STUDENT PROJECT: Kitty Fleetwood and Jacalin Shealy Photoshopped insects and fish as part of their "Microscopy in Art" project. Click here to look at their work.   ALUMNI PROFILE: NANCY HOPE '04 to speak at graduation of USC Pharmacy School Nancy Hope '04 has been elected the graduate speaker for the 2008 graduating class of the USC College of Pharmacy. The class will graduate next May. Hope is currently serving as class president and has been president for two of her four years.  more>   PC biology professors are quick to point out that a good education is not limited to the classroom. Educational journeys may be as simple as a short afternoon trip to a nearby pond. Other opportunities range from a weekend jaunt to the mountains to spending weeks scuba diving in the Caribbean or the Great Barrier Reef; or investigating the ecology of the desert southwest, the Australian Outback, or even the Great Plains of Africa.

Biology Department

From classrooms and laboratories to oceans and deserts, Presbyterian College biology majors see the world in a new way.

That vision is not limited when it comes to careers. You may be planning to enter directly into your biological field, further your education through graduate school, or pursue a medical career. Alternately, you may decide to embark on a teaching career. Whatever your career plans, you'll be prepared.

The department offers pre-medical and pre-dental preparation, as well as preparation for medical technology and other allied health sciences. Also offered is an affiliate five-year program with the Duke University School of Forestry and Environmental Science through which students earn a B.S. degree from PC and an M.A. in forestry or environmental science from Duke.

The department also boasts affiliate programs in marine biology with the Gulf Coast Marine Laboratory in Ocean Springs, Miss., and with the Duke University Marine Laboratory in Beaufort, N.C. Students also have numerous opportunities to conduct independent research and special projects.

A recent survey showed that 34 percent of 110 PC biology graduates entered medical, dental, veterinary, or nursing / allied health schools, while another 16 percent went on to graduate schools. Others went directly into careers ranging from marine science to business, from education to health programs.

The PC biology department occupies the entire second floor of Richardson Science Hall and is distinct among colleges and small universities in maintaining a dedicated electron microscope facility.

Beyond in-house research under the guidance of our biology faculty, PC student’s research is often conducted at the nearby Greenwood Genetics Center during the academic year, or in summer at such facilities as the Mount Desert Island Biology Lab in Maine, the Medical University of South Carolina, and the Medial College of Georgia.  Additionally, an on-going series of field studies monitors the quality of local water sheds and tributaries, investigates aquatic toxicity of wildlife, survey local flora and fauna, analyzes the medicinal properties of plants, studies of stages of embryonic development in marine invertebrates and fishes, and collects and documents the fossil composition of coastal areas and the Piedmont region of South Carolina. Through such projects, several PC biology majors have received prestigious awards as “best student presenters” or “best student research” at various scientific conference throughout the Southeast.