The Department of Anthropology offers a highly regarded graduate program organized into two distinct but related wings: Evolutionary and Sociocultural. The Evolutionary Wing (E-Wing) maintains a broad interdisciplinary research focus on human biology and culture, both past and present, with a scientific approach. The Sociocultural Wing (S-Wing) is committed to understanding how people organize their lives and interpret their circumstances in the modern/postmodern world. Most of our students are admitted to the graduate program in Anthropology for doctoral study only, they complete M.A. requirements in the normal course of the Ph.D. program. The focus of the Anthropology graduate program is the development of scholars who will contribute original and rigorous intellectual evaluation to the field of study through the Ph.D. program. The program provides a bridge between established research and new methodologies and approaches. Enrollment is limited to ensure perpetuation of a flexible, research-oriented program and close faculty-student contact. Applicants preferably should have a good general background in at least one area of anthropology. The academic requirements for the doctorate include successful completion of several graduate seminars and/or graduate statistics courses, a written preliminary examination, a pre-dissertation research project, an oral qualifying examination, and an acceptable doctoral dissertation.
Students gain advanced knowledge of the evolution of primate and human behavior, behavioral ecology of nonhuman primates, cultural evolution, human evolution, hunter-gatherers, North American prehistory, archaeological theory, identity politics, critical theory, culture/power/ideology, gender and society, political economy/ecology, and urban anthropology. Students graduate with the qualitative and quantitative skills necessary for professional research and teaching in archaeology, linguistic anthropology, biological anthropology, or social anthropology.
