Mission & goals

The Department of Biological Sciences at NAU strives to uphold outstanding programs

Departmental purpose

The Department of Biological Sciences is a unit within the College of Engineering, Forestry, and Natural Sciences organized for the purpose of instruction, research, and service activities in the biological sciences.

Mission statement

Our mission is to build scientific literacy for all citizens, advance and apply biological knowledge, and educate our students for professions in the life sciences.

Goals: the following goals are highly valued in support of our mission

• Pursue an integrative, interdisciplinary, and evolutionary approach to all aspects of biological science.
• Create a learning environment that encourages self-reliance, intellectual challenge, and mutually high academic expectations for faculty and students.
• Cultivate an active faculty research program that encourages the involvement of undergraduate students in original research, and is essential for graduate education.
• Emphasize laboratory and field studies that offer fundamental and unique educational experiences.
• Utilize the remarkably diverse physical, biological, and cultural resources of the Colorado Plateau that enrich our teaching, research, and service.
• Educate our students for professions in the life sciences.
• Foster high standards of professionalism and integrity for faculty, staff, and students.
• Protect our academic freedom to define the department’s goals.
• Promote diversity within the Department of Biological Sciences, among faculty, staff, and students.
• Recognize that effective implementation of the department’s goals requires cooperation and mutual respect among all members of the academic community.
• Advance and apply biological knowledge.
• Build scientific literacy for all citizens.