Uncategorized | Department of Biology

TCNJ named top-ranked college in region by U.S. News

U.S. News & World Report released its 2025 Best Colleges rankings today and The College of New Jersey was ranked as the top institution in the “Best Regional Universities—North” category.

TCNJ has held the top spot in its region among public colleges every year since 1991, but this year, it vaulted to the top overall spot among all institutions, public and private.

TCNJ was ranked as the best college in the region for veterans and moved up four spots to rank fourth in undergraduate teaching programs.

The college received high praise in other recently announced rankings as well. The Wall Street Journal ranked TCNJ in the top 20 percent of all institutions in the country, based on student outcomes, including salaries, and the learning environment.

The Princeton Review named TCNJ one of the best 390 colleges in the nation for 2025, based on student evaluations.

Check out the complete U.S. News & World Report 2025 rankings, as well as methodologies.

TCNJ awarded NIH grant to launch new bridge program for biomedical professions

The College of New Jersey has been awarded a $1,339,503 grant from the National Institutes of Health to launch the New Jersey Biomed-Bridge Scholars Program. Over the next five years, this innovative initiative will provide resources and pathways for groups of students from Brookdale Community College and Mercer County Community College to transfer into TCNJ’s… Continue Reading

Registration Newsletter for Fall 23 Classes

The Biology Registration Newsletter, Spring 2023 Edition, contains all you need to know about registering for Fall 2023 Biology classes. Check it out, and be prepared for your appointment with your advisor. Registration opens in April! Continue Reading

ASBMB-Today features article on a Bio alum

We’re proud to share this article recently published in “ASBMB-Today,” a newsletter of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, which features Isabel Distefano, a Biology major and 2017 graduate of TCNJ. Isabel (left) is now working in the Pritzker DNA Lab at the Field Museum in Chicago, and loves her job. View the… Continue Reading

Biology Comings and Goings…

As the summer ends and a new academic year is about to begin, it’s a time of change here in the TCNJ Biology Department. We welcome Wendy Clement, PhD, as our new department chair, who will serve a term of three years “at the helm” (administratively, at least) for the Biology Department. But at the… Continue Reading

TCNJ 7-Yr Program One of “Most Flexible”

The College recently posted an article citing a review of five 7-Yr accelerated medical programs which ran in Forbes. TCNJ’s was touted as being “most flexible.” Read the article here: TCNJ’s 7-Year Medical Program is one of five featured in Forbes for being “most flexible” We know our amazing seven-year students are interested in many… Continue Reading

The Science Behind HOUSE

Who says watching television is not educational? First-year students investigate the science behind HOUSE Among the famous House-isms, as the pearls of cynical wisdom from the mouth of Dr. Gregory House, M.D., have come to be known, is the reoccurring assertion that, “everybody lies.” Here at TCNJ, it is no lie though that a very… Continue Reading

The Natural History of the Galapagos Islands and Ecuador

Charles Darwin’s voyage to the Galapagos Islands inspired the masterpiece of scientific thinking known as the theory of evolution by natural selection. Every biology student learns about it in the classroom but few have the opportunity to follow in Darwin’s footsteps and explore the islands firsthand. Yet come May, a group of students enrolled in… Continue Reading

Beta Beta Beta (Tri-Beta) Biological Honor Society

Often referred to as “Tri-Beta”, Beta Beta Beta serves as the national biological honor society and acts as both an academic and service organization for students who are passionate about the biological sciences. TCNJ’s chapter of the organization allows School of Science students and even non-science majors to join a community that celebrates and promotes… Continue Reading

Amanda Norvell

Developmental Biologist and Fruit Fly Enthusiast For someone who had never handled flies before her post-doctoral position at Princeton University, Amanda Norvell is surprisingly comfortable keeping thousands in the laboratory here at TCNJ. “I will be totally honest and say I had never touched a fly before I got to the Princeton lab,” the associate… Continue Reading