Our Life Sciences Building was erected in 1970 and contains 45,926 square feet of floor space. The Biology Department occupies most of the second, third and fourth floors of the building and includes six teaching laboratories, three lecture rooms, faculty offices, and numerous auxiliary areas. Within the last two years, the Department has extensively renovated some of the teaching laboratories to better accommodate the integration of lecture and laboratory course components and to facilitate collaborative work among students. The lab spaces on the second floor are devoted to faculty and student research. Each faculty member has a separate research laboratory housing equipment pertinent to her/his area of expertise. In addition, there is a fully equipped darkroom, a large walk-in temperature-controlled chamber, a small shop, an aquarium room, autoclave and tissue culture rooms, a microscope suite including a scanning electron microscope, and several environmental chambers. The Department also houses a fish collection containing some 200,000 specimens. The Biology Department greenhouse located on the roof of the building opened in January 1971. It serves as a repository for a variety of plant species used in both teaching and research laboratories.

The Department owns a set of pentium-grade computers which are located on carts and can be moved into classroom or laboratory spaces for student use. All offices and laboratories are wired for internet access.

The Greenhouse

The Biology Department greenhouse opened in January 1971. It serves as a repository for a variety of plant species used in both teaching and research laboratories. Two permanent beds were made by pouring concrete curbs on the floor, permitting the creation of an aquatic garden, as well as a terrestrial planting bed.

It is possible to tour the greenhouse; contact any of the Biology Department faculty members to arrange a visit. Also, we would be pleased to share cuttings from those plants in the greenhouse that can be propagated.

The Kevin F. Murphy Memorial Garden

During his junior and senior years as a biology major at Roanoke, Kevin Murphy was a greenhouse assistant. His love of plants led him to spend many extra hours caring for the greenhouse. We still have several plants in our collection that he donated. Upon graduation, he continued his botanical training with graduate courses, and became Gardener for the Library of Congress, in Washington, D.C. He began his own landscaping business shortly before his tragic death. Friends and former classmates established a greenhouse fund in Kevin's memory. Major donations by Kevin's parents and other members of his family allowed us to set up a perpetual Kevin F. Murphy Memorial Fund, to purchase needed botany references for the library and to purchase new plants for the greenhouse.

With Kevin's family and many of his friends in attendance, we dedicated the Kevin F. Murphy Memorial Garden on April 23, 1984, as a living and loving tribute to Kevin's memory.

Aquariums

The Roanoke College Biology department has freshwater and saltwater aquariums.

The purpose of the aquariums is both aesthetic and educational. They are used for instructional purposes in biology courses such as biodiversity, aquatic ecology, invertebrate and vertebrate biology. Students observe feeding, social and sexual behaviors as well as the biomechanics of fish swimming, breathing, and feeding. They scrutinize the adaptiveness of anatomical diversity and identify habitat preferences of different species.

Set up in 2001, the tanks are cared for by both students and professors.

 View more pictuers of the aquariums.

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