Biology

Active, engaging program
Biology majors at Hollins explore life in the classroom, the laboratory, and in the field. With an active, engaging program, biology majors are exposed to the breadth of biology in four disciplinary-specific courses rather than starting with a superficial year-long survey course. As such, with her first course in biology, a major is immersed in a biological discipline and has the opportunity to delve into the theory and application of scientific ideas and techniques rather than just memorize a litany of facts.

Small classes, access to equipment, extensive field labs
In our classes, students work closely with faculty as lecture courses often have fewer than 20 students and laboratories seldom have more than 14 students. Our students work with high-quality microscopes and physiological equipment, digital computer imaging, DNA fingerprinting, Global Positioning Systems, and a variety of other modern technologies. Field labs stretch from the diverse environment of the Appalachian Mountains in West Virginia to the Virginia coast. Our students are also encouraged to spend a semester or summer abroad. Many students have pursued field studies in such places as Kenya, Costa Rica, the Caicos Islands, the West Indies, the rain forests of Australia, and the Baha California Peninsula. Other students have taken advantage of our cooperative exchange program with the University of Limerick which offers a diverse program in equine studies.

Research opportunities
Biology majors also have the chance to work side by side with faculty members on research projects including: investigating breeding physiology of bird, reptiles, and amphibians; the effects of environmental toxins on animal development and gene activity; and anti-predator behavior and communication in various vertebrate specie; interactions between plants and human-induced changes to ecosystem; and application of biological research to forest management and conservation. As a result of such research opportunities, a Hollins University alumna, who finished her master's in science in a year and a half from North Carolina State University, says she felt much more prepared in research experience than fellow students who came from larger universities, where the laboratories are often taught by recipe with little room for individual research. This is the Hollins advantage.

Career and graduate school success
When a biology major graduates from Hollins, she leaves with a resume listing hands-on internships, a true understanding of science, and the capacity to succeed in her chosen career path. Hollins biology students excel in graduate school, professional schools, and in the work force. Our graduates have continued on to master's and doctoral programs in ecology, environmental science, microbiology, immunology and gene technology. Hollins graduates are very successful at gaining entrance to medical school and veterinary school, as well as other health profession fields. We have had graduates attend vet school at Virginia Tech, and the University of Tennessee; occupational and physical therapy programs at Medical College of Virginia; and medical school at the University of Texas, East Carolina University, Meharry Medical College, West Virginia University, Mercer University, and Wright University.

Internships

Internships allow students to focus on interests, explore career options, and determine their goals. Because veterinary school acceptance requires 600 hours of pre-vet experience, internships are critical at an undergraduate level. Our students have worked with small animal vets, farm vets, and emergency clinics or zoos during their three years of internship opportunities. Other recent internship opportunities include:

• Centers for Disease Control, Atlanta, Ga.
• The DuPont Cleft Palate Institute, Washington. D.C.
• Rood and Riddle Equine Veterinary Hospital, Lexington, Ky.
• Clean Water Network, Washington, D.C.
• Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
• The National Zoo, Washington, D.C.
• The National Aquarium, Baltimore, Md.
• Johns Hopkins Medical School, with continuing medical research in Trinidad
• Bowman Gray School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, N.C.
• University of Tennessee, College of Veterinary Medicine Research
• University of Utah School of Medicine Department of Pathology

Hollins graduates: Where are they now?

• Seven Hollins biology graduates have entered Virginia Tech's veterinary school.
• One went to North Carolina State's veterinary school and another is in vet school in New Zealand.
• Another graduate worked on her master’s thesis on endangered wood stork populations in Florida.
• Following master’s work in genetics, another alum is delving into the human genome.
• A graduate was accepted at Emory University for a Ph.D. in biology. She turned down five other graduate schools (including Johns Hopkins).
• Another graduate enrolled at the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine in Lewisburg.
• One alumna is a solo family doctor in Michigan, and she teaches classes on sexually transmitted dieases at the local high school.
• Another alumna is a rheumatologist.
• An alumna with a Ph.D. is a vice president in client relations with a focus on life science research for a market research firm based in Arlington, Va.
  
  
  

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