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Home / 2009 / August / 21 / UBC Okanagan’s new zoology program will have global impact

UBC Okanagan’s new zoology program will have global impact

August 21, 2009

Zoologist William Bates, shown here during a research trip to Zambia, Africa, worked with fellow professors Scott Reid and Mark Rheault to establish a new zoology program at UBC Okanagan.

UBC Okanagan is awaiting final approval of an innovative new Bachelor of Science degree with a major in zoology that emphasizes learning in the field.

“Planet Earth will reap the rewards of this program. The consequences are huge,” says Associate Professor William Bates, who over the past three years worked with fellow Associate Professor Scott Reid and Assistant Professor Mark Rheault to develop the proposal for the program.

“Our program is integrative zoology,” says Bates.  “It covers areas that are not covered anywhere else — at the ecosystem level, physiology, eco-physiology, developmental, ecology, molecular biology, state-of-the-art molecular techniques, you name it — and it’s all woven together, systematically.

“When a student signs up for this program they are getting a course curriculum that is second to none. We will be training a generation of students in comparative zoology who will understand that there are myriad ways they can use their knowledge and practical experience in the real world.”

In addition to the hands-on experience students will receive in the laboratory, UBC Okanagan zoology students will have numerous fieldwork opportunities locally and internationally, tackling first-hand many issues that impact people, animals and the environment.

“Globally we’re seeing a huge number of examples of extinction,” Bates says. “We’re in the beginning of a whole new set of events that requires more zoologists who really understand zoology. This program is going to involve a lot of ramped-up field studies — not only in B.C., but in other continents, such as Africa.”

Offering a solid grounding in a broad range of topics dealing with animal biology (physiology, ecology, developmental biology), the zoology program emphasizes a comparative approach, says Reid.

“The idea within biology and zoology is that there are many ways to solve the same problem,” Reid says. “Different animals solve the same problem in different ways. To me, that is the beauty of biology and zoology, and that’s what we try to reflect in the course selections of this program. For those students who are really fascinated by the breadth of biological solutions, this is the program for them.”

Designed with collaboration in mind, when approved, the new program will provide undergraduate students with a solid foundation of skills, knowledge and practical experience intended to raise their profile for graduate school and other professional programs, ranging from medical sciences to conservation biology.

— 30 —

Media Contact

Jody Jacob
Assistant Communications Coordinator
University Relations

The University of British Columbia
Okanagan campus
Tel: 250-807-8463
E-mail: jody.jacob@ubc.ca

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About UBC Okanagan

UBC’s Okanagan campus is an innovative hub for research and learning founded in partnership with local Indigenous peoples, the Syilx Okanagan Nation, in whose traditional, ancestral and unceded territory the campus resides. The most established and influential global rankings all consistently place UBC in the top five per cent of universities in the world, and among the top three Canadian universities.

The Okanagan campus combines a globally recognized UBC education with a tight-knit and entrepreneurial community that welcomes students and faculty from around the world in British Columbia’s stunning Okanagan Valley. For more visit ok.ubc.ca.

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