Information from the Graduate Coordinator

I appreciate your interest in the graduate program of the Department of Biological Sciences of Eastern Kentucky University. I encourage you to send your application to The Graduate School (Coates Box 5-A, Eastern Kentucky University, Richmond, KY 40475) and have letters of recommendation and departmental experience & essay form sent directly to me (see address below). When the Graduate School has a complete application package (application, transcripts, and GRE scores), your file will be sent to our department for evaluation.

Your entire application package must consist of the following for the department's evaluation process:

1) scores on the verbal, quantitative, and analytical portions of the Graduate Record Examination (GRE),

2) your grade point average (GPA) & transcript,

3) letters of recommendation and

4) the departmental experience & essay form.

Numbers 1 & 2 go to the grad school and numbers 3 & 4 are sent to me.

Admission to our program requires an undergraduate GPA of at least 2.5 (on a 4.0 scale), scores of at least 400 on both the verbal and quantitative portions of the GRE test, plus a score of at least 2.5 on the analytical writing portion of the GRE test. These, of course, are simply the minimum required for admission and attainment of these minimum requirements does not guarantee admission to our program. Higher GPA's and GRE's are also needed to obtain a teaching assistantship. You should also contact faculty members with similar research interests to determine if they are currently accepting new graduate students.

The Department of Biological Sciences includes 21 faculty members. The current graduate student enrollment is about 35. The department is well-equipped to support our graduate program. Graduate students have ready access to equipment needed for ecological, behavioral, aquatic, botanical, cellular, and molecular studies. For field studies, several potential study areas are located nearby, including the Central Kentucky Wildlife Management Area, the Blue Grass Army Depot, and the Daniel Boone National Forest.

Areas of special strength in the Department include aquatic biology, animal ecology and behavior, plant systematics and ecology, wildlife and conservation biology, structural biology, parasitology, cellular and molecular biology, and microbiology. The research interests of faculty members are briefly described on our Faculty webpage.

Several teaching assistantships are awarded each year. However, your file must be complete (i.e., completed application, transcripts, GREs, and letters of recommendation) and you must be accepted into our program by 1April to be considered for an assistantship. Late applications will be considered only if funds are still available. Some part-time teaching may be available for those not awarded an assistantship. Teaching assistantships include a waiver of out-of-state tuition (while part-time teaching does not). Research assistantships may also be available through individual faculty members.

Eastern Kentucky University is located in Richmond, Kentucky, a city of about 24,000. Richmond is located 26 miles south of Lexington, 110 miles southeast of Louisville, 112 miles south of Cincinnati, Ohio, and 150 miles north of Knoxville, Tennessee. Numerous recreational opportunities may be found nearby, with the Daniel Boone National Forest and Red River Gorge and the Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area each about 1.5 hours from Richmond and Mammoth Cave National Park just 3 hours away. Great Smoky Mountain National Park can be reached in about 4 hours. For those interested in attending cultural or sporting events, Richmond, Lexington, Cincinnati, Louisville, and Knoxville offer many events throughout the year.

I suggest that you contact faculty members to discuss details of a program of study suitable to your interests. Review the faculty home pages and feel free to send them an e-mail or write them at: Department of Biological Sciences, Eastern Kentucky University, Richmond, KY 40475. You may also wish to contact current graduate students or one or more of our alumni to hear their thoughts about our program. Perusal of our alumni page will also provide you with information concerning the types of positions our graduates obtain after leaving EKU. We believe we have an excellent department and hope to have the opportunity to meet you personally. Feel free to contact me at 859/622-1541 or at Gary.Ritchison@eku.edu if you have any questions about your application or our graduate program.

Sincerely,

Gary Ritchison
Coordinator of Graduate Studies
Department of Biological Sciences
Eastern Kentucky University
Richmond, KY 40475