My name is Mark Bracken, I am the Department Chair of Biology at UVSC. I came here eight years ago as a new professor, at the time when UVSC was a two year Community College. Since that time UVSC has grown to a four year institution. When I came, there were seven faculty members of the department of Biology. Now there are sixteen faculty members with two advisors and four lab managers. We have a very broad range of experience and diversity in our Biology faculty. One member of our faculty left the job as the Dean at a Midwest University to come teach at UVSC. He is a limnologist. We have a geneticist who came to UVSC from a university in Vancouver Canada. We have a professor who came from the University of Pittsburg School of Medicine with an expertise in transplant physiology and immunology. We have another one who has considerable experience in microbial agents which are used in biological warfare. We have another professor who came here from University of Tennessee and is currently researching in the very cutting edge of plant molecular biology. Another researcher is doing membrane signaling and transduction. Still another faculty is researching the genetic and environmental impact of the evolution of iguanas in the Caribbean. We also have two doctors of Veterinary Medicine and also one MD on our staff. So you can see through these different professors, we have a very broad spectrum of knowledge and experience that can be given to our students. But the quality of the department is not measured by the experience of the professors as much as it is by what the students are able to glean from their education. We have two degrees that are offered in the department of Biology. One is a BS degree in general biology and BS degree in secondary education. The success of these degrees has been manifested in the success of our students. Over the last 3 years, UVSC graduates have enjoyed a very high acceptance rate at post graduate health professions. For example in the year 2003 and 2004 there was a 100% acceptance matriculation rate for UVSC to Dental Schools. Currently the acceptance rate to dental school is about 75%. The acceptance rates of the UVSC students into medical and doctor of osteopathic medicine is over 80%. We have 100% acceptance to Optometry school. As far as we know, we have 100% into graduate schools and 100% of students who have gone through the secondary education program have been placed in jobs in the state of Utah. So the opportunities in the field of Biology are as diverse as the organisms we study. The opportunities are growing exceedingly, for example the job opportunities and openings in the United States, last year alone, in all fields of Biology, exceeded 324,000 jobs. The last estimate that we received says that number is growing 5% – 12% per year.

Students, if you have any questions or if you would like to talk to us about what is available, you can contact Mark Bracken, Department Chair at 863-8739, Kim Sulz for Biology advising at 863-6208, Tina Rankin for Biotechnology advising, or Jenifer Orchard for Pre-Health advising at 863-7207.