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Ivy Tech offers new biology transfer degree to any Indiana four-year university

KOKOMO, Ind. — A new associate transfer degree in biology being offered at Ivy Tech Community College Kokomo Region will give graduates the possibility of transferring to any state institution of higher education as a junior to pursue a bachelor’s degree.

The newest “Transfer Single Articulation Pathway (TSAP)” was recently approved by the Indiana Commission for Higher Education and this fall the first students have begun the necessary coursework at Ivy Tech’s Kokomo Campus. Registration is under way for those who want to start classes when second semester starts in January.

“The Commission’s approval allows Ivy Tech to offer a program majoring in biology that mirrors what students would take in their first two years at a university,” said Leo Studach, associate professor and program chair of science at Ivy Tech’s Kokomo region. “The degree provides training in introductory biology in the first year with majors-level chemistry along with classes in physics and molecular biology in the second year. Three additional courses – Genetics, Ecology, and a research capstone course – have been added to the biology program to create the TSAP.”

The TSAP adds to Ivy Tech transfer options with Purdue, Indiana, Ball State, and Indiana State universities, and the University of Southern Indiana. The transfer degrees allow Ivy Tech to provide high quality and affordable options for students to begin at Ivy Tech and transfer to a four-year state school.

Supporting the new offering are the renovated science labs opened last spring at the Kokomo Campus. “We have added not only to the lab space but also substantially to our equipment inventory,” Studach said. This includes the ability to study cell culture, DNA and protein gel gene transfer and other laboratory molecular biology techniques. The program also uses the new Anatomage technology which offers a high-tech, full-size, interactive “digital cadaver” for the study of anatomy.

“Students in this program will have the benefit of small class sizes and lab training in all of the sciences courses,” Studach said. Acting Chancellor Kim King also noted the strong backgrounds of the two primary instructors – Studach, who earned a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from Marquette University and a doctorate in molecular biology from Purdue University where he was involved in cancer research, and Tammy Greene, who earned a master’s degree from the University of Indianapolis in human biology and doctorate from the University of Alaska – Fairbanks in forensic anthropology.

Graduates of the new Biology program will be able to move directly into a variety of positions in the field including biological sciences lab technicians, forest conservation technicians or medical laboratory technicians, Studach noted. Earning a bachelor’s degree and/or pursuing graduate studies in life science can lead to careers in genetic counseling, medicine, agriculture, marine biology, and many other fields.

For more information about the biology transfer pathway at Ivy Tech, contact Studach at 574-398-6115 or email him at lstudach@ivytech.edu.

SOURCE: News release from Ivy Tech Community College Kokomo Region