14-15 and 15-16.  This increase is all the more remarkable as it is occurring during a time (post 2011-12) when institutional enrollment is falling!

Institutional Research ('Sections and Capacities Report') data spanning the years 2010-2017 shows constant high-level demand for our courses with 1306 students enrolled in Fall 2016 and 1444 in Spring 2017.  Currently, only 47% of departmental coursework (on average 120 course sections/semester) is taught by FT faculty teaching 'on-load' highlighting the need for an additional faculty member; particularly for day sections where qualified adjuncts are hard to find.