Professor Theodore P. Williams served as a National Academy of Sciences Exchange Fellow to the USSR.
In February, the department adopted as official policy the practice of scheduling graduate seminar series on Thursdays and Fridays, so that out-of-town guest speakers could more easily be scheduled to give seminars in more than one series.
In March of 1973, the Second Genetics Group Alumni Conference brought a number of former students of the department back to Tallahassee for a three-day scientific meeting.
In May, after the recent interior repainting, the exterior of Conradi Building was also painted, to such good effect that faculty members in Biology Unit I joked about wanting to move back.
Karen Valdes Strong, wife of faculty member Dr. Donald R. Strong, exhibited her paintings at Tallahassee's Seven Hills Gallery in June.
The 9 July 1973 issue of BioNotes carried this announcement: "The KSR-38 teletype terminal (with APL character set) will be arriving shortly in 233 Biology Unit I. The Computing Center does not have any ports available at this time to connect our terminal to the CDC 6500. However the Psychology Department has offered to loan us one of their ports until September."
In September, BioNotes announced that the Itasca Wampuscats (presumably named for the Lake Itasca Biological Station) won the losers' bracket of the intramure slow-pitch softball tournament. Members of the team included D. Stephens, A. Guy, H. Jervis, L. R. Fox, M. Kurek, M. Bucholtz, F. Larimer, L. Erickson, D. Eder, and others.
A retirement party for Robert K. Godfrey took place on 11 October at the Killearn Golf and Country Club.
In November Dr. Margaret Y. Menzel left the position of Associate Chair for Graduate Students to become director of the department's greenhouse facilities. She was replaced as Associate Chair by Dr. A. Gib DeBusk.
Dr. David C. White became Associate Director for Academic Affairs for FSU's Program in Medical Science.
Twenty-nine students finished undergraduate degrees in Biological Science in the spring of 1973:
Chester A. Aikens
Richard K. Biro
Earle N. Buckley III
Herbert J. Emmons
Eric G. Frank
Kathryn A. Hamilton
Thomas S. Lacey
Marjorie C. Mewha
David M. Nichols
diana B. Roth
Maria C. Slandy
Marcus Edward Ward
Nancy Ann Whitney
Andrea J. Fulwiler
Tat Min Au
Grayson C. Brown
James Cory Casterton
Joseph Fisher
Jack R. Fross
Benjamin Z. Kirsner
Christy L. McMichael
Jack S. Neely
Joseph M. Palma
David Pontis
Henry J. Sacerio
Douglas L. Trotman
James S. White
Bruce J. French
Gundy B. Knos
Twenty-five more finished in the fall:
Gaile E. Anderson
Stephen C. Arnsdorff
Joanne U. Brandt
Kent R. Corral
Jane E. Cundiff
Charlene Francis
Linda R. Galloway
Ralph L. Helms, Jr.
Robert A. Jaeger
Roxann Ketch
Louis George Lee
Betty J. Lindsay
Guilford W. Matthews
Robert D. Miracle
Charles W. O'Connor
Marilyn L. Polson
James W. Pontius
Beverly P. Rawlings
Sara E. Solomon
Doyle L. Stafford
Mary E. Strickland
Malcolm E. Thomas
Richard W. Wideman
Nina L. Young
Gregory A. Zollo
Those completing the M.S. in 1973:
Kristine Hofgren Atkinson
Barbara N. Baker
James F. Berry
Stephen Eugene Brice
Columbus Hall Brown
Linda Corcoran
Bruce D. DeGrove
James R. Ferguson
Theresa Ann Hooks
JoAnn Caryl Kelly
Frank William Larimer
Thomas C. Lewis
Helena Pate Nunn
John B. Peebles III
Constance Wyatt Phillips
Leslie R. Taylor
James Barrett Turner
Conrad E. Weiser
Those completing the Ph.D. in 1973:
Roger W. Beuerman
Vincent T. Brescia
Douglas Jules Eder
William J. Higgins
Edward W. Lusby, Jr.
Roseli Ocampo
Julian Kenneth Shull, Jr.
Glenn M. Sponholtz
W. Dorsey Stuart
Dr. Ocampo married her advisor, Dr. E. Imre Friedmann, in 1974 and maintained a life-long association with the department, as a research associate and courtesy faculty member. She died in 2005.