Admission

Admission to the MA program in anthropology requires: 1) the completion of a minimum of 15 credit hours in anthropology to include courses in the history and theory of anthropology and in the three main subdivisions of the discipline; 2) an introductory statistics course ( PSY 301, SOC 313, STAT 370 or equivalent); and 3) a grade point average of 3.250 (on a 4.000 scale).

The priority deadline for application is February 1 for fall and October 1 for spring. Prospective students are required to submit a written statement of purpose that addresses their intended area(s) of specialization. Applications will be reviewed by the entire faculty and those meeting the admission requirements may be accepted if there is a faculty member specializing in the applicant’s area of interest and available to serve as graduate advisor.

Applicants will be notified of the faculty’s decision by March 15 for fall admission or November 15 for spring admission under the priority deadline. Students deficient in any of the course prerequisites (1 and 2 above) or GPA requirements may be admitted under conditional or probationary status pending removal of the deficiencies.

Application deadlines for financial award consideration are February 1 for fall and October 1 for spring. Awards will continue until funds are depleted.

Program Requirements

Only graduate students may enroll in 700- and 800-level courses for graduate credit. A master’s degree in anthropology requires 36 credit hours of graduate study, of which 60 percent (22 credit hours) must be numbered 700 or above.

All Tracks

Students in all tracks are required to form a thesis/project/internship committee of at least two full-time graduate teaching faculty from within the anthropology department and at least one graduate faculty from another department. This committee must be formed prior to, or upon the completion of, 18 credit hours of graduate study. Students must present to their committee a proposal for their thesis, project or internship, which must be approved before the second set of track hours ( ANTH 872 / ANTH 874 / ANTH 876). The committee approves these proposals and also the oral defense of all theses, project reports and internship reports. Written theses, project reports and internship reports must be submitted to the committee at least ten working days prior to the date of the oral defense. All students who present a thesis, project or internship must pass an oral defense of their effort. A world language examination is contingent upon the nature of the thesis topic.

Track 1

Track 1 requires satisfying all the general requirements listed above and the following:

Track 2

Track 2 requires satisfying all the general requirements listed above and the following:

Track 3

Track 3 requires satisfying all the general requirements listed above and the following:

Applied Learning

Students in the MA in anthropology are required to complete an applied learning or research experience to graduate from the program. The requirement can be met by completing the thesis ( ANTH 875 and ANTH 876), project ( ANTH 873 and ANTH 874) or internship ( ANTH 871 and ANTH 872). All three graduate program tracks offer students a broad variety of applied professional research experiences.