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TTAC recommends adding precalculus, approves biology field of study for commissioner review
Summary
The Texas Transfer Advisory Committee voted to recommend a revised biology field of study that replaces elementary statistics in the core with precalculus and lists microbiology for science majors in the discipline foundation. The committee will send the recommendation to the commissioner after a 30-day public comment period.
The Texas Transfer Advisory Committee (TTAC) voted to recommend a revised biology field of study for submission to the commissioner of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board for approval.
The recommendation replaces elementary statistical methods in the discipline-specific core with precalculus and retains a foundation that includes General Biology II for science majors, microbiology for science majors, General Chemistry II, Organic Chemistry I and both college physics courses. The committee also moved elementary statistics to the directed electives list.
Chantay, biology co-chair, said the committee "did remove statistics, and we now are introducing our recommendation to include precalculus." The co-chairs told members they had reviewed course utilization at four-year institutions using the biology CIP code and concluded precalculus better matches the mathematics students most commonly take before calculus.
Cathy Bridal, co-chair, described the directed electives as nonbinding and explained why the committee placed courses such as environmental biology, genetics, organic chemistry II and calculus I in that category. "We feel that not only does this better serve the students, but in particular, switching this math out directly fulfills the prerequisites for their chemistry and their physics courses that are required," Bridal said.
During discussion, Mitzi Lauderdale of Texas Tech asked whether microbiology for science majors should be a directed elective because institutions sometimes number comparable courses at the 3000-level. The co-chairs said the course as written aligns to the ACGM outcomes for Microbiology for Science Majors (a 2000-level course in the Texas ACGM framework) and that participating four-year representatives were comfortable accepting it in the discipline foundation. The committee emphasized that receiving institutions may require an additional upper-division course if learning outcomes differ.
The committee approved the recommendation in a roll-call vote and will post the proposed field of study for a 30-day public comment period before surveying four-year institutions for their directed electives and forwarding materials to the commissioner for final action.
Next steps: the biology field of study will be posted for 30 days of public comment, the board staff will collect directed electives from four-year institutions, and the full packet will be sent to the commissioner for his review.
