A Brief History of the Biology Program

The Biology program was established in 1966 as part of the science curriculum of the new Seattle Community College. The initial goal was to fulfill lab requirements for non-science majors and to prepare students for transfer to the UW. Over the years, we have broadened our goals as our students have entered with more diverse educational and career objectives. In addition, advances in the biological sciences have given our field increasing prominence in the public consciousness (e.g., the human genome project, health and medical research, global epidemics, environmental awareness, etc.).

Today, the Biology program includes not only Biology (BIO), but also several sub-programs or disciplines: Anatomy and Physiology (ANP), Botany (BOT), Environmental Studies (ENV), Health (HEA), Nutrition (NTR), and Oceanography (OCE). In 1990, the Biotechnology Program was established, training students to enter careers in the rapidly growing biotechnology industry. In 2009 the program was suspended in order to provide streamlined courses dealing with cellular and molecular techniques for transfer students.

Under the umbrella of the Biology program, we offer a wide variety of courses for college-transfer, pre-Allied Health, and non-majors students. Moreover, we continually revise our course offerings and curriculum to meet the changing needs of our students. In 2009, we were awarded a small National Science Foundation grant to develop and begin running a new program called “Sustainable Agriculture Education” (SAgE).  Courses in this program are taught by faculty in both the Biology and Earth/Environmental Sciences departments.