Faculty Curators and Affiliated Faculty in the MVZ hold positions in the departments of Integrative Biology and ESPM, where they offer a variety of classes and seminars in vertebrate biology, evolution, and conservation. Students are exposed to key biological concepts and are taught to look at the animal world with a scientific mind. In the classroom, students evaluate scientific journal articles, discuss ideas and experimental design, and learn critical biological thinking.

Many of these classes have labs that take advantage of the extensive MVZ collections to train students in animal diversity, identification, and comparative morphology. A number of classes also require local or regional field trips that provide students with hands-on experience in animal observation and methods of field biology. These trips take advantage of the extensive East Bay Regional Park and UC Natural Reserve systems, which span a variety of distinct habitat types that support a diverse vertebrate fauna.