The Department of Biology has recently implemented changes to create a cohesive academic community. These changes include establishing a new curriculum, peer mentorship program, biology student dormitory floor, and funding for undergraduate research. The department is renovating 10 laboratories used for undergraduate research. The cornerstone of the new curriculum is a 2-semester introductory course entitled Principles of Biology. This new course is giving students a better appreciation of the unifying themes that run through modern biological science, and ensuring that all of the majors are exposed to new technology, critical thinking, and experiential learning. The department is establishing a distributive computing environment with equipment interfacing for the new course. The project is stressing interactive instruction with exploration and discovery through a server linked to a computer network. The network includes a newly developed computer room, lecture and laboratory classrooms with interfaced equipment, and dormitory rooms. Instructors are emphasizing conceptual thinking, increasing the level of curiosity towards biology, and reducing student alienation of tools used in scientific inquiry. The project is being developed in phases. The department is integrating the equipment into the course and authoring the course on the server. The course, along with some equipment, is then being made available to local high schools and schools for a year. At the end of this phase, the course can be made available to anyone with Internet access.
