Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology

The curriculum includes courses in the four major subfields of anthropology: archaeology, cultural/social anthropology, linguistic anthropology, and physical/biological anthropology. These courses familiarize students with current issues in human evolution, linguistics, the prehistoric development of culture, and cultural theory. Undergraduate majors are required to gain a background in all four of these major subfields. Graduate students may specialize in archaeology, cultural anthropology, or evolutionary anthropology. The program in archaeology emphasizes research and training in the prehistory of the Americas, with additional strengths in South Asia, China, Japan, and Korea. Faculty research employs ceramic analysis, pale economic and paleoenvironmental approaches including geoarchaeology, zoo archaeology, and macro botanical analysis, as well as stable isotope analysis, archaeometry via gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, and modeling and simulation. The department also conducts summer archaeological field schools. The program in cultural anthropology emphasizes globalization, historical ethnography, psychological anthropology, medical anthropology, gender and culture, biocultural perspectives, and public health anthropology. The public health anthropology emphasis is part of the Peace Corps Master's International Program. Faculty research is based in North and South America, Polynesia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and South and Southeast Asia. The program in evolutionary anthropology emphasizes evolutionary psychology, behavioral ecology, evolutionary cultural anthropology, evolutionary archaeology and paleoanthropology. Evolutionary faculty has research interests that span several continents including the Americas, Europe and Africa. The department also emphasizes research and training in Psychological/Medical Anthropology and Ethno biology. Departmental offices and laboratories are located in College Hall near the center of campus. Physical facilities include special laboratories for physical anthropology, isotope and lithic analysis, pale ecology, geoarchaeology, and zoo archaeology, as well as research laboratories for faculty and advanced students. The Museum of Anthropology, with permanent and temporary exhibits, and ethnographic and archaeological research collections, is also housed in College Hall. The department offers courses of study leading to the degrees of Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology, Master of Arts in Anthropology, and Doctor of Philosophy (Anthropology). Positions open to anthropologists include those in teaching, research, museum work, state and federal agencies, private consulting firms, and international business. In addition, anthropology provides a strong general foundation for a pre-professional education. We expect that our graduating students will have: 1. Familiarity with the basic principles and findings of ethnology, archaeology, physical anthropology, and linguistics, the four subfields of American anthropology as well as the ways in which these four subfields are interrelated; 2. Awareness of the basic research and analytical methods and underlying theories of the four subfields of anthropology; 3. Ability to read critically and synthesize information produced by professional anthropologists and published in academic books and journals; 4. Ability to write in accessible, standard, academic prose narratives that are marked by: a framework of clear, general statements; specific, concrete evidence that supports these statements; analysis and discussion of the material presented; and a coherent summary conclusion, indicating the significance of the work; 5. Ability to apply the principles, findings, and research and analytical methods of anthropology to new situations and data, including those of everyday life.