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Department Chair:
Chas. Gowan, PhD
Phone: 752-7293
E-mail: cgowan@rmc.edu
Biology
The biology major at Randolph-Macon College offers you a hands-on curriculum that integrates learning and experience from the first day. Specialize your major by choosing an area of emphasis. Explore career options with an internship in anything from health care to marine biology. And build enduring relationships with a committed faculty of research scientists.
Undergraduate focus: All classes in the biology major are taught by R-MC faculty, and you'll find course enrollments of no more than 25 students—even in introductory classes. And R-MC biology majors are encouraged to pursue research projects as early as freshman year. Kevan Quinn '09 spent two summers participating in R-MC’s unique Schapiro Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) program in the chemistry department, and recalls, "I had research opportunities here my friends back home said they wouldn't have until their second year in graduate school."
BS/MS joint degree: Interested in forestry or environmental management? R-MC's cooperative agreement with Duke University offers qualified students within the biology major the opportunity to complete a BS/MS program in five years.
Med school partnerships: For qualified students, R-MC offers cooperative agreements for a BS/MD joint degree with Eastern Medical College, Early Selection Program with George Washington University School of Medicine, or Preferred Applicant Track for the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine.
Career success: immunologist, parasitologist, physician, environmental scientist, forestry specialist, infectious diseases researcher—biology majors put their R-MC experience to use pursuing graduate studies and careers in a wide variety of specialties.
| "I would rather be in a classroom where I can have a connection with my professor, rather than in a classroom with hundreds of people."
Souad Glover '13 plans to eventually have a career as a surgeon or a chiropractor. In order to make that happen, the biology major is making the most of Randolph-Macon College's rigorous academic program. In addition, Glover chose a minor in French because it is her third language. (She also speaks Arabic.) To relax, Glover is a member of R-MC's Remix dance team, a group of 15 students who dance to hip-hop music during halftime at the men's basketball games. In 2010, Glover received the Wills Wray Morse Citizenship Award, which is given annually to a student to reward good citizenship. She was nominated by Professor Traci Stevens (biology), one of Glover's First-Year Experience (FYE) instructors. The FYE course, "Disease and Development," was also taught by Professor Brian Sutton (mathematics).
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