The University Senate of Michigan Technological University
Proposal 49-21
(Voting Units: Academic)
“Proposal to Shelve Degree Program: General Biology Concentration (SBL1)”
Submitted by: Department of Biological Sciences
Contact: Chandrashekhar Joshi, Professor and Chair
1. Full name of program to be shelved
B.S. in Biology – General Biology (SBL1)
2. Final term program will be open for new admits
Summer 2021
3. Plan to complete all enrolled and returning students
All required Biological Sciences courses will remain available. Therefore, enrolled
and returning students will finish the degree as defined in the degree audit for their
enrollment year.
4. Reason for shelving
In Fall 2020 the Department of Biological Sciences launched two new majors in Human
Biology (SHB) and Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (SEEB). These two degrees were
designed to offer increased course options and flexibility within the degree to improve
retention, time to graduation, transferability for incoming students, and student
satisfaction relative to the existing concentrations within the Biology major. Because
of introducing these two new degrees, we have proposed to shelve the Biology concentrations
in Ecology (SBL3), and Pre-Professional (SBL5), leaving behind only one concentration
in General Biology (SBL1). It doesn’t make sense to retain this single concentration
in the Biology major, and therefore, we propose now to shelve the SBL1 concentration,
leaving a Biology major with no required concentration (SBL).
5. Financial impact (if any) to the department and university
We anticipate minimal financial impact of this change to the department and university.
Students who are currently seeking the SBL1 concentration will be able to complete
their major in SBL. The current SBL1 degree audit will become the audit for an SBL
degree with no concentration, so we anticipate no change in enrollment or disruption
to students interested in a general Biology degree. All existing courses will continue
to be taught and departmental recruiting and advancement materials are already being
revised to promote the new SHB, SEEB and SBL degrees rather than the concentrations.
March 3, 2021