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Biology

Explore the wonders of life with Butte College’s Biology program. Whether you're preparing for a career in healthcare, research, or environmental science, our engaging courses and lab experiences provide a strong foundation in the biological sciences.

Programs

Program Name
Goal
Length
Flexibility
AS-T AS

Goal

Career or Transfer

Length

2 years

Flexibility

  • Main Campus
AS-T

Associate Degree for Transfer in Biology

Students completing Associate Degrees for Transfer are guaranteed admission to the CSU system; see the beginning of the “Academic Programs” section for details. The AS-T in Biology requires completion and certification of the Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum (IGETC for STEM) in addition to the AS-T major requirements. Students are strongly encouraged to work with a counselor to identify major coursework that can also fulfill IGETC for STEM categories.

AS

Associate Degree in Biological Science

This program meets the lower division major preparation for a similar major at CSU, Chico. This major also serves as a basis for pre-medicine, pre-dentistry and pre-veterinarian students. Upon successful completion of the Associate Degree in Biology, students will be able to critically analyze and clearly communicate an understanding of scientific work within the framework of the scientific method. They will demonstrate the academic skills necessary for success in upper-division biology courses after transfer and apply foundational biological principles, including evolution, taxonomy, and ecological, physiological, and molecular processes.

Flexibility

The programs in this cluster require their major coursework at Main Campus, where core Biology courses are reliably offered. General education requirements offer more flexibility—you can complete them at Main Campus, the Chico Center, Glenn Center, or Online depending on your schedule. Plan ahead to balance your major requirements with the general education options that work best for you.

How this flexibility note was generated

⚠ AI-generated content can be wrong. This note was produced by Claude (Anthropic) by synthesizing the individual program flexibility statements in this cluster. Verify against the per-program reports before relying on it.
You are synthesizing a single cluster-level flexibility statement for a community college academic cluster (a group of related programs that share a department-page accordion).

CLUSTER
  Title: Biological Science
  Programs in cluster: 2

PER-PROGRAM STATEMENTS
  • Biology (AS-T Degree):
      You'll need to plan on attending Main Campus for your major's required coursework—that's where all the core Biology courses are reliably offered. Your general education requirements can be completed at any of our centers or online, so you have flexibility there, but the major courses themselves are centered at Main Campus.
  • Biological Science (AS Degree):
      You'll need to plan on taking your major's required courses at Main Campus, where they're reliably offered. Your general education requirements can be completed at Main Campus, at the Chico Center, at Glenn Center, or Online — whichever works best with your schedule.

WHAT TO WRITE
  Write 2 to 3 sentences that summarize the AVAILABILITY STORY shared by these programs. Most programs in a cluster will have similar availability — name the common pattern. Note distinct outliers ONLY if a program's availability story differs in a way that affects student decisions (e.g., one program is online-only, others are not).

  - Plain, student-facing language.
  - Refer to "the programs in this cluster" or "these programs" — don't list each program by name unless an outlier needs calling out.
  - If all programs share the same flexibility story, write one unified statement.
  - Do NOT list percentages, term codes, or jargon.
  - Lead with the most flexible/strongest availability and follow with caveats.
  - Refer to locations ONLY by official center names (Main Campus, Chico Center, Glenn Center, Skyway Center, Cosmetology Center, Online). NEVER use a city or town name — no Oroville, no Willows, and never "Chico" as a city. Write "at the Chico Center", never "in Chico" — even if a per-program statement below used a city name, do not repeat it.

OUTPUT
  Return ONLY the statement text. No preamble, no quotation marks, no markdown.
AS

Goal

Transfer or Career

Length

2 years

Flexibility

  • Main Campus
  • Glenn Center
AS

Associate Degree in Health Occupations Preparation

The Associate of Science in Health Occupations Preparation prepares students for entry into programs such as licensed vocational nursing, registered nursing, and respiratory therapy at Butte College. It also provides a foundation for transfer into healthcare-related programs at neighboring community colleges and four-year institutions. Students are encouraged to consult with a counselor to review requirements for their intended pathway.

Flexibility

You can complete all your required coursework for this degree at either Main Campus or Glenn Center. Your general education requirements can be finished at either location, online, or at the Chico Center, giving you flexibility once your major courses are done.

How this flexibility note was generated

⚠ AI-generated content can be wrong. This note was produced by Claude (Anthropic) by synthesizing the individual program flexibility statements in this cluster. Verify against the per-program reports before relying on it.
You are writing a brief, student-facing flexibility note for a Butte College program. Imagine you are a counselor sitting across from the student. The student is trying to decide WHERE they will physically have to be to finish this degree.

PROGRAM
  Title: Health Occupations Preparation
  Award: AS Degree

LOCATIONS
  - Main Campus — Butte's main campus.
  - Chico Center — general center; many transfer-degree courses run there.
  - Glenn Center — satellite center.
  - Skyway Center — the dedicated home of the Auto Technology and
    Industrial / Power Pathway programs.
  - Cosmetology Center — the dedicated home of the Cosmetology and
    Barbering programs.
  - Online means a student can take it from anywhere with internet.
  - Dual Enrollment sections are taught at participating high schools
    across the region (NOT at Butte's centers). Coverage varies by HS.

LOCATION NAMING — HARD RULE
  Refer to locations ONLY by the official names exactly as listed above
  (Main Campus, Chico Center, Glenn Center, Skyway Center, Cosmetology
  Center, Online). NEVER mention a city or town name — no Oroville, no
  Willows, no Paradise, and never "Chico" as a city — not even
  alongside a center name. Students read a city name as the town
  itself, and Butte's campuses don't sit where the names suggest (Main
  Campus is not "in Oroville" in any practical sense). Write "at the
  Chico Center", never "in Chico". Write "at Main Campus", never "in
  Oroville".

RELIABLE REQUIRED-COURSE OFFERINGS BY LOCATION (last two academic years)
A required course counts as "reliably offered" at a location only if it
showed a REGULAR PATTERN — at least one section in BOTH window falls or
in BOTH window springs. A one-off section doesn't count: the student
can't bank on it coming back. For Select-N slots (e.g. "Select two"),
the slot is reliably satisfied at a location only when ≥N of its
options are reliably offered there.

  Main Campus:    Yes      (9 of 9 required slots reliably satisfiable here)
  Chico Center:   Partial  (5 of 9 required slots reliably satisfiable here)
  Glenn Center:   Yes      (9 of 9 required slots reliably satisfiable here)
  Online:         Partial  (7 of 9 required slots reliably satisfiable here)
  Dual Enrollment:       Partial  (3 of 9)  ← specialized center

WHAT EACH STATUS MEANS
  - "Yes"     — every required slot has reliable coverage at this location. A student can plan to take their major coursework here.
  - "Partial" — SOME required slots are reliably covered here, but not all. A student who wants to attend mostly at this location will have to combine it with another location or with Online for the gaps.
  - "GE only" — NO required slots are reliably covered here. The student can complete GE breadth here, but for the major's required courses they'll have to go elsewhere.

GROUND TRUTHS YOU MUST RESPECT
  - For Associate degrees, GE breadth requirements can be completed at ANY Butte center or online. That's a given for every Associate program — you don't have to belabor it, but you may briefly mention it when the student's location story for required courses is unfavorable.
  - When a Skyway-Center or Cosmetology-Center program shows "Yes" at its specialized center, LEAD with that — those programs are housed there by design, and the student should plan on being at that center (not Main Campus) for the bulk of their major coursework.
  - Don't tell a student to come to Main Campus when the program's specialized center has full reliable coverage. Main might still be useful for GE; the major work is at the specialized center.
  - "GE only" is NOT "Partial". Don't soften it. Say plainly the program's required coursework isn't taught there.
  - Online is a real option for some programs, but ONLY when its column is "Yes". Don't promise online completion based on "Partial".
  - Dual Enrollment coverage is an aggregate across participating high schools — at any single HS the available courses are typically far fewer. If you mention dual enrollment, mention that "what's offered at your high school will vary."
  - Even "Yes" is "has been reliably available recently" — future schedules can shift. The student should still meet with a counselor.

WHAT TO WRITE
  Two to three short, plain sentences in second person ("you can…", "you'll need to…"). Lead with where the major's required coursework actually runs reliably — that's what determines where the student has to be. Be honest, not promotional.

  - Do NOT list percentages or course counts.
  - Do NOT promise future schedules.
  - Do NOT use the words "completability", "completable", "AY", or "primary location".
  - Do NOT call a "GE only" location a place to "complete the program" — they can't.

OUTPUT
  Return ONLY the statement text. No preamble, no quotation marks, no markdown headers.
Department Biology

Full Time Faculty

Cody Frazer

Biological Sciences Instructor

Melody Schmid

Biological Sciences Instructor

Shahroukh Mistry

Biological Sciences Instructor

Julie Jenks

Biological Sciences Instructor

Andrea White

Biological Sciences Instructor

Michael Matiasek

Biological Sciences Instructor

Mandeep Grewal

Biological Sciences Instructor

Suzanne Wakim

Biological Sciences Instructor

Gary Lechner

Biological Sciences Instructor

Jill Terra

Biological Sciences Instructor

Hannah Higuera

Biological Sciences Instructor

Shannamar Dewey

Biological Sciences Instructor

Kelly Wood

Biological Sciences Instructor

Nijmah Ali

Biological Sciences Instructor

Associate Faculty

Elizabeth Bianchini

Biological Sciences Instructor

David Donnell

Biological Sciences Instructor

Annabella Kraut

Biological Sciences Instructor

Kathy Stone

Biological Sciences Instructor

Thaddaeus Winzenz

Biological Sciences Instructor

Rachel Schleiger

Biological Sciences Instructor

Katherine Lucot Smith

Biological Sciences Instructor

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Department Biology