Program Overview

Department of Anthropology, College of Arts and Sciences

• Degree Awarded: Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology
• Chair: Katheryn Twiss
• Director of Undergraduate Studies: Catherine Markham
• Department Administrator: Megan Alberti

Overview

Anthropology is a social science that seeks to understand and explain human cultural, behavioral, and biological variation through time and space. The undergraduate Anthropology program introduces students to the field of anthropology, its branches, its theories and methods, and its relation to the other social sciences, the humanities, and the natural sciences. The program offers opportunities to study abroad in Kenya, Madagascar, and other areas.

Goals of the Anthropology Program

• Introduce students to the ways in which evolutionary and historical processes have shaped our past and resulted in the biological, behavioral, and cultural diversity observed today across modern humans and nonhuman primates.
• Showcase for students the connections among all primates (including humans) as well as primates' interactions with their environments across time and space.
• Promote students' understanding and development of skills in the collection, analysis, synthesis, and interpretation of varying types of anthropological data.
• Foster students' ability to effectively communicate anthropological knowledge in both written and oral form.

Degree Requirements

The major in Anthropology leads to the Bachelor of Arts degree. The Anthropology program offers a flexible curriculum that allows students to tailor their coursework to specific intellectual interests, training objectives, and career goals. Completion of the major requires 39 credits. Of the courses used to fulfill the program learning outcomes described below, at least 18 credits must be from upper-division courses (300 or 400-level) and at least 6 additional credits must be from 400-level courses. All major courses (including transfer credits) must be passed with a letter grade of C or higher.

1. Core Concepts (minimum 18 credits)

• Learning outcome: Students will be able to identify and describe various areas of anthropological study.
• Courses in this objective area focus on: how we differ from and are similar to each other, non-human primates, and non-primates from biological, behavioral, and cultural perspectives; the biogeographic and environmental contexts in which modern humans and our living and fossil primate relatives originated, adapted, evolved, and live today; and how biology, cognition, society and technology have changed and are changing over space and time in the human lineage.
• Students take the following three (3) courses (9 credits):
  • ANT 102 - What Makes Us Human? (3 credits)
  • ANT 104 - Introduction to Archaeology (3 credits)
  • ANT 120 - Introduction to Biological Anthropology (3 credits)
• Students also take at least three (3) of the following approved "Core Concept" courses for a minimum of 9 credits:
  • ANT 101 - Human Biology (3 credits)
  • ANT 103 - Archaeology for a Better World (3 credits)
  • ANT 200 - Contemporary and Historical Perspectives on Insular Southeast Asia (3 credits)
  • ANT 201 - Human Evolution (3 credits)
  • ANT 202 - People and Pups: Dog Behavior and Human-Canine Relationships (3 credits)
  • ANT 225 - Anthropology of Global Inequality (3 credits)
  • ANT 230 - Peoples of the World (3 credits)
  • ANT 250 - African Cultures Today (3 credits)
  • ANT 277 - The Origins of Art (3 credits)
  • ANT 300 - Human Anatomy (4 credits)
  • ANT 303 - Earth and Life Through Time: Vertebrate Paleontology & Paleoecology (with emphasis on the Turkana Basin) (3 credits)
  • ANT 304 - Ecology: Linking People and Nature (with emphasis on the Turkana Basin) (3 credits)
  • ANT 305 - Culture and Language of Madagascar (3 credits)
  • ANT 306 - Human Evolution (and evidence from the Turkana Basin) (3 credits)
  • ANT 355 - Ancient African Civilizations (3 credits)
  • ANT 377 - Animal Tool Use (3 credits)
  • ANT 403 - Seminar in Anthropology (3 credits)
  • EBH 200 - The Evolution of Human Behavior (3 credits)
  • EBH 214 - Evolutionary Neuroscience (3 credits)
  • EBH 302 - Human Genetics (3 credits)
  • EBH 316 - The Evolution of the Human Brain (3 credits)
  • EBH 359 - Behavioral Ecology (3 credits)
  • EBH 362 - Evolution of Social Complexity (3 credits)
  • EBH 404 - Evolution of Parenting (3 credits)

2. Connections (minimum 12 credits)

• Learning outcome: Students will be able to explain interconnections among biological (including environmental), behavioral, and cultural systems and processes, both past and present, and describe how anthropologists both evaluate these relationships and apply them to their research as well as current environmental, economic, and societal issues.
• Courses in this objective area focus on: the nature of these connections, including for example, studying the evolutionary relationships among primates (including humans; living and extinct) and their behavioral and anatomical connections primates and non-primates have with their environment.
• Students take four (4) of the following approved "Connections" courses for a minimum of 12 credits:
  • ANT 203 - Native Americans (3 credits)
  • ANT 208 - Zombiology: What the Walking Dead Can Teach Us About Real Humans (3 credits)
  • ANT 210 - Sunken Cities and Pirates: The World of Underwater Archaeology (3 credits)
  • ANT 215 - Climate and Culture (3 credits)
  • ANT 220 - Controversies in Human Biology and Behavior (3 credits)
  • ANT 222 - Greek and Roman Mythology through Art & Technology (3 credits)
  • ANT 255 - Forensic Anthropology (3 credits)
  • ANT 260 - How We Eat (3 credits)
  • ANT 268 - Archaeology of Human Origins (3 credits)
  • ANT 273 - The Unstoppable Species? (3 credits)
  • ANT 290 - Science and Technology in Ancient Society (3 credits)
  • ANT 309 - Comparing Ecosystems in Madagascar (3 credits)
  • ANT 307 - Prehistoric Archaeology of Africa (with emphasis on the Turkana Basin) (3 credits)
  • ANT 310 - Environments, Ecosystems and Evolution: Evidence from the Turkana Basin (3 credits)
  • ANT 311 - Immersion in Another Culture (3 credits)
  • ANT 317 - Climate Change and Human Evolution (3 credits)
  • ANT 326 - Lemurs of Madagascar (3 credits)
  • ANT 350 - Medical Anthropology (3 credits)
  • ANT 351 - Comparative Religion (3 credits)
  • ANT 357 - Origins of Agriculture (3 credits)
  • ANT 361 - Primate Conservation (3 credits)
  • ANT 360 - Ancient Mesopotamia (3 credits)
  • ANT 371 - Ancient China (3 credits)
  • ANT 379 - Cultural Diversity in China (3 credits)
  • ANT 381 - Applied Anthropology (3 credits)
  • ANT 391 - Topics in Anthropology (3 credits)
  • ANT 407 - Building Bones: Bone Development and Evolution (3 credits)
  • ANT 408 - Pastoralism Under Pressure: Savannas, Societies, and Sustainability in East Africa (3 credits)
  • EBH 325 - Evolution of Sex (3 credits)
  • EBH 331 - Hormones and Behavior (3 credits)
  • EBH 391 - Topics in Human Evolutionary Biology (3 credits)
  • EBH 405 - Life History and Development (3 credits)

3. Critical Thinking and Research (minimum 9 credits)

• Learning outcome: Students will be able to describe in detail the methods employed by anthropologists to acquire and analyze new data to investigate biological and social phenomena, and/or they themselves will select data and analyze it with proficiency using methods appropriate to investigating a specific anthropological research question.
• Courses in this objective area focus on: the identification and evaluation of information for factual accuracy and relevance to evolutionary, historical, and contemporary anthropological issues; the interpretation of analytical results and their application to larger issues.
• Students take three (3) of the following approved "Critical thinking and research" courses for a minimum of 9 credits:
  • ANT 308 - Paleoanthropological Field Methods in the Turkana Basin (3 credits)
  • ANT 320 - Historical Archaeology (3 credits)
  • ANT 321 - Primate Evolution (3 credits)
  • ANT 322 - Archaeological Field Methods (3-6 credits)
  • ANT 352 - Methods in Studying Primates (3 credits)
  • ANT 353 - Biodiversity Assessment Methods for Tropical Field Research (3 credits)
  • ANT 359 - The Archaeology of Food (3 credits)
  • ANT 363 - Approaches in Archaeology (3 credits)
  • ANT 387 - Independent Research Project in Madagascar (3 credits)
  • ANT 399 - Advanced Field Research in the Turkana Basin (3-12 credits)
  • ANT 402 - Problems in Anthropology (3 credits)
  • ANT 404 - Human Osteology (3 credits)
  • ANT 406 - Pseudoscience and Anthropology (3 credits)
  • ANT 410 - Ethnobotany and Paleoethnobotany (3 credits)
  • ANT 411 - Comparative Primate Anatomy (4 credits)
  • ANT 415 - Ethnoarchaeology (3 credits)
  • ANT 416 - Research Design in Archaeology (3 credits)
  • ANT 418 - Stone Tools in Human Evolution (3 credits)
  • ANT 419 - Zooarchaeology (3 credits)
  • ANT 487 - Independent Research in Anthropology (0-6 credits)
  • EBH 204 - Research Skills (3 credits)
  • EBH 230 - Computer-based Biostatistics (4 credits)
  • EBH 381 - Genomics Laboratory (3 credits)
  • EBH 401 - Seminar in Evolutionary Biology of Humans (3 credits)

4. Communication (Written, 0-credit)

• Learning outcome: Students will be able to author a multi-page paper consistent with academic standards in Anthropology.
• Students register for the 0-credit ANT 459, and submit a paper completed during a 300-level or higher "Writing Intensive" ANT/EBH course that earned a grade of C or higher.

5. Communication (Oral, 0-credit)

• Learning outcome: Students will be able to deliver an oral presentation consistent with academic standards in Anthropology.
• Students register for the 0-credit ANT 458 and document their delivery of an oral presentation completed during a 300-level or higher "Speaking Intensive" ANT/EBH course that earned a grade of C or higher.

Requirements for Advanced Anthropological Study

This option offers students the opportunity to put emphasis on a particular area of study or develop an advanced skill set. Students must meet with the Director of Undergraduate Studies to declare their intent to pursue the option and for guidance on their course options.

• Students must satisfy baseline requirements of curriculum for the major plus;
• Students complete an approved minor or at least three (3) additional (not already used to satisfy above major requirements) courses, two of which must be upper division, for a minimum of nine (9) credits

Anthropology Honors Program

The honors program is designed for students preparing to enter a graduate program in anthropology or related disciplines. Graduation with Honors in Anthropology requires the following:

1. A cumulative overall grade point average of 3.00 or higher.
2. A cumulative major grade point average of 3.50 or higher.
3. Completion of an honors thesis based on a one-year independent research project (ANT 495 and ANT 496) under the direction of a faculty member written in the form of a scientific report (20 double-spaced pages or more). The completed thesis must be approved by a thesis committee composed of the faculty sponsor and two additional faculty members.

SBC Courses

This table illustrates major courses that can also be used to fulfill SBC requirements.

Sample Course Sequence

Freshman

Sophomore

Junior

Senior