Online only: EEB, BCB majors undergo changes

By Jennifer Livingstone     3/11/10 6:00pm

The Faculty Senate approved significant changes to the structure of the Biosciences Department Jan. 27, including the creation of two additional minors and a major. The changes will take effect at the beginning of the fall semester.Instead of all biological science classes being part of an overarching Biosciences department, Biochemistry, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology majors as well as the Biosciences major, have all been separated.

The three majors are now listed individually. This change will clear up confusion as to which courses belong to which program and should make class registration easier for both students and the Registrar's Office, Seimann said.

Baker College sophomore Katelynn Gray, an Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Earth Science major, said the change will definitely help freshmen registering for classes.

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In the previous system BCB and EEB majors each had to take classes in each major if they were not directly applicable to them, as cited in previous General Announcements.

"Splitting up the EEB and Biochemistry department was something that really needed to be done," Gray said. "As a freshman last year, courses were either in 'Group A' or 'Group B' which made it really confusing. Hopefully, this will make it much simpler."

Group A classes were part of BCB and group B were part of EEB.

The further separation of the two departments goes far beyond mere name changes. Biochemistry and cell biology professor Yousif Shamoo, who led the effort for the BCB department changes, said the change was inspired by growing differences between the BCB and EEB departments.

"Philosophically, I think our departments have grown in different directions over the years," Shamoo said. "We see curriculum very differently. A large part of this is we have very different student populations. In the Biochemistry and Cell Biology department, most of our students are pre-med. This isn't the case in the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department."

While the BCB department has been limited in the flexibility of its major requirements because of the classes that pre-medical students need to take, the EEB department has wanted to remove many pre-med classes as requirements, which is reflected in the new degree plan, Shamoo said. For example, a bachelor's of science degree in EEB no longer requires Organic Chemistry or the second semester of Physics.

"The new degree focuses more on providing a solid expertise in EEB and the physical sciences without what are for most students unnecessary pre-med requirements," EEB Department Chair Evan Siemann said.

Gray said these changes are long overdue. Under the previous EEB major course plan all students were forced to take classes that are required for medical school. As an EEB major who is does not want to be a doctor, Gray said she felt that the department had an excess of potentially unnecessary classes.

"What really bothers me with the current program is I feel it's geared more toward pre-meds and since I'm not a pre-med, I feel that I was getting the short end of the deal," Gray said.

Siemann also brought up the issue of communication between both departments and barriers to reaching a consensus which contributed to the desire for more separate departments.

"There was this frustration with the gridlock of shared degrees," Siemann said. "If everyone has to agree on any change then almost nothing happens."

Additional changes include a new bachelor of arts degree in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, a new minor in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, and a new minor in Biochemistry & Cell Biology. Previously, if a student wanted an EEB degree, they would have to get a requirement-heavy bachelor of science degree with over 70 hours. According to the curriculum proposal sent to the Faculty Senate, the new bachelor of arts degree is intended for students pursuing a wide range of careers in the life sciences, and coursework is designed to emphasize a broad understanding of basic biology together with an in-depth knowledge of ecology and evolutionary biology. Shamoo said in addition to providing students with more options, part of the intent in creating the minor was to give credit to students who had taken upper-level biology courses.

"A lot of students who take our upper-level courses are not going to take the major," Shamoo said. "This is a way they can sort of get something for their efforts."

Martel College Kendra Brown, a BCB major, said she felt similarly.

"I like the fact that they're offering a minor, because there are a lot of pre-meds here: Some who start off as Biochemistry majors but later switch to something else because they can't handle it," Brown said. "I feel that by offering a minor they're not left empty-handed, and they can still walk away with something."

Shamoo acknowledged the fact that the new minors would most likely appeal heavily towards pre-meds, and both Siemann and Shamoo expect the minors to be popular with students in general.

Changes were also made to the existing majors. The existing degrees in BCB and EEB all have a new requirement in which students choose any two natural science or engineering courses above or at the 300 level. Shamoo explained that this change reflected the increasing cross-disciplinary approach of the department and students.

"More students are starting to look beyond just biology and a narrow position," Shamoo said. "There's a lot more going across fields than there used to be in the old days. We wanted to open up the discipline to a whole range of subjects such as mathematics and engineering."

The new changes also include a greater focus on research. Students are now required to take capstone courses at the 400 level. These courses would allow students to explore more advanced topics in smaller classes.

All EEB degrees have an additional requirement where students have to take a science communication course. Overall, however, Shamoo and Seimann said the degrees have less requirements than before, are more specialized, and allow students more flexibility in choosing their courses.

"Everything will be more flexible," Shamoo said. "I think that was one of the operating principles we had going into our meetings - that we wanted to make it easier for people to have more latitude in choosing their courses."

He was also, however, quick to maintain that the changes would not affect the caliber of the degrees.

"We want to maintain a very rigorous degree path, because that's really the best thing for Rice as a population," Shamoo said. "We don't want to jeopardize the success and the good national reputation that we have. What we don't want is to water the degree down."

Both Siemann and Shamoo expect that students will embrace the changes.

"We tried as much as possible to create degrees that students would like," Siemann said. "So far, the response has been very positive."

Shamoo foresees that many students will decide to graduate under the new requirements as opposed to the old ones.

"We've already heard that a lot of students are going to switch to the new plan. I can't think of a reason to stay with the old major to be honest," Shamoo said.

As general university policy, students can decide to graduate under any of the general announcements released from their freshmen to their senior year. Thus, the changes being made will only apply to students who opt to graduate under the new requirements, which will be put in place this fall.

Siemann did raise concerns, however, about the problem of communicating changes to students effectively.

"One of our biggest concerns is: How do we let students know what's happening and what this means for them?" Seimann said.

He mentioned that a Web site linked to the current Biosciences Web site was being created to serve as a reference.

"There was communication, but there probably could've been more," Gray said.

Brown, on the other hand, said, "I've never been asked for my input. The only time I heard about the changes was through an announcement on OWL-Space."

For those who are interested in learning more about the changes, the Biochemistry & Cell Biology Department is hosting an information session in the Brown Commons on March 25.

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