The applied anthropology Master of Arts program (MAAA) is designed for non-anthropologists who are already engaged in, or plan to enter, such fields as medicine, business, public health, education, journalism, law, environmental management, social services to refugee or immigrant populations, rural development, or public policy evaluation. It is designed to provide the student with a basic anthropological training and an appreciation of the significance of a cross-cultural perspective in professional practice. The master’s degree is neither required nor encouraged as a stepping-stone to the PhD. All students pursuing an MA in Applied Anthropology are required to demonstrate graduate-level reading proficiency in a foreign language approved by the student’s advisor or the department’s Graduate Committee prior to completion of the degree. Language proficiency can be demonstrated either through a language examination, successful completion of a non-credit graduate-level foreign language reading course offered by Boston University, or the equivalent of two years of undergraduate study of the language at Boston University. Students wishing to take the examination in a language for which the department has no examiner among the regular faculty must obtain approval for the examiner from the Graduate Committee.