“The kind of feedback we get from students is that they’re getting excellence from the department,” said Tim Lewis, associate professor of biology and department chair.

“But that bar is always being raised because as what we do improves, we have to keep going to stay competitive.” The biology department has indeed raised the bar in recent years.

From updating their technology to instituting a unique curriculum, biology professors have made their department a benchmark of excellence.“The curriculum is more open at Wittenberg than it is at other schools,” Lewis said.

“We just have one introductory course, and I think our senior capstone is rather unusual. Most schools don’t tie the major back together.”

First introduced in 1995, the senior capstone course helps the students see the connections between different levels of biology and how they link to the areas outside biology.

“The goal is for students to see how all of biology impacts each area of biology, and how the subject needs to be considered in an ethical and societal framework,” Lewis explained.

For example, last semester a pair of students gave a presentation as part of the course on the recent deformations of frogs noted in the media. Prior to the presentation, the class read primary scientific articles on the malformations.

Following the presentation, the class then discussed what happens to the frogs at the genetic, cellular and organism levels, as well as the population impacts and ecosystem interactions.

Lewis noted that the discussion then moved to the economics and ethics of potential causes of the deformations. “The class is all about integrating their knowledge,” Lewis explained.

In between the introductory and senior capstone courses, the department requires its majors to take a broad core of courses such as cellular and sub-cellular systems and ecosystems because “a good biologist has to know some basic breadth in the department,” Lewis said.

In addition, the department encourages its majors to study one of these areas in-depth and explore research opportunities.

“We don’t have a formal research project,” Lewis noted, “yet about one-third of our students do a formal research project that can be published, and another one-third do some senior professional activity such as an internship or a directed line of work.”

Some of the students have interned with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Aullwood Audubon Center and Farm in Dayton, Glen Helen Ecology Institute of Yellow Springs and at Navistar.

But the students aren’t the only ones involved in biology outside the classroom. The faculty itself has become more active in research during Lewis’ nine years at Wittenberg.

“In our department, the requirement of professional activity is more explicitly stated than in other departments,” Lewis said.

“We require that professional activity take the forms of including students in research work, seeking external funding and publishing in professional journals.”

Lewis noted that most of the better graduate programs in biology expect students to have significant research experience prior to admission.

“Research is more interesting if it tackles scientifically important areas, so the faculty tends to stay active as practicing scientists conducting original research and including students in that work,” he said. “I find the research useful in my teaching.”

All of this activity has kept the biology department from falling behind. However, Lewis foresees the department updating itself even more as the new millennium approaches.

“Biology is getting more technological every day,” he said. “We’re going to need more equipment, which means more aggressively acquiring equipment through university and outside grants.”

Despite these new demands for technology, Lewis still thinks that the aspect of biology that most appeals to prospective majors is the faculty. “We have a very strong, committed and active faculty,” he said.

“[The response] we get is that the faculty is what makes the department.” In fact, Wittenberg biologists are currently involved in a number of diverse projects.

Horton Hobbs, professor of biology, continues to conduct cave research, in particular the taxonomy and ecology of cave crustaceans, while Margaret Goodman, assistant professor of biology, researches the bio-diversity and genetics of the cave crayfish that Hobbs studies.

In addition, Dave Mason, professor of biology, is conducting cancer research.

“Each brings the results and methods into classes, and the process of doing research keeps the faculty current in their fields, which is more essential now than ever because the fields change so rapidly,” Lewis explained.

This dedication, both in teaching and in research, has created a unique rapport between teachers and former students. “I probably get e-mails every day from alums,” Lewis said. “And we have former students stop in probably once a week.

It’s a good assessment of what we’re doing.”

— James P. Austin, ’98