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About Graduate Students

Graduate students in the Biological Sciences Department learn experimental techniques, develop analytical skills and acquire experience in teaching and interpersonal communications. Our well trained graduates are presently employed in industrial, academic and government positions.

Graduate students in the Biological Sciences Department play an essential role in the teaching mission of the department - they are an integral component of the undergraduate curriculum offered by the department. Typically, graduate students who are offered a Teaching Assistantship (TA) will oversee two laboratory sections per semester. Graduate TAs are required to grade reports, quizzes and exams and also prepare lectures for their laboratory sections. The teaching load of graduate students in the Biological Sciences Department is comparable to other departments at Western Michigan University.

Graduate students in the Biological Sciences Department play an active role in the university community. In 1999, graduate students formed the "Biological Science Graduate Students Organization" (BGSO) in order to address important issues such as health care, technology access, parking and economic compensation. Further information concerning the activities of this important organization are described on the BGSO page.