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Departmental course information is available below, in the Academic Calendar and also on the My Learning Space pages for the Biology, Environmental Science and Water Science and Environmental Health programs. The scheduling of courses (times and locations) are subject to change and should be confirmed on LORIS under the "Student Services" tab by accessing the link for "Registration".
All official academic information, including prerequisites and exclusions, can be found in the academic calendars. These can also be found, along with additional enrolment restrictions, times and locations, in the Browse Classes tab in LORIS.
Make an appointment to consult about your program/courses by email to bioadvising@wlu.ca.
In order to provide you with help, you must include your Laurier student ID number.
Courses will fill quickly. Sometimes a course will have a waitlist but if it has a lab or tutorial it will not have a waitlist. If a course you want to take is full, check LORIS regularly, right up until the end of the first two weeks of classes, to see if a space has come available for you.
If you are in 3rd or 4th year and have completed your required 200 level BI courses then keep in mind that you can choose senior BI (HN or WASC) courses at any year level (200, 300 and 400) as long as you have completed the prerequisites. If you aren’t able to enrol in a certain course this year, then you likely will next year.
We cannot give overrides for courses once they are full and at capacity. However, we are interested in knowing when demand exceeds capacity. Please write to bioadvising@wlu.ca and include the course details. In the subject line of your email include the words “course full” and the course number. We can’t promise solutions.
HN210, HN220 and HN320 are counted towards your senior BI credits but they are the responsibility of the Health Sciences Department. HN210 and HN220 are cross-listed with KP course and are taught by the Kinesiology Department. Therefore the Biology Department has relatively little influence over enrolment issues. HN courses are restricted to HE and KP majors only and this restriction is held for extra time (restrictions are not lifted when other major restrictions are lifted). Often the KP side of the course will have empty seats when the HN side is full and so you will not be able to enrol even though it shows seats are available.
You must complete the prerequisite(s) in order to enrol in a course. If you feel you have complete the equivalent of a prerequisite (for example at another university) and it is not recognized in LORIS then you may request an override by writing to bioadvising@wlu.ca. Include the course title, course code, CRN, details of your rationale, the error messages you receive when you try to enrol and any other relevant information. Merely having an interest in the subject matter and a willingness to work hard is not a rationale for an override.
Overrides will not be given for classes that are full and are at capacity.
WASC senior courses and senior HN courses count as senior Biology credits.
For questions, comments or concerns regarding laboratory safety, contact Safety, Health, Environment and Risk Management.
See also information on field courses.
Below is a listing of Fall and Winter courses for the next academic year. Course descriptions are available in the Academic Calendar. Detailed course outlines are available through MyLS on the BEAWS Programs page. All students in Biology, Environmental Science and Water Science and Environmental Health programs should have access to these MyLS resources. If you would like to arrange access, please write to bioadvising@wlu.ca with your request.
The following courses contain a laboratory component
A directed studies course is an irregular course that enables senior students to work on an independent project under the guidance of a faculty member. Each BI495 course is unique and tailored to the particular project that a student undertakes (with the direction from a faculty member in Biology). Usually the topic is related to the research area/expertise of the supervisor. If you are interested in a Directed Studies please click on this link for more information Directed Study
Some special topics courses become "regularized" as senior BI or WASC courses and details are provided below. When a special topics course is regularized then you cannot hold credit for both the special topic course and the regular course (they are exclusions so you can only get credit for the special topics course or the regular course it became).
Original Special Topics |
Subsequent Equivalent |
---|---|
BI396L: Biostatistics |
BI393: Biostatistics |
BI396M: Immunology |
BI417: Immunology |
BI396N: Plant Life in Aquatic and |
N/A |
BI396P: Plant Physiology |
BI369: Plant Physiology |
BI396Q: Plant Ecology |
BI363: Plant Ecology |
BI396R: Microbial Physiology |
BI376: Microbial Physiology |
BI396S: Vertebrate anatomy |
BI359: Comparative |
BI396T: Introduction to |
WASC201: Wetland Science |
BI396U: Limnology |
WASC302: Limnology* |
BI396V: Water Policy |
WASC301: Water Policy |
BI396Y: Comparative Zoology |
equivalent to BI358 |
BI396Z: Animal Physiology |
N/A |
BI496C: Science Communication |
N/A |
BI496D: From Genetics to Genomics |
N/A |
BI496G: Parasitology |
BI484: Fundamentals |
BI496R: Pathophysiology |
BI416: Pathophysiology |
BI496S: Physiological |
BI451: Physiological Adaptations of Fishes |
BI496T: Biotic Interactions in |
N/A |
BI496U: Biomedical Virology |
BI470: Biomedical Virology |
BI496V: Human Microbiome |
BI421: Human Microbiome |
BI496W: Conservation Biology |
BI409: Conservation Biology |
BI496Y: Plant Root Mutualisms |
N/A |
An information session will be held on January 19, 2023 at 7 pm on zoom. Register in advance for this meeting: https://wilfrid-laurier.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJAtc--vrDgiG9LxYhTlCEvgD1lNAzQkTNjK After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
The Ontario Universities Program in Field Biology (OUPFB) provides students from participating universities with a tremendously varied selection of field courses. If you are interested in the natural world and keen on gaining the experience and perspective uniquely offered through field-based learning and research, this is your opportunity. The Department of Biology at Laurier will contribute in 2023 with a new course, module #10, Subarctic Aquatic Ecology, which will be taught by Dr. Heidi Swanson. The Laurier (internal) course number for module #10 is BI394 (The Changing North: Subarctic Ecosystems in the Face of Climate Warming).
Descriptions of all field courses, including costs and prerequisites, are available on the OUPFB website.
There is a unique application process for all OUPFB courses. Please note that you CANNOT apply in Loris. Registrations will take place January 23--27, 9 am - 4 pm.
Enrolment in each course is limited. Each university has only a small number of guaranteed spots in certain courses. This is why it is important to have several course options in your application. After the first round of applications described above, most likely at the beginning of March, the remaining sits will be made available on the OUPFB courses’ webpage, and can be filled by students from any university in the order of their application. Therefore, an application for these remaining sits will be possible at this stage too.
Courses may be cancelled if there are too few early applications or if mandated by the host university and/or provincial Government.
The $350 deposit will be refunded if a student is not accepted into the course of his/her choosing (first or second choice). However, students who drop a field course should not expect a refund of any field course-related costs. Efforts are made by host universities to find a replacement in case of a drop out, but if that is not possible, the deposit will not be reimbursed.
Please contact Drs. Mihai Costea (mcostea@wlu.ca) or Heidi Swanson (hswanson@wlu.ca) if you have questions.