With the blossoming of evolutionary developmental biology and evolutionary genomics following on the heels of the recent molecular revolution in evolutionary biology, the field is arguably more expansive and integrative than ever. This growth has infused an air of excitement and anticipation into the discipline, as it appears to be on the verge of providing long-awaited answers to questions such as the structure of the tree of life, the origin of body plans, the genetic changes that underlie speciation, and the genetic basis of those traits that make us uniquely human (Avise 2003; Coyne and Orr 2004; Carroll 2005; The Chimpanzee Sequencing and Analysis Consortium 2005). At the same time, the fact that the pageantry of research in evolutionary biology is so diverse presents vexing questions for those of us faced with teaching undergraduate courses in evolutionary biology: how much of this vast discipline should we attempt to cover in a single course, and what is the best way to organize the material?