The Academic Senate approved an inter-college minor in Integrated Human Biology on May 4.
It will be offered through a partnership between the departments of anthropology and biology.
“The goal is to provide students with a broader understanding of the biological/behavior structures in regards to Homo sapiens,” said David Carrier, a biology professor at the U. He also said the minor is set up to help the students look at Homo sapiens from the point of view of the organism in an evolutionary perspective. When Homo sapiens are seen as unique, questions that can be asked are limited, said Carrier. But when Homo sapiens are looked at with a long evolutionary history, then more questions and hypotheses can be created about their behavior.
Carrier said there are many benefits for students in both departments who take this minor, and said it will expose biology students to a much broader course of human evolution and provide anthropology students with a different perspective of human biology.
“I think it will encourage biology students to take more courses in anthropology and anthropology to students to take more courses in biology,” said anthropology chair Elizabeth Cashdan. “We hope to become a major to expand outside of the two departments, but we have to see how the minor goes.”
As part of the 21 credit-hour requirement for the minor, a class must be taken from each of the following areas: hominin evolution and genetics, human form and function, evolution of human behavior and culture and human ecology and environment.