Department of Biology

We deliver high-quality academic programs that reflect the latest advancements and technologies in the life sciences, provide you with meaningful, hands-on research experience, and help you develop the knowledge, skills, and experience you need for a lifetime of leadership and career success.

Why choose biology at Marian?

• Our expert faculty care about you, your career goals, and your success, both in and out of the classroom. We will advise you academically and help you build a career path leading to a meaningful, rewarding profession in any aspect of biology from health sciences to bio-organic chemistry.
• Small class and lab sizes enable us to provide you with individual, one-on-one attention. You'll engage in high-impact, hands-on learning and develop lifelong relationships with your peers and your professors.
• Our biology core curriculum reflects the latest advancements in biological sciences over the past 25 years, enabling you to build a broad, deep, and relevant knowledge base in the biological sciences.
• A "research across the curriculum" model ensures you will work closely with faculty advisors and mentors to develop and execute your own original scientific research. You'll present your work at least two presentations during biannual undergraduate research symposia. You'll also have opportunities to present your work at professional conferences.
• By embedding research in our curriculum, you'll have more time during your junior and senior years to pursue career-specific internships, build a professional network, raise your profile in the employment market, and/or ensure you are a competitive candidate for admission to graduate or professional schools.
• We offer a number of student clubs and organizations that will help you advance your leadership skills and support your growth as a scientist or pre-professional.
• Our Indianapolis location gives you excellent access to top life science corporations, businesses, and start-up enterprises, like Beckman Coulter, Cook Medical, Covance Laboratories, Dow Agrosciences, Eli Lilly and Company, Roche Diagnostics, and Zimmer. Other Indianapolis organizations that employ biology graduates include the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, Indiana State Police Laboratory, Indiana Forest Alliance, Indianapolis Zoo, Indiana State Museum, Indiana Eye Clinic, Cornea Research Foundation, and more than a dozen top hospital and healthcare  facilities.

What will you study?​

As a biology major, you will begin your studies by completing Marian University's biology core curriculum, which is specially sequenced to provide you with continual growth in your scientific and mathematical literacy. You'll also build strong written and verbal communication skills, learn to be a critical thinker, and engage in collaborative projects designed to improve your team-work and team-building skills.

You'll begin with 200-level core biology courses, including:

• BIO 202: Evolution and ecology
• BIO 203: Molecular genetics
• BIO 204: Cell biology
• BIO 205: Experimental design and statistical analysis for biologists

In these foundational courses, you will learn to read and interpret scientific literature; maintain meticulous lab notes; contribute to real scientific research; design, execute, and statistically interpret your own experiments; and write a research proposal to refine your experiments for use in upper-level elective courses.

Toward the end of the biology core curriculum, you will complete a seminar in biology careers in which you explore your strengths, values, and interests, selecting upper-level biology electives to tailor your educational experience to your career goals whether it be in health sciences, bio-organic chemistry, ecology, or any other aspect of biology. In the seminar you'll also prepare application materials for internships, jobs, and/or post-graduate programs.

Your studies culminate in a capstone experience in which you'll refine a scientific manuscript, popular press article, case study, or other scientific work of writing and submit your work for publication.