Biology 2101

Fall 2026 Schedule

The Biology Introductory Series (BIOL 2101, 2102, and 2103L) introduces undergraduate students to the breadth of topics investigated in the field of Biology. This course, BIOL 2101 (Molecules to Cells) introduces a range of topics in biology to include: (1) the chemical foundations of life, (2) essential biological macromolecule structure and function, (3) structure and function of the cell, (4) life cycles and cell division, (5) DNA replication, (6) energetics of life and cellular respiration, (7) photosynthesis, (8) cell communication and signaling, (9) gene structure and function, and (10) principles and regulation of gene expression.

This course does not have a lab component associated with it.

Biology 2101 Course Goals

Student enrolled in 2101 will:

1. gain an understanding of the structure of molecules within cells and how those structures interact to form functional cells.

2. build a basic understanding of genetic material and how that material is propagated and used within cells.

3. learn how energy is transformed within cells and the environment and how enzymes are essential to these conversions.

Biology 2101 Student Learning Outcomes

Students will demonstrate an understanding of:

1. atomic structure and bonding specific to elements found in living things.

2. the necessity and utility of carbon and water to life.

3. the structure and function of common macromolecules (carbohydrates, nucleic acids, proteins and lipids).

4. the diversity of prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells and the functions of organelles.

5. the cell cycle phases and processes of cell division (mitosis and meiosis).

6. DNA replication.

7. energy conversions in cells (photosynthesis and cellular respiration) and the function of enzymes.

8. the purpose and process of cellular respiration and its relationship to the process of photosynthesis.

9. genes, alleles, and basic inheritance.

10. types of RNA and gene expression (transcription and translation).

11. regulation of gene expression in prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms.

Welcome new Biology majors! I have the best job in the world and the privilege to guide you through the Cell Biology and Genetics introduction of the core set of classes. I’m so glad that you are here!

This course may be challenging but has been created to help you succeed in and love Biology.  A lot of your success depends on attending lectures, reading ahead of attending the lectures and taking advantage of additional learning resources, such as drop-in hours with me or your learning assistants, our Discord server, study groups and optional resources that I include in each module. In the past, students reported that taking advantage of additional resources really improved their performance and their enjoyment of the course.

The exams, quizzes, and in-class activities are designed to distribute the course load and give continuous feedback to the students. Assignments are designed such that any student who keeps up with their studying and takes advantage of resources should do well. However, if you find yourself unhappy with your progress or are unable to keep up with material for personal reasons, please contact me, your peer learning assistants, or TAs ASAP! We care about the success of every student and will work with you to develop learning strategies that will help you achieve desired progress.

In addition to providing a solid basis in Biology and enhancing your learning approaches, reasoning, and communication skills, this course should help you connect to your academic community and provide a supportive academic environment. I care about your overall experience and success in the course, and in the Biology department.

Resources

There are many resources to help you succeed in the course. All of these resources, or information about them, can be accessed through Canvas.

Drop-In Hours and Appointments with Kelly – My office door will be open for you on Mondays from 11-12. In addition, I’ve set up a calendar for individually scheduled 15-minute appointments if you would prefer one-on-one help. These scheduled appointments will be on Wednesdays from 10-10:45 and Fridays from 12-1. Please go to Book time with Kelly Howe: Student Appointments to set up a meeting with me.

If you need to meet outside of these times, please send an email to me at khowe@unm.edu with several of your availabilities and I will do my best to make an appointment with you.

Occasionally, my mailbox gets overwhelmed with messages making it difficult to get back to you right away. However, if you do not hear from me within 24 hours, please send me a reminder.

Textbook – Urry, LA., M.L. Cain, S.A. Wasserman, & P.V. Minorsky (2026) Campbell Biology in Focus, 4th edition. Pearson. The Mastering Biology program associated with the text is also required and is part of the Inclusive Access purchase. There are no required assignments in the Mastering Biology program and so it is OK to use a used text or the 3rd edition. However, I assign practice within the program and there are a lot of useful study tools designed for our course in Mastering Biology.

The textbook can be accessed through the Access Pearson Course Materials link in Canvas.

I also have a hard copy of the text for a 2-hour checkout from my office. Please make an appointment with me and bring your student ID.

The textbook is to help support your learning; you will receive everything you need from the other sources provided to you in Canvas. While the text gives a strong background in the material we will cover, it is not comprehensive, and I do give additional information in lectures. It is important that you attend lectures and work on the problems I give in those lectures. All material covered in the Canvas modules may be on the exams. Completing everything in the modules and lectures is the best way to review and understand the material.

Peer Learning Assistant Sessions – Our undergraduate peer learning assistants (undergraduate tutors) attend your lectures and will hold regularly scheduled study sessions designed to help all students in Biology 2101. These sessions are not required but are extremely helpful. The sessions are guided with activities and problems that students will work on together. These sessions will be a great time to practice applying your knowledge, meet study partners and get help from students who have recently taken the course and done very well. I strongly recommend that you take advantage of their knowledge and the opportunity to meet and work with other students. You will find information about their session times and locations in the Welcome Module in Canvas.

Study Guides – Study guides are comprehensive reviews of what you should know once you have read, attended lectures, and worked through practice given in class and peer learning sessions. Use these to study for the exams. If any concepts on study guides are difficult for you, please check in with me. I create these to help you succeed and want to make sure they are clear.

Discord Server – Please consider joining the Biology 2101 Spring 2026 Discord server:

https://discord.gg/cPwP9v3NKj. While I do not normally participate in the server (and joining is not required), this is a place where you can ask other students questions, talk about other courses, and set up study groups. If there are problems within the server, I will remove students or shut down the server.

Please follow these rules:

·   Treat all members with kindness and consideration, regardless of differing opinions. 

·   Appropriate Language: Avoid excessive profanity, derogatory language, or hate speech. 

·   No Spamming - Refrain from sending a large number of messages in quick succession or disrupting the chat. 

·   Keep explicit or sexually suggestive content out of public channels. 

·   Personal attacks, insults, and any form of harassment are prohibited. 

·   Hate speech or discriminatory comments based on race, gender, religion, etc. are not allowed. 

·   Direct or indirect threats of violence or harm are strictly prohibited. 

·   Promoting other servers or products without permission is generally not allowed. 

·   Avoid sharing sensitive or private information in public channels. 

·   Do not pretend to be another person or organization. 

·   Do not engage in prohibited actions like hacking, malware distribution, or copyright infringement. 

Reading Quizzes (RQ)

There are 12 reading quizzes assigned and two of those quiz scores may be dropped. In addition, you may make up one reading quiz score by attending a peer learning assistant session (see above).

The quizzes are 10 pt., multiple choice assignments to be done in 30 minutes from the time you start the quiz. Don’t let the time run out before finishing the reading quiz! The quizzes cannot be taken late as the answers will be revealed in Canvas on the day after they are due. If you miss a reading quiz, this 0 will be one of the two dropped quiz scores.

The quizzes can be found in the weekly Canvas modules They will be composed of questions from a specific section you will read in the text. Most often, you will not have seen the material in class yet. You may use your text and notes you take during the reading to answer the reading quiz questions. You have two attempts to take the quiz and your score will be an average of the two attempts.

Reading ahead is not something that most students do, and it has been shown to improve learning. Even if the reading is confusing, having been exposed to it will help you in lecture.

Lecture Participation (LP)

You are expected to attend each lecture and participate in activities designed around the material presented. To assess your participation, I will use the Top Hat program, and you will learn how to use Top Hat in class.

I will use the program to administer in-class activities, and the answers will be submitted electronically. I encourage you to work with the students near you, but each student will submit their own answers. Each question asked is worth 1 pt of participation (0.5 pts for answering and 0.5 pts for a correct answer). On a day when we have participation opportunities, there will be multiple questions asked.

Please actively track your Lecture Participation scores to make sure that your participation is recorded. The lowest four participation scores will be dropped for each student. In addition, you may make up one participation score by attending a peer learning assistant session (see above). I don’t excuse participation points with any documentation except UNM-sanctioned events. You can miss up to 5 classes and not be penalized based on this attendance policy and you do not need to let me know when you’ll be missing class.

Learning Skills (LS)

Throughout the semester, you will work through modules designed to help you become an even more successful student. I will assign 6 Learning Skills assignments and some of these assignments will be associated with Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) modules. You can find the LS assignments within the weekly Canvas modules. We will accept these late for partial credit. A 10% penalty is assessed for every day late, but the score will not be less than 50%, no matter how late it is. None of these scores are dropped.

Exams (EX)

There are 6 exams scheduled and the lowest score of those will be dropped. There is no cumulative exam during finals week in 2101. The exams are written to be completed within 50 minutes and are given in class. I cannot give a make-up exam unless you have a documented medical emergency or a sanctioned UNM activity. Otherwise, I do not schedule make-up exams and exams cannot be taken late. If you miss an exam, the 0 will be your dropped exam score.

You can expect a mixed format of multiple choice, matching, fill-in-the-blank and true/false questions. The exams are written based on the learning you have already done.

You can do well on exams if you have used all of the resources available to you.  I want you to succeed and don’t create exams that are intended to trick you or catch you making a mistake. Exams can be difficult; especially those questions that ask you to take the information beyond just memorization. But I am confident that, with the practice and support I have provided, you can do well.

Exam Summaries (ES)

After the first three exams, I will post Exam Summaries which are short questionnaires designed to help you modify how you study for exams. These are optional but are worth 2 extra credit points on each of the three exams. There will be different extra credit opportunities for the last three exams.

Grading Scheme

Lecture Participation          10%

Reading Quizzes                20%

Exams                                 60%

Learning Skills                    10%

*It is very important that you know that I will not accept late make-up quizzes or exams at the end of the semester. I have built in the ability to drop missed quizzes, participation points and exams. I know very well that life can get in the way of class, and that is why I have created the policies that I have. It is important that you communicate with me too if something comes up for you. Finding out at the end of class that you can’t quickly turn in things late is hard to hear. So please keep up with assignments and communicate with me. And always remember that a low score is always better than a 0 on Learning Skills assignments!

If you are thinking about dropping our course at any time, please come talk to me. I can help you decide if you should drop or not and guide you through the process. I will not drop a student at the end of the semester. You need to initiate the process and follow through on that process. If you’re not doing well in class, it is never the end of the world. Let’s talk about your options early!

Academic Integrity

In a difficult course, it can be very tempting to cheat. It can also be difficult to understand exactly what academic dishonesty is. I want you to be at a place in your learning where you feel confident that you can succeed on your own merits, and I want to make sure you know what is acceptable and what is not.

·   It is fine to use your text and notes from readings to answer reading quiz questions, but please read the assigned pages before taking the quiz.

·   Use your own words and thoughts when completing learning skills assignments. If the assignment requires you to create, use your own creation.

·   Exams must be completed without the use of notes, text, online resources or colleagues. You may not take your cell phone out during an exam and you must remove headphones or earbuds during exams.

If you are caught cheating, you will receive a zero on the entire assignment or exam. If this happens more than once, you will be referred to UNM Academic Affairs. I don’t want anyone to experience the feeling of failure or disappointment after cheating. You deserve to give your courses your best and I expect that you will.

School-Life Conflict

There are a lot of rules, assignment due, and policies to adhere to in this syllabus and that can be overwhelming! I know that many students face obstacles to their education due to work, family obligations, mental health issues or other personal difficulties. I have great respect for the many responsibilities that students juggle and understand when life gets in the way of school. If you are experiencing challenges that impact your ability to succeed, please reach out to any of the course facilitators immediately so that we can work together to form a plan for your academic success. I understand that these are often private matters and am very willing to discuss them with you outside of normal drop-in hours. E-mail me so that we can set up a time to talk as soon as you are feeling overwhelmed.

If you feel that you are unable to speak to me, there are many useful resources on campus.

LoboRESPECT Advocacy Center (loborespect.unm.edu/) 277-2911

Women’s Resource Center (women.unm.edu) 277-3716

LGBTQ Resource Center (lgbtqrc.unm.edu) 277-5428

Student Health and Counseling (shac.unm.edu) 277-3136

Agora Crisis Center (agoracares.org) 277-3013

These organizations do not share information with anyone else without a student’s signed permission.

Title IX Statement

Our courses and university strive to be spaces of mutual respect and support, without discrimination or harassment. If you feel discriminated or harassed in any form, please feel free to talk to me or access the resources available to you on campus ( http://loborespect.unm.edu/ ). Please note that, because UNM faculty, TAs, and GAs are considered "responsible employees" by the Department of Education (see pg 15 - http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/qa-201404-title-ix.pdf), any disclosure of gender discrimination (including sexual harassment, sexual misconduct, and sexual violence) made to a faculty member, TA, or GA must be reported by that faculty member, TA, or GA to the university's Title IX coordinator. For more information on the campus policy regarding sexual misconduct, see: https://policy.unm.edu/university-policies/2000/2740.html.

Regardless, know that I want to be a safe place for students and so will try to help you as best I can without having to share your experience with our Title IX coordinator, if that is what you prefer.

American Disabilities Act

Many students have visible or invisible disabilities and UNM is committed to providing courses that are inclusive and accessible for all participants, allowing them to reach their full potential. In accordance with University Policy 2310 and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), academic accommodations may be made for any student who notifies me of the need for an accommodation. I ask that you take the initiative to bring such needs to our attention, as we are not legally permitted to inquire. It is my objective to facilitate an accessible classroom setting and I will make sure that all accommodations are met. Students who may require assistance in emergency evacuations should contact the me as to the most appropriate procedures to follow. Contact Accessibility Resource Center at 277-3506 (arc.unm.edu) for additional information.

Citizenship Status Statement

All students are welcome in this class regardless of citizenship, residency, or immigration status. I will respect your privacy if you choose to disclose your status. UNM as an institution has made a core commitment to the success of all our students, including members of our undocumented community. The UNM Administration's welcome message is available at undocumented.unm.edu.

v  Founded in 1889, the University of New Mexico sits on the traditional homelands of the Pueblo of Sandia. The original peoples of New Mexico Pueblo, Navajo, and Apache since time immemorial, have deep connections to the land and have made significant contributions to the broader community statewide. We honor the land itself and those who remain stewards of this land throughout the generations and also acknowledge our committed relationship to Indigenous peoples. We gratefully recognize our history.