Preparing students for Leadership
    as Health Care Professionals 
        as Professional Biologists . . .

The University of Mary Program in Biology

• Prepares students to assume a leadership role as a professional biologist or health care professional.
• Provides the essential background for entrance into graduate school or professional programs.
• Teaches students how to learn and how to become lifelong learners.
• Assists students in thinking effectively, empirically, independently, and constructively through the use of the scientific method.

The Biology program offers a broad, innovative curriculum taught by an experienced, diverse, and caring faculty. Our major will prepare you well for success in graduate or professional school, as a biology teacher, or as a professional biologist. As a biology major, you'll be part of an academic environment that employs a variety of learning strategies to ensure your success. Many of our courses offer students the opportunity to design and carry out research protocols based on real-world problems. We use the Bismarck Zoo as a field site for some of our labs, and offer a Marine Biology course in which students participate in hands-on field work in the Caribbean. We also offer a number of courses that use some of the latest molecular techniques.

The majority of our students go on to attend professional or graduate school. Over the last few years 40 to 70 percent have attended professional or graduate school, with the remainder finding full-time employment.

We have a number of very successful graduates. A few examples include:

• JR Doll, who is currently working on his Ph.D. in microbiology and immunology at the University of North Dakota. Doll was one of only five students in the nation to be awarded the American College of Rheumatology Research and Education Foundation Medical/Graduate Student Achievement Award.
• Leah Metz and Kevin Karls graduated in the top 10 percent of their class from the University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences, and each received awards for scholastic, research, and humanitarian achievements.
• Trent Thompson graduated first in his class from the Pacific University School of Optometry.

Mission

We provide our majors a thorough and relevant foundation of knowledge in the biological sciences, and support the liberal arts and professional programs of the University of Mary. We offer academic programs in a Benedictine environment that prepare students to function as lifelong learners and servant-leaders in their chosen careers in the sciences.

Philosophy

Our philosophy is drawn from the university's foundations which are Christian, Catholic and Benedictine. We are a community of learners with students and faculty participating in the learning process. We seek to personalize learning, taking students from where they are to where they need to go. For students to become lifelong learners they need to discover how to learn. Thus we equip students with the skills and knowledge base necessary to exhibit excellence as professionals who employ Benedictine values as servant-leaders and team-builders.

Outcomes

Graduates of Biology will:

• Be able to effectively communicate in both written and oral formats.
• Demonstrate a broad, relevant knowledge base in biological science.
• Exhibit analytical and critical thinking skills as professionals and community leaders.
• Demonstrate the skills of lifelong learners.
• Demonstrate technical skills appropriate to their professions.
• Be successful in gaining admittance to professional or graduate schools, or in securing employment requiring a baccalaureate.

Faculty

Douglas Schelhaas, Ph.D.; Margaret Nordlie, D.A.; Sister Kathleen Angel, Ph.D.; Dan Bauer, M.S.; Marla Behm, Ph.D.; Father Victor Feser, Ph.D.; Krystyna Gorzelska, Ph.D.; Roger Haug, M.S.; Michael Lares, Ph.D.; Gwen Niksic, M.S.; Mindy Raulston, B.S.; Bernard Schafer, M.S.