https://www.montana.edu/registrar/adddropcourse.htmlThe following resources are meant as a quick reference list for current undergraduate students in the Ecology Department. If you have questions or concerns about the following, please contact the Ecology Academic Coordinator.

Academic Resources

Campus Resources

 Biological Sciences concentrations in the catalog, which include a checklist of all courses required for your major option and additional information needed for completing this degree:

Ecology Student Clubs
Each of these clubs meets around monthly during the academic year, and students are able to participate in annual state chapter society meetings.

  • MSU Student Subunit of the American Fisheries Society: Email [email protected] for more information
  • MSU Student Subunit of The Wildlife Society: Follow them on Facebook, or email [email protected] for more information

Job and Internship Opportunities

Announcements about job and internship opportunities that are currently available in the department and other related organizations are posted on our job board and sent out through a weekly digest email to the job email listserv. All current Ecology students are included in this listserv and will receive all announcements. Students in other departments or community members who wish to receive announcements may email [email protected] to request to be added to the listserv. Occasionally faculty or graduate students will post positions on Hire-A-Bobcat (powered by Handshake), or may post open positions on their faculty webpages. Also see our Careers in Ecology page to browse options for future employment.

Getting Credit for Internships

The Ecology Internship program is available to undergraduate students in the B.S. in Biological Sciences major who can develop a suitable program of experience and study off campus. The program must contribute to intellectual growth and development, have approval and support of a Ecology faculty member, include structured supervision by the employer, organization, or individual under which it is developed, and provide progress and final reports.

University policy requires that “students receiving academic credit for an internship must register for credits during the academic term that the internship takes place.” Meaning, if a student does their internship work over the summer, they must be registered for the course in the summer.

Credit will be granted based on 1 credit/45 hours of student effort pertaining to established learning outcomes for the internship (based on MSU’s definition of the credit hour), to a maximum of 4 credits per semester. A maximum of 8 total credits may be completed.

Students earn Internship credits through courses WILD 298 or 498 for students in the Fish & Wildlife Ecology & Management concentration, or BIOE 298 or 498 for students in the other three concentrations of the Biological Sciences major. The 298 courses are available to freshman and sophomore students, and the 498 courses are available for students at junior or senior status.

Before the internship, students must find an Ecology faculty member who will oversee their work, and get permission from their work supervisor (“collaborator”) to get credit for their work. Students should use the Internship Application when contacting potential faculty supervisors. Students and Ecology instructors will work out together how many credits will be granted for the internship and will discuss specifics of reporting, evaluation, and grading. Students then interact with their instructor through bi-weekly progress reports. Once the internship is over, three evaluations must be completed: the student evaluates their own work, the on-campus instructor evaluates the student, and the collaborator evaluates the student. Once these evaluations have been turned in, the instructor submits a Pass or Fail grade for the student’s course. Be sure to fully review all three documents in your concentration below and contact the Academic Services Coordinator with any questions.

Contact [email protected] to request the forms.

Getting Credit for Undergraduate Research

Students may earn credit in Undergraduate Research toward one of four courses: BIOE 290R, BIOE 490R, WILD 290R, or WILD 490R. Requests for credit must be accompanied by a written proposal describing the exact activities to be engaged in for the credits. The proposal must be presented to an instructor for review. If approved by the instructor, a statement must be attached by the instructor indicating the process to be used for evaluation of the student's achievement and assignment of letter grade. Proposal and evaluation methods are then submitted to the Department along with Request for Offering Undergraduate Research form (linked below). After receiving Department Head approval, the Academic Coordinator will register the student in the course.

Contact [email protected] to request the forms for Undergraduate Research credits.