Both the department and the university define the major requirements for each stage of study. The first year of the program is geared toward giving students a theoretical foundation so that they may begin to formulate ideas for a research project. All graduate students are expected to be in residence (on campus) during their first year in the program. At the end of the first year, students will submit a portfolio of substantive work to their first-year committee.
Students are expected to pass a first-year review and have advanced to Ph.D. candidacy by the end of their third year. In order to advance to candidacy in cultural anthropology, students must complete:
Core Courses
Must be completed in fall/winter of the first year in the program.*
* ANTH 252, Survey of Cultural Anthropology, is recommended if the student comes from a non-anthropological background.
Ethnographic Writing Requirement
This requirement may be completed by passing Ethnographic Practice, (ANTH 208A) or, upon approval from the department, through an independent research project in which the student engages in research based on participant observation or other ethnographic methodology and in which the student adequately translates that research experience into a written text.
Three Additional Cultural Anthropology Graduate Seminars
Grant Writing (ANTH 228), Colloquia (ANTH 292), Independent Study (ANTH 297/ANTH 299), and tutorials do not count toward this requirement. Tutorials that are taught in conjunction with undergraduate courses do not count toward this requirement.
Note: Not all of these courses are offered each year.
Students are expected to pass a first-year review and have advanced to Ph.D. candidacy by the end of their third year. In order to advance to candidacy in archaeology, students must complete:
Two Core Theory Courses
Must be completed during first year in the program.
ANTH 270A | Archaeology Graduate Core Course: History of Archaeological Theory | 5 |
ANTH 270B | Current Directions in Archaeological Theory | 5 |
Two Research Methods/Laboratory Courses
Student may substitute courses in another department with adviser approval.
NOTE: Lecture and Lab combinations count as a single course
Two Courses on the Archaeology of a Geographical, Temporal, or Topical Area
Student may substitute courses in another department with adviser approval.
Two Additional Graduate Seminars
Students may substitute a graduate seminar in cultural or biological anthropology or in another department with adviser approval. Tutorials that are taught in conjunction with undergraduate courses do not count toward this requirement.
ANTH 225 | The Anthropology of Things: Sign, Gift, Commodity, Tool | 5 |
ANTH 279 | Feminism and Gender in Archaeology | 5 |
ANTH 282 | Household Archaeology | 5 |
One Course in Grant Writing or Research Design
Quantitative Methods Requirement
Students in the Archaeology PhD track must demonstrate competency in statistical or computational analysis techniques appropriate to their specific dissertation research projects and professional goals. Plans for gaining and demonstrating this competency should be developed as part of the first year review for each student, in consultation with their adviser and first year committee and with the approval of the department. This competency must be demonstrated and approved by the department prior to taking the qualifying exam and advancing to candidacy.
Two Laboratory Apprenticeships
ANTH 298 | Advanced Laboratory Apprenticeship | 5 |
Students are expected to pass a first-year review and have advanced to Ph.D. candidacy by the end of their third year. In order to advance to candidacy in biological anthropology, students must complete:
Core Course
Must be completed in Fall/Winter of first year in program.
ANTH 295A | Scientific Method: Biological Anthropology | 5 |
Ecology and Evolutionary Theory Requirement
Students in the biological anthropology Ph.D. track must demonstrate competency in ecology and evolutionary theory appropriate to their specific dissertation research projects and professional goals. Plans for gaining and demonstrating this competency should be developed during the first quarter in the program, in consultation with their adviser. This competency must be demonstrated and approved by the department by the end of the first year.
One Advanced Anthropological Methods and Research Course
Students in the biological anthropology Ph.D. track must demonstrate competency in advanced methods in human skeletal biology, forensics and bioarchaeology, molecular analysis (genetics), or stable isotope analysis . Plans for gaining and demonstrating this competency should be developed during the first quarter in the program, in consultation with their adviser. This competency must be demonstrated and approved by the department by the end of the first year.
One Additional Advanced Methods and Research Course
Must be completed by the end of the second year. Student may substitute courses in another department with adviser approval.
One Graduate Seminar in Archaeology or Cultural Anthropology
Tutorials that are taught in conjunction with undergraduate courses do not count toward this requirement.
Must be completed by the end of the second year.
Quantitative or Computational Requirement
Students in the biological anthropology Ph.D. track must demonstrate competency in statistical or computational analysis techniques appropriate to their specific dissertation research projects and professional goals. Plans for gaining and demonstrating this competency should be developed as part of the first-year review for each student, in consultation with their adviser and first-year committee and with the approval of the department. This competency must be demonstrated and approved by the department prior to taking the qualifying examination and advancing to candidacy.
Nine Quarters of Advanced Reading in Biological Anthropology
Students are expected to enroll in ANTH 294R, Advanced Readings in Biological Anthropology, every quarter prior to advancing to candidacy.
ANTH 294R | Advanced Readings in Biological Anthropology | 5 |
Two Laboratory Apprenticeships
Students are required to enroll in ANTH 298, Advanced Laboratory Apprenticeship, or equivalent in another department.
ANTH 298 | Advanced Laboratory Apprenticeship | 5 |
Six Quarters of Methods in Biological Anthropology
Students are expected to enroll in ANTH 216, Methods in Biological Anthropology, in every quarter prior to advancing to candidacy starting their second year.
ANTH 216 | Methods in Biological Anthropology | 5 |
Nine Quarters of Seminar Series
Students are required to attend at least 8 talks per quarter in the Anthropology Colloquia, Arch-BioAnth Lunch Series, EEB Seminar Series, or EPS Seminar Series.
Comprehensive Exam
This must be completed prior to the end of the second year. Students must demonstrate knowledge in Ecological and Evolutionary Theory, expertise in at least two subfields of Biological Anthropology, and sufficient background in either Archaeology or Cultural Anthropology, especially Medical or Environmental Anthropology. The exam format is a written essay and a two-hour oral exam.
Students may satisfy both the oral and written requirement with a manuscript (worthy of submission to a professional journal) based on a research project undertaken in the second year with adviser approval. They have to be first author of this manuscript in order to satisfy the requirement.