North Carolina State University. Dept. of Biology.

The first courses in Zoology were offered at the North Carolina College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts (later, North Carolina State University) in 1899. In 1912, Dr. Zeno P. Metcalf joined the faculty and increased the course offerings from one to three, eventually becoming Head of the Department of Entomology and Zoology, and led the department for 38 years, until 1950. In 1950, Zoology and Entomology separated from each other under the newly formed Division of Biological Sciences. With the dissolution of the Division of Biological Sciences in 1956, Zoology became a department with its own curriculum. The Department was included in the formation of the new Institute of Biological Sciences in 1960, an arrangement that lasted until 1971. After that date, Zoology became a Department in the School (now College) of Agriculture and Life Sciences. In 2008, the department was renamed as the Department of Biology.

During the early period of the University's growth, 1887 - 1912, the initial efforts of the biological sciences were directed toward the development of agricultural interests in North Carolina. The original course offerings in Zoology were given by teachers whose interests were only secondarily zoological. Not until 1899 were offered courses first collected under the rubric 'Zoology.' In the early 1900s a veterinarian and a plant pathologist taught most of the zoologically oriented courses.

In 1912, Dr. Zeno P. Metcalf joined the faculty and increased the course offerings from one to three, eventually becoming Head of the Department of Entomology and Zoology. He led the Department for 38 years, until 1950. Other early faculty appointments included Dr. Carey H. Bostian, who joined in 1930 and became Chancellor of the University in 1953; and Dr. Reinard Harkema, who joined the Department in 1936 and served for more than four decades.

During the Depression, programs at North Carolina State were restricted. The development of Zoology was limited to the areas of Wildlife Management and Animal Ecology. It was not until 1957-58 that there was a designated undergraduate degree program in Zoology. Students performed graduate work in Zoology at this time, but Master's degrees were only given in Entomology.

In 1944, the Institute of Statistics was developed out of the Department of Experimental Statistics, and provided services increasingly necessary for fundamental research. The Institute worked closely with the Department of Zoology in cooperative ventures with a number of states. The Institute had close connections with the Research Triangle Institute located in the heart of the rapidly developing Research Triangle Park. For the Department of Zoology, the arrival in 1965 of Dr. Don W. Hayne, with a dual appointment in Statistics and Zoology, proved to be a stimulus to the development and growth of quantitative aspects of experimental research and teaching.

In 1950, Zoology and Entomology separated from each other under the newly formed Division of Biological Sciences. The Department moved to its present location in Gardner Hall in 1952. With the dissolution of the Division of Biological Sciences in 1956, Zoology became a department with its own curriculum. The Department was included in the formation of the new Institute of Biological Sciences in 1960, an arrangement that lasted until 1971. After that date, Zoology became a Department in the School (now College) of Agriculture and Life Sciences. In 2008 its name was changed to the Department of Biology.

Additional information and resources on the history of the Department of Biology can be found through the NCSU Historical State website .