My Teaching

I teach three courses in the biology major program: Cell Biology (Biol 211), Histology (Biol 331), and the Biology and Biochemistry of Proteins (Biol 443).

Cell Biology is an introduction to the structure and function of the cell (with lab). I've taught the course for 20 years. Over that period, the course has undergone changes in content, lab activities and enrollment. Just recently, I introduced an experimental on-line laboratory manual in the laboratory portion of my sections of the course.

Histology is a study of the structure and function of mammalian / human tissues. In other words, it is a study of tissue anatomy and physiology. The course is an undergraduate version of the histology courses taught in medical and dental schools. The laboratory portion of the course involves the classic microscopic study of tissue slides. The lab employs an online laboratory manual I first implemented in the Sporing of 2000. Implementation of the manual made the laboratory portion of this course completely dependent on this full-featured on-line digital resource to guide students through their traditional microscope-based study of the structure of animal tissues. Implementation of the manual also spawned a number of other firsts for this course. This course was the first at UMW in which seach student used a labtop computer in lab and the course was the first to test the use of a wireless network in a working teaching lab.

Biology and Biochemistry of Proteins is a new course. First taught in 2004 as an experimental topics course, the course was first taught as a permanent part of the major curriculum in the Spring of 2007.