CHEM - 116 - Life and Earth Science Concepts for Elementary Teachers.  This course was designed for students pursuing licensure as an elementary teacher or special education teacher in Nevada. Currently, the only science courses taken by these students are what is required by the General Education Physical and Life Sciences Course Distribution. As a result, students are taking any science courses, not necessarily ones that prepare them with content they will actually need to teach in their future classrooms. This course was designed to provide (physical science/Earth & life science content/lab component) content knowledge for the teachers. The course will be restricted to enrollment by students in elementary or special education licensure programs.

Merryn Cole

CHEM - 117L - Applied STEM Practices Lab for Elementary Teachers.  This course was designed for students pursuing licensure as an elementary teacher or special education teacher in Nevada. Currently, the only science courses taken by these students are what is required by the General Education Physical and Life Sciences Course Distribution. As a result, students are taking any science courses, not necessarily ones that prepare them with content they will actually need to teach in their future classrooms. This course was designed to provide (physical science/Earth & life science content/lab component) content knowledge for the teachers. The course will be restricted to enrollment by students in elementary or special education licensure programs.

Jenifer Utz

BIOL - 191A - Introduction to Organismal Biology – Course Change: The purpose of this proposal is to correct the prerequisites for BIOL 191A (Introduction to Organismal Biology Lecture). Currently, only BIOL 190A (lecture) is listed. Both BIOL 190A (lecture) and BIOL 190L (laboratory) should be listed as prerequisite courses.

Jenifer Utz

BIOL - 191L - Introduction to Organismal Biology Laboratory – Course change: The purpose of this proposal is to correct the prerequisites for BIOL 191L (Introduction to Organismal Biology Laboratory). Currently, only BIOL 190A (lecture) is listed. Both BIOL 190A (lecture) and BIOL 190L (laboratory) should be listed as prerequisite courses.

Jenifer Utz

BIOL - 401R - Course-based Undergraduate Research: Design to Data – Course change: Currently BIOL 351 (Microbiology) is included as one of the prerequisite courses. New topics such as Respiratory Physiology are being offered that do not require students to have background knowledge of microbiology.

One purpose of this proposal is to remove BIOL 351 (Microbiology) as a prerequisite for BIOL 401R (Course-based Undergraduate Research: Design to Data). The other prerequisite courses (introductory biology, chemistry, english, and math) are being retained as this background knowledge is necessary for all BIOL 401R course topics.

Additionally, future topics and associated research projects are planned that are smaller in scope than previous course offerings. A second purpose of this proposal is to change from a fixed 4-credit course to a variable 2-to-4-credit course to accommodate more diversity in the scope of research projects.

Jenifer Utz

BIOL - 499 - Instruction in Biological Sciences – Course change: The purpose of this proposal is to streamline the prerequisites to increase student access to the BIOL 499 (Instruction in Biological Sciences) course. Students typically enroll for 1 credit and gain experience as Undergraduate Teaching Assistants (UTAs) in a variety of introductory biology and microbiology laboratory courses. The foundation of knowledge necessary to be successful in the UTA role is a grade of B or better in the course to be instructed.

Jenifer Utz

BIOL - 701 - Ethics in Scientific Research – Course Change: BIOL 701 (Ethics in Scientific Research) is currently listed as a variable (1-2) credit course. A 2-credit version of the course has not been offered; it has only been offered as a 1-credit course. Future offerings of BIOL 701 will be a 1-credit course.

The purpose of this proposal is to change the credits from variable (1-2) to fixed (1) so the course information is accurately reflected in the catalog.

Jenifer Utz

BIOL - 790A-D - Research Colloquium in Life Sciences – Course Deletion.  The catalog currently lists 2 versions of the same course: BIOL 790A-D (Research Colloquium in Life Sciences) and BIOL 790 (Research Colloquium in Life Sciences).

The purpose of this proposal is to delete the unused and redundant course, BIOL 790A-D (Research Colloquium in Life Sciences). The A-D version of the course was created at a time when there were 4 topic specific subplans (A = Ecology and Evolution, B = Organismal Physiology, C = Cell and Molecular Biology, and D = Microbiology).

There are currently 5 topic specific subplans (Cellular and Molecular Biology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Integrative Physiology, Microbiology, and Quantitative Biology and Bioinformatics) so the A-D version of the course is no longer useable. The letter designations were removed when the BIOL 790 course, used by all students, was created.