Course Syllabus

Plant Pathology 521 General Mycology

3 Credits; Fall 2025

Tuesday/Thursday 10:35-11:50

LOCATION: Pullman Campus Sparkaih 333 or via Zoom (online students)

Zoom Meeting: 936 9612 0169 (Passcode: 6656)

INSTRUCTOR: Dr. Jana U'Ren, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Plant Pathology

OFFICE HOURS: I have made two 30-minute time slots available on Monday morning and Wednesday afternoon to meet with students. Please use Google Calendar to schedule a meeting here. If these times conflict with your schedule, email me to schedule a meeting at another time. All office hour meetings with me will be held over Zoom unless otherwise pre-arranged.

PREREQUISITES: For undergraduate students: Both Intro Bio Courses (Bio 106 Intro Biology: Organismal and Bio 107 Intro Biology: Cell Biology and Genetics, or equivalent) and at least 1 of these 3 courses (PlP 429 Introduction to Plant Pathology, MBIOS 305 General Microbiology, OR MBIOS 342 Microbial Ecology, or an equivalent course).

COURSE OBJECTIVE: To provide a basic understanding of the biology, taxonomy, phylogeny, and history of fungi and fungus-like organisms within the context of the five ‘big ideas’ in biology (FBIs). If given a biological scenario, you should be able to recognize and explain any of the big ideas.

Evolution: Populations of organisms and their cellular components have changed over time through both selective and non-selective evolutionary processes.
Structure and Function: All living systems (organisms, ecosystems, etc.) are made of structural components whose arrangement determines the function of the systems.
Information Flow and Storage: Information (DNA, for example) and signals are used and exchanged within and among organisms to direct their functioning.
Transformation of Energy and Matter: All living things acquire, use, and release matter and energy for cellular/organismal functioning.
Systems: Living systems are interconnected, and they interact and influence each other on multiple levels.

COURSE WEBSITE: None, unless otherwise noted. All materials will be available in the class Google Drive folder Mycology421-521_Fall2025_for-students

READINGS: All readings will be posted to the “Readings” folder on the Drive. We will primarily read chapters from three different textbooks (listed below; PDFs are available on the Drive), but peer-reviewed primary literature will also be included. Students are expected to have completed the readings before class.

Webster & Weber, 2007, Introduction to Fungi, 3rd Edition.

Moore et al. 2019. 21st Century Guidebook to Fungi. 2nd Edition. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK

Deacon 2013. Fungal Biology 4th Edition.

Course Learning Outcomes (students will be able to:)	Activities Supporting the Learning Outcomes	Assessment of the Learning Outcomes
Demonstrate scientific literacy in major concepts and processes relative to the major groups of fungi and fungal-like organisms.	Case study; Assignments; Final project	Case study; Assignments; Final project
Locate and evaluate sources of scientific information on fungi and fungal-like organisms.	In-class Activities; Case study; Assignments; Final project	Case study; Assignments; Final project
Effective Communication and ability to work effectively in groups	Interactive discussions; In-class Activities; Assignments; Final project	Assignments; Final project

COURSE SCHEDULE: The course schedule is available on the course Drive Folder Mycology421-521_Fall2025_for-students/1.CourseInformation. The schedule is subject to change.

EXPECTATIONS FOR STUDENT EFFORT: For this course, there are two 75 minute lecture periods, for a total of 2.5 hours of lecture per week. My expectation is that for each hour of lecture equivalent, students should expect to spend a minimum of 2 additional hours of coursework/studying outside of class time (i.e., 5 hours).

GRADING PROCEDURE: I will assess student learning with various written and oral formats (see the table below). Both graduate and undergraduate students will take a total of 3 Exams and complete a fungal case study and four small assignments throughout the semester. For final course projects, undergraduate students (enrolled in the 421 section) will work in pairs on an oral presentation, and graduate students (enrolled in 521 section) will write a written report. Details are provided below.

Graded Component	Total points
Exams (3 total; 100 pts each)	300
Fungal Case Study	50
Assignments (4 total, 25 pts each)	100
Final Project: Undergraduate student Final Presentations OR Graduate Student Written Report	50
Total Points	500

EXAMS: The 3 Exams (100 points each) will be given during the semester according to the posted course schedule posted. The exams will cover material presented in lectures, in-class discussions, and all assignments. The format of Exams will be standard: True/False, Multiple Choice, Matching, Short Answer, etc.

ASSIGNMENTS: There will be four assignments (25 points each) throughout the semester, as posted to the course schedule. Assignment details will be provided in the course folder Mycology421-521_Fall2025_for-students/4.Assignments). Assignment due dates will be provided on the course calendar.

CASE STUDY: Students will complete one case study on fungi during the semester (50 points). A case study presents a scientific problem relating to fungi that will require summarizing information, literature searches, critical thinking skills, and scientific writing.

All Exams, Assignments, the Case Study, and Reports must be completed by each student independently and without the use of any AI technology.

UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT PRESENTATION

Undergraudate students will have the opportunity to perform an in-depth study on a particular mycological research topic that is not covered by Dr. U’Ren in class and give a short presentation to the class. Students will be required to submit presentation topic ideas for approval to Dr. U’Ren by Exam 2.

Each presentation should be ~15 minutes in length and both members of the team are to participate equally. Images of fungi must be included and the source of the images must be identified. The presentations should be at a level appropriate for the students in the course, should include informative visual aids (videos or animations are okay), and must be both informative and engaging. Think about your audience in putting together your presentation and try to engage them in the information.

Presentation Evaluation: Grades for the project will be based on the following:

(1) Presentation Content (i.e., depth, clarity, accuracy, and synthesis, references; 40%)

(2) Presentation Quality (i.e., slide readability, use of visual aids, presentation style, and professionalism; 40%)

(3) Presentation Style and Professionalism (i.e., professional attire, tone of voice, grammar, etc.; 10%)

(4) Creativity (e.g., presentation style, novel hypotheses, future research areas) (5%)

(5) Evidence of teamwork (5%)

GRADUATE STUDENT WRITTEN REPORT. Graduate students will be given the opportunity to perform an in-depth study on a particular mycological research topic that is not covered by Dr. U’Ren in class and write a scientific report. Students will be required to submit report topic ideas for approval to Dr. U’Ren by Exam 2.

The report must be at least three single-spaced pages in length (Ariel 12 pt font, 1 inch margins). The page limit does NOT include references. The first page of the report will include a Title Page, Student’s Name, and a short Abstract (~5-10 sentences) providing a brief summary of the report. The remaining two single-spaced pages should contain an Introduction to the topic, followed by Main Supporting Text. The goal of this report is to provide a synthesis of a topic. As such, do not present different papers separately in a linear fashion. Instead, merge information from numerous sources into a more synthetic view. For example, rather than just writing John et al., did X, Y, Z, and then Jane et al., did X, Y, Z, etc. you would write about a main points of your topic with a synthesis of the literature as supporting information.

References: A minimum of 10 references (see information below) are required. At least seven should come from the primary literature, and/or reference books. Up to 3 references can come from the popular press or websites.

Cite references in the text by author-date (e.g., Arnold et al., 2009). Arrange references alphabetically using the format style from Mycologia as a guide (https://www.tandf.co.uk//journals/authors/style/reference/tf_USCSEB.pdf). Use standard abbreviations for journal names (if in doubt, you can spell out the journal name).

Web page URLs must be current and citations are to include:

Author’s name (if known)

Date of publication or last revision (in parenthesis)

Title of document

Title of complete work (if applicable)

URL

Date of access (in parenthesis)

BONUS POINTS: Students will also have the option to receive up to 10 optional “bonus” points that will be added to your final total before letter grades are assigned. Opportunities for optional points will come up throughout the semester. These opportunities include, but are not limited to (i) attending a seminar related to fungal biology and providing a short, written summary; (ii) providing a written summary of news articles pertaining to topics we have discussed in class; and/or (iii) providing a written summary of a recently published relevant literature. Each of these will be worth up to two points, at the discretion of the instructor.

FINAL GRADE ASSIGNMENT: The final course grade will be decided based on the following scale. Fingal grades will rounded up or down (e.g., 89.1-89.4% will be rounded down to 89%, 89.5-89.9% will be rounded up to 90%).

95 – 100% A

90 – 94 A-

87 – 89 B+

84 – 86 B

80 – 83 B-

77 – 79 C+

74 – 76 C

70 – 73 C-

60 – 69 D

< 59 F

Academic Integrity Statement

Academic integrity is the cornerstone of higher education. As such, all members of the university community share responsibility for maintaining and promoting the principles of integrity in all activities, including academic integrity and honest scholarship. Academic integrity will be strongly enforced in this course. You are responsible for reading WSU's Academic Integrity Policy, which is based on Washington State law.

If you cheat in your work in this class you will:

- Receive a zero on the assignment or exam.

- Be reported to the Center for Community Standards

- Have the right to appeal my decision

- Not be able to drop the course of withdraw from the course until the appeals process is finished

Cheating includes, but is not limited to, plagiarism, unapproved use of AI to complete assignments, and unauthorized collaboration as defined in the Standards of Conduct for Students, WAC 504-26-010(3). You should read and understand all of the definitions of cheating: http://app.leg.wa.gov/WAC/default.aspx?cite=504-26-010.

If you have any questions about what you can and cannot do in this course, email me.

If you want to ask for a change in my decision about academic integrity, use the form at the Center for Community Standards website. You must submit this request within 21 calendar days of the decision.

Attendance and Make-Up Policy

Participating in the course and attending lectures are vital to the learning process. Students should make all reasonable efforts to attend all class meetings. However, in the event a student is unable to attend a class, it is the responsibility of the student to inform the instructor as soon as possible, explain the reason for the absence (and provide documentation, if appropriate), and make up class work missed within a reasonable amount of time, if allowed. Missing class meetings may result in reducing the overall grade in the class as full notes for this course will not be posted to the web. Exams will only be given on the designated dates unless you have obtained prior consent from the instructor and/or an excused absence. Assignments must be turned in by the due date; no points will not be given for late assignments except by prior consent of the instructor and/or an excused absence.

WSU Disability Statement

Graduate students with identified disabilities should contact the Access Center before the semester that they plan to attend and initiate the accommodations process. Accommodations are unique for each individual and some require a significant amount of time to prepare for, so it is essential that students notify the Access Center as far in advance as possible. Students with a disability that is identified during the semester should contact the Access Center as soon as possible to arrange for an appointment and a review of their documentation by an Access advisor. All accommodations must be approved through the Access Center located on each campus.

Contact information for the Access Center at each campus can be found at the following websites:

Pullman: http://accesscenter.wsu.edu/
Spokane: https://spokane.wsu.edu/studentaffairs/disability-resources/
Tri-Cities: http://www.tricity.wsu.edu/disability/
Vancouver: http://studentaffairs.vancouver.wsu.edu/access-center)

All students requesting reasonable accommodation must meet with the instructor prior to or during the first week of the course to review all proposed accommodations in relation to course content and requirements. Exceptions to this timeframe will be granted only upon a showing of good cause.

WSU Safety

Classroom and campus safety are of paramount importance at Washington State University, and are the shared responsibility of the entire campus population. WSU urges students to follow the “Alert, Assess, Act,” protocol for all types of emergencies and the “Run, Hide, Fight” response for an active shooter incident. Remain ALERT (through direct observation or emergency notification), ASSESS your specific situation, and ACT in the most appropriate way to assure your own safety (and the safety of others if you are able).

Please sign up for emergency alerts on your account at MyWSU. For more information on this subject, campus safety, and related topics, please view the FBI’s Run, Hide, Fight video and visit the WSU safety portal.

Subject to Change

Information contained in this course syllabus, other than the grade and absence policy, is subject to change without advanced notice, as deemed appropriate by the instructor.