A complete understanding of life involves how organisms are able to function in their environment and how they arise. Understanding how organisms arise involves both their evolution and development. Thus to completely comprehend living things, biology must study their function, development and evolution. Previous proposals for standardized post-secondary biology curricula have relied upon surveys of current practice, producing a curriculum that omits development and conflates evolution with ecology. To produce undergraduate biology programs that focus on the core essence of biology, curricula must address these three pillars undergirding biology: function, development, and evolution. Focusing the curriculum in this way may ease the difficulty of squeezing the burgeoning growth of biological knowledge into biology degree programs. A number of different approaches are possible, ranging from ensuring that these three principles are woven into the core biology courses to having specific required courses for each. Whichever approach is taken, it is imperative that biological function, development and evolution are integrated with each other such that students graduate with an understanding that these three concepts are inextricably entwined with, and dependent upon, each other.