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Requirements and selection criteria for a tenure tract position:

Ph.D. in appropriate discipline. Under most circumstances, applicants with professional terminal degrees (MD, DDS, etc.) are not considered for tenure-track positions.

Interest and enthusiasm for teaching at a primarily undergraduate institution. It would be helpful for candidates to document any experience at or with PUIs and any teaching experience.

Post-doctoral research experience is preferred.

Experience with a research model/system appropriate for the environment of a primarily undergraduate institution.

Ability to develop a research plan appropriate for the active involvement of undergraduate students and competitive for extramural funding.

Teaching load:

The contracted teaching load for Biology faculty members is 15 credit hours/academic year.

A credit load of 6-9 credits in a semester typically translates into 9-15 contact hours/week, depending on the distribution of credit hours between lecture (1 contact hour/credit hour) courses and laboratory (3 contact hour/credit hour) courses.

Advising:

Maximum advising load is 25, beginning in the second year as a faculty member.

Members of the Biology Department serve as academic advisors for Biology majors and Pre-health science students.

Department resources:

The Biology Department employs three full-time laboratory coordinators and shares a part-time secretary with the Chemistry Department. The laboratory coordinators prepare materials for laboratory courses in the core sequence, as well as serving as instructors in several lab sections and supervising undergraduate teaching assistants.

The Department is relatively well equipped in teaching laboratories, including fluorescence microscopy, digital photography and digital video. The Department is currently piloting a program that will lead to a requirement for students to develop and maintain a digital portfolio. Much of our teaching equipment has been obtained through funding of matching grants (eg NSF-CCLI and others) and the administration has never failed to match an award of a successful application from the Department. Research with students is part of teaching biology, and the equipment acquired through such grants is also used in research programs.

The Department has an ongoing partnership with two regional schools with predominantly Native American enrollment. This program (GIEOP – Gonzaga Indian Education Outreach Program) involves mentoring of Indian K-12 students by Gonzaga undergraduates (mostly Biology majors), along with visits to campus by Indian students and to the schools on the reservations by Gonzaga students. The Biology Department is also serving as a resource for science curriculum development at the two schools.

The program Science in Action! is also run out of the Biology Department. This program, in collaboration with the School of Education and Spokane Public Schools, trains and sends pre-service teachers to area K-12 classrooms to conduct hands-on inquiry-based science experiments.

The Department has a dedicated and highly interactive faculty and staff who work together to facilitate more effective learning and growth for both our students and each other. Pedagogy and curriculum structure are topics of ongoing discussion in the Department, and we strive to support colleagues in both new research and new teaching initiatives.

The Departments of Biology and Chemistry were recently awarded a 1.2 million HHMI Undergraduate Science Education Program grant. This grant allows more undergraduates to participate in research, supports a new undergraduate program in Biology called the Research Option, strengthens and builds our science outreach programs, and funds a new faculty position in both Biology and Chemistry.

Research expectations/facilities:

Work with two or more undergraduates during each summer. Research during the academic year is also possible, especially when students are continuing projects from the previous summer.

Preferably, it should be possible to integrate research models/systems into the biology core sequence (BIOL 101, 102, 201, 202) in order to introduce available research programs to students early in their undergraduate career.

Typically, two faculty members with compatible interests and equipment requirements will share a research space of approximately 900-1200 ft². Collaboration is strongly encouraged among faculty members in the Department, and with other faculty in the University or other appropriate individuals in the region.

In addition to modest startup funds, funding is available for beginning faculty from the Gonzaga Science Research Program to provide supplies and stipends ($6,600 for faculty member, $4,400 for each student) for the first summer. Subsequent support from this program is dependent upon seeking extramural funding.

Regionally, funding is available (competitively) from the Murdock Charitable Trust through the Murdock College Research Program for Life Sciences. This program can provide start-up funding for new biology faculty in the range of $15-20,000/year.