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Undergraduate

Academic Advising

Academic advising is a great opportunity for you to engage with an advisor to assist in identifying academic goals, developing educational plans, and maximizing your educational experience. If you have an assigned adviser, please check the specific instructions below for making an appointment with that individual. If you do not have an assigned adviser, or are interested in speaking with a BMB adviser about changing majors or minoring in one of our programs, please call 814-863-5487 to schedule an appointment.

Meet Our Advisers

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Gregory Broussard
Assigned Adviser,
Assistant Teaching Professor
Image of Meredith Defelice
Meredith Defelice
Assigned Adviser,
Teaching Professor
Image of Chad Graziano
Chad Graziano
Clinical Laboratory Science

Program Adviser

 
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James Howell
Assigned Adviser,
Associate Teaching Professor
Jennifer Keefer.
Jennifer Keefer
Program Adviser
BMB, MICRB, BIOTC,
Honors Adviser
First- and Second-Year Students
Image of Amber Reese Miller
Amber Miller
Assigned Adviser,
Assistant Teaching Professor
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Shiwha Park
Assigned Adviser,
Assistant Teaching Professor
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Sampurna Sattar
Assigned Adviser,
Assistant Teaching Professor
Image of Beatrice Sirakaya
Beatrice Sirakaya
Assigned Adviser,
Assistant Teaching Professor,
Eberly College of Science Liaison to the Entrepreneurship and Innovation (ENTI) Minor, Director of the Bio-Tech Cluster
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Gayle Sutterlin
Assigned Adviser,
Assistant Teaching Professor
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Natasha Tirko
Director and Program Adviser, Master of Biotechnology Program
Associate Teaching Professor

Advising Appointments

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  • All appointments with Ms. Jenn Keefer for will be conducted via Zoom or in-person. Select your preference when scheduling the appointment on Starfish. If you are experience symptoms of illness, no matter how mild, please select a Zoom meeting.
     
  • All appointments with Ms. Amber Miller will be conducted via Zoom or in-person. Select your preference when scheduling the appointment on Starfish.  If you are experiencing any symptoms of illness, no matter how mild, please select a Zoom meeting.
     
  • If you are not one of Ms. Keefer or Ms. Miller’s assigned advisees and would like to schedule an appointment with one of them, please call 814-863-5487.

Virtual Add/Drop Week Walk-in Hours:

All appointments with Jennifer Keefer and Amber Miller for Add/Drop week will be conducted via Zoom and can be scheduled via Starfish.

Virtual Add/Drop Week Walk-In Hours:

Jenn Keefer’s Availability

  • Monday: 9:00 AM – 11:30 AM & 1:30 PM – 4:00 PM
  • Tuesday: 9:00 AM – 10:30 AM & 3:00 PM – 4:30 PM
  • Wednesday: 9:00 AM – 11:30 AM & 1:30 PM – 3:00 PM
  • Thursday: 9:00 AM – 11:30 AM & 1:30 PM – 2:30 PM
  • Friday: 9:00 AM - 11:30 AM & 1:30 PM - 4:30 PM

Ms. Keefer is available to see any student during add/drop week.

Add/Drop week virtual same-day walk-in appointments are brief 15-minute appointments intended to help students with scheduling questions and add/drop issues. A longer scheduled appointment should be made beginning the week of January 15 for course planning, letter requests, change-of-major, and other specific issues. Please check-in for all appointments in Ms. Keefer’s Zoom room and she will be with you as soon as she can.

NOTE: Virtual walk-in appointments for each day will not be posted in Starfish until that day.

Virtual Add/Drop Week Walk-In Hours:

Amber Miller’s Availability

  • Monday: 9:30 AM - 10:30 AM & 3:00 PM - 4:30 PM 
  • Tuesday: 9:30 AM – 11:30 AM & 1:30 PM – 4:30 PM
  • Wednesday: 9:30 AM – 11:30 AM & 1:30 PM – 4:30 PM
  • Thursday: 9:30 AM - 11:30 AM & 1:30 PM - 4:30 PM
  • Friday: 9:30 AM – 10:30 AM & 12:30 PM – 1:30 PM & 2:45 PM - 3:45 PM

Ms. Miller is available to see students that are on her advising roster. 

Add/Drop week virtual same-day walk-in appointments are brief 15-minute appointments intended to help students with scheduling questions and add/drop issues. A longer scheduled appointment should be made beginning the week of January 15 for course planning, letter requests, change-of-major, and other specific issues. Please check-in for all appointments in Ms. Miller’s Zoom room and she will be with you as soon as she can.

NOTE: Virtual walk-in appointments for each day will not be posted in Starfish until that day.

Honors Advising

Image of the front of the building where the Schreyers Honors College is located
  • In addition to a student's assigned BMB faculty advisor, first and second year students can also contact Ms. Jennifer Keefer to set up a meeting to discuss degree requirements, Schreyer plans, course selection, and other general advising topics.
     
  • In addition, if you have questions about Honors Program specific forms, or deadlines, please follow the link to the Honors Program.

Pre-Health Advising

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  • Pre-health and Health Professions Advising is available to any Penn State student who wants to explore, prepare, and apply for training in a health profession career.
     
  • Students interested in health professions are encouraged to reach out to the pre-health advisors within the Science Advising Center.

Student Petitions

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  • Petition requests for common petitions (ie move 3 for general education) can be entered though our online petition form. 
     
  • Requests to substitute non-BMB independent research credits in place of BMB 496 can be entered via the Substitution on Non-BMB Independent Research Credits Request Form.
     
  • For any other petition requests, please attend walk-in advising or call 814-863-5487 to schedule an appointment to discuss your petition request.