Degrees Awarded
Master of Arts:
The Master of Arts degree requires a minimum of 32 semester hours, of which at least 21 semester hours must be in biology. The Master of Arts also requires a reading knowledge of a foreign language. The foreign language requirement must be met at least three months prior to graduation by passing an examination offered by the Department of Foreign Languages and Literature.
Required courses: Enrollment in BIOL 595 or 596 at least twice or in combination is required and must be taken under at least two different faculty members.
Electives: Students may take up to 25 hours of electives.
Thesis: Students must complete a thesis based on the student's original research and must enroll in at least three semester hours of BIOL 599.
Master of Science:
Both thesis and non-thesis plans of study are available for fulfillment of the requirements of the Master of Science degree. Both plans require a minimum of 32 semester hours, of which at least 21 semester hours must be Biology. There is no foreign language requirement for the Master of Science degree.
Thesis Plan
Required courses: Enrollment in BIOL 595 or 596 at least twice or in combination is required and must be taken under at least two different faculty members.
Electives: Students may take up to 25 hours of electives.
Thesis: Students must complete a thesis based on the student's original research and must enroll in at least three semester hours of BIOL 599.
Non-Thesis Plan
Required courses: Enrollment in BIOL 595 or 596 at least twice is required and must be taken under at least two different faculty members.
Electives: Students may take from 20 to 24 hours of electives.
Research Paper: At least 4, but no more than 8 semester hours must be taken in BIOL 591 and 593, culminating in an acceptable final research paper.
M.S. in Education Secondary Education/Biology
The Department of Biological Sciences, in cooperation with the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, offers a biology teaching field as part of the Master of Science in Education (MS in Ed.) degree in secondary education. A jointly advised program ordinarily including 15 hours in biology will be designed, taking into account each student's background and interests. Throughout the program, students must be advised by the chairperson of the biology department before registering for any biology courses to be applied toward this degree. Upon completion of the program, students must have accumulated at least 42 semester hours in biology (graduate and undergraduate work combined). Thus, students admitted to the program with less than 27 hours of acceptable undergraduate work will be required to complete more than 15 graduate hours in biology in order to satisfy degree requirements. Students must achieve a 3.0 (A=4.0) grade point average in the biology teaching field, as well as an overall average of 3.0.
3+2 program
The Department of Biological Sciences offers a five-year program leading to the Bachelor of Science (B.S.) and the Master of Science (MS) degrees. Undergraduates with senior level status (at least 90 semester hours) and a grade point average of at least 3.0 (A=4.0) overall may be admitted to the combined program. They may then take 32 semester hours of graduate level courses (400- and 500-level) during their combined senior and graduate years. An application for degree-seeking status as a graduate student must be approved by the Graduate School and the Graduate Committee in Biological Sciences following the procedures described under Admission. A program outline must also be submitted for approval by Graduate Records and the director of the graduate program in biology prior to enrollment in any courses to be included as a part of the master's program. Official admission to the program and to status as a classified graduate student is made only after the award of the baccalaureate degree. In no case will a graduate degree be conferred before all requirements for both degrees have been completed.
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URL: http://www.siue.edu/BIOLOGY Published by: Department of Biological Sciences, SIUE For information, email to: Dr. William Retzlaff Site maintained by Dr. Peter Minchin Last updated October 25, 2007 |