Master of Arts in Anthropology

The Master of Arts program in Anthropology is designed for students who plan to continue their graduate studies in Anthropology at the Ph.D. level as well as for students who plan to pursue any of the numerous opportunities for graduate anthropologists, such as in private research, cultural resource management, private foundations, Foreign Service, education, and government. The program provides general graduate-level training in four interrelated fields: sociocultural anthropology, archaeology, biological anthropology, and linguistic anthropology. Beyond this foundation, each student designs a plan of coursework specific to their post-graduate goals in one of the four subfields. Students are then expected to demonstrate mastery of their subfield by preparing a thesis of original scholarly research. Following admission to classified standing, each student is assigned a temporary advisor to determine the scope of his/her interests and academic background and to establish the plan for elective coursework. After the graduate interview, the student forms a Thesis Committee composed of a graduate advisor and at least one additional member of the Anthropology faculty. The responsibility of the Thesis Committee is to provide general academic advice and to guide the student in conducting research, preparation for the preliminary exam, developing the thesis proposal, and writing the thesis. Students may develop their special interests through individual arrangements with their faculty advisors, or they may take advantage of opportunities for special training in such areas of Applied Anthropology as cultural resource management, museology, Anthropology in education, and medical Anthropology through participation in ongoing informal programs which may include special field work or intern placement with local agencies. Prospective students should visit the department website or contact the Graduate Coordinator for updated information on special opportunities.
Anthropology is the study of humans, past and present. Anthropologists take a broad approach to understanding the varieties of human experience.

Students with an Anthropology major enter careers in the anthropological sciences, such as cultural resource management, skeletal identification, zoological or museum technicians, government, the non-profit sector, education, healthcare and other areas that require contexts of science, cultural, social, and linguistic dynamics.

We offer both undergraduate and graduate degree programs that provide exposure to a foundation of the four interrelated fields: sociocultural anthropology, archaeology, biological anthropology, and linguistic anthropology.

Admission to classified graduate standing in Anthropology requires:

a baccalaureate degree,
a minimum 3.0 GPA for the last 60 units attempted.
Applicants lacking an undergraduate degree in anthropology may be conditionally accepted upon satisfactorily completing a set of prerequisite upper-division coursework based on the applicant's interests and goals in anthropology.
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