The Interdepartmental Microbiology Program Mission Statement

The mission of the Undergraduate educational program in Microbiology is to expose students to the diversity of the microbial world and to provide the theoretical and laboratory education needed to contribute in their chosen field of employment.

The Undergraduate Program will provide students with education in the basic sciences which are essential to microbiology and to the application of science to issues in the modern world. Upon completion of a Bachelor's degree in Microbiology, students should be prepared to enter into the professional community as a microbiologist, or to pursue an advanced degree. 

Major Learning Goals

Students majoring in microbiology at Iowa State University will take a core of courses recommended by the American Society for Microbiology (ASM).

These courses and labs include general microbiology, medical microbiology microbial genetics, physiology and diversity. Students are required to choose specialized upper level courses in either immunology, virology, parasitology, food microbiology, environmental microbiology or a combination of advanced courses to complete their degree. This curriculum is the basis for developing and assessing the student's Intended Professional and Technical Learning Accomplishments.

In addition to their professional and technical abilities students should develop communication skills, environmental awareness, human and professional ethics, problem-solving/critical thinking skills and computer proficiency. These Intended Professional Abilities are a critical part of the foundation for their careers as microbiologists.

Measures

Microbiology graduates should be able to work in a collaborative manner on projects using team-building, communication, and diplomacy skills.

Microbiology graduates should be able to understand and explain roles played by microorganisms in healthy ecosystems and how various biotechnologies impact environmental quality.

Microbiology graduates should be sensitive to the ethical dimensions of issues and conflicts involving the application of biotechnology and should be able to characterize and value ethical behavior as professional microbiologists.

Microbiology graduates should be able to work effectively with others on complex biological problems requiring holistic problem solving approaches.

Microbiology graduates should demonstrate computational proficiency.

Microbiology graduates should posses the professional and technical abilities recommended by the American Society for Microbiology (ASM).  

Assessment Materials

The Microbiology Program has adopted a core of courses recommended by the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) in the 2003-2005 Microbiology POS. We will continue to use the professional and technical recommendations of the ASM for the curriculum. Microbiology graduates should have the professional and technical abilities represented by these recommendations.

The Microbiology Program uses the Collegiate Assessment of Academic Proficiency (CAAP) exam (portion 4, Science Reasoning) developed by American College Testing Inc. The portion on Science Reasoning or problem-solving/critical thinking is given in Micro 110 and again given in Micro 450 (or Micro 451 begining in Fall 2005). The combination of these two objective tests gives a measure of the learning achieved by Microbiology Graduates in their ability to work effectively on complex biological problems requiring holistic problem-solving approaches. The examinations allow us to compare the progress of our students to national norms and to compile information for faculty to use in analysis and improvement of the Microbiology Program curriculum.