Programs of Study
- PhD in Anthropology
- MA in Anthropology
- Graduate Minor in Museum Studies
- Graduate Minor in Heritage Studies
The Department of Anthropology offers MA and PhD degrees and professional training in Archaeology, Biological Anthropology, and Sociocultural and Linguistic Anthropology. We do not have a terminal MA program, and a formal master’s degree is not required for advancement in the program. Graduate students typically request the award of an MA in the course of their doctoral program participation. The MA degree is usually a first stage toward the doctorate or may be used by students to apply knowledge of anthropology to a related field. Our Department also offers a graduate minor in Museum Studies, and participates in the Medical Scholars Program in which students may obtain a Ph.D. in Anthropology and an M.D. degree.
We are committed to a rigorous funding philosophy that enables us to recruit, train, and graduate outstanding students. Our admissions process is highly selective and all admitted students are offered five and a half years of funding. Regular faculty reviews and mentorship of graduate students help to ensure our students’ prompt and significant progress. We are committed to training that instills the highest scholarly, professional, and ethical standards. In addition to our curriculum, we offer workshops on research ethics, grant writing, academic publishing, teaching strategies, non-academic careers, and the job search process. The 2010 National Research Council (NRC) assessments recognize our Department’s success by ranking us as No. 1 out of 82 comparable graduate programs in “Percent of Students Receiving Full Support” and in overall “Program Outcomes.” We also ranked 6th in “Percent of Minority Students,” 7th in “Percent of International Students,” and 8th in “Time to Degree.”
In just the past few years many of our graduating PhDs have attained tenure-track positions at universities and colleges, including New York University, Universidad San Francisco de Quito (Ecuador), University of Alabama, John Jay College, University of Kansas, University of Missouri, North Dakota State University, University of New Mexico, Eastern Illinois University, Western Oregon University, Florida International University, and Sam Houston State University. Others have secured initial post-doctoral, visiting, or research positions at institutions such as Columbia University, Duke University, University of California at Berkeley, Case Western Reserve University, George Washington University, University of Kansas, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Centro de Antropologia of the Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Cientificas, DePauw University, the Max Plank Institute, and the Museo Argentino de Cienceas Naturales-Conciet in Argentina.