The faculty in the Department of Anthropology offer graduate programs leading to the M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Anthropology.
Admission. In addition to the general requirements for admission to the Graduate College, the Department of Anthropology requires applicants to provide a statement of their interests and professional goals, and three letters of recommendation. Applicants who received their B.A. during the past ten years must also submit scores on the Graduate Record Examination. Undergraduate course work in anthropology is not a prerequisite for admission to the M.A. program. Admission to the Ph.D. program normally presumes an M.A. in Anthropology; students may be admitted without such a background on the condition that they acquire a knowledge of general anthropology in a manner to be specified at the time of admission.
Program of Study. Special training programs designed to terminate with a master’s degree are possible at the discretion of the student and faculty advisors. For example, the concentrations in linguistics, museum studies, medical anthropology, and bioarchaeology are at the master’s level. The primary purpose and scope of the graduate program in anthropology, however, is intended to lead to the Ph.D. degree.
The doctoral program is divided into three phases. The first consists of 24 semester hours of course work and readings, usually within a subdiscipline and closely allied areas, followed by six semester hours for the M.A. thesis (or publishable paper). The faculty may require additional hours of course work or other preparation for entering students who are unfamiliar with the concepts of general anthropology at a level equivalent to that of the Arizona State undergraduate anthropology core. Mastery of the phase I course material is demonstrated by successful completion of a written qualifying examination in social-cultural anthropology or, in physical anthropology, bioarchaeology, and archaeology, by successful completion of a sequence of core courses.
Admission to phase II of the doctoral program is granted to students on the basis of performance in phase I, the quality of M.A. research, prior course work, faculty recommendations, and other relevant information. The second phase consists of 30 semester hours of course work, reading in anthropology and related fields, and directed research designed to prepare the student for the dissertation project. Proficiency in one foreign language or quantitative methods may be required by the supervisory committee. The second phase is completed when the following have been met: (1) passing a written comprehensive examination, and (2) passing the oral defense of the dissertation proposal. The successful student is then advanced to candidacy.
The final phase consists of 24 semester hours of research and dissertation.
Certificate in Museum Studies. The certificate is awarded to nondegree or graduate students who are accepted into the certificate program and who complete 12 hours of required course work and a six-semester hour internship at an approved museum. The certificate may be taken independently or in conjunction with the M.A. degree in Anthropology with a concentration in museum studies.
Master of Public Health. The faculty in the department participate in offering a Master of Public Health (M.P.H.) with a concentration in cultural and behavioral dimensions of public health as a part of the Arizona Graduate Program in Public Health on the University of Arizona campus. This program concentration offers theoretical and practical learning experiences to enable the student to develop competencies in understanding and planning health programs for culturally diverse clients and communities in the United States and across the world. The central objective of the concentration is understanding and evaluating cultural influences on health and illness, health promotion, and disease prevention.
MASTER OF ARTS
Concentrations are available at the master’s level in archaeology, bioarchaeology, linguistics, medical anthropology, museum studies, physical anthropology, and social-cultural anthropology.
The new medical anthropology concentration emphasizes biocultural perspectives on the study of health and illness behavior. The faculty has a range of teaching and research activities that span biological, physical, ecological, sociocultural, and applied areas of medical anthropology. The program combines theoretical approaches with an applied problem-solving focus to prepare students for careers both in academia and in health care delivery and public health.
See “Master’s Degrees” for information on the M.A. degree.
CONCURRENT M.A. ANTHROPOLOGY AND M.S. JUSTICE STUDIES
Graduate students in the Department of Anthropology and the School of Justice Studies are able to receive a concurrent M.A. in Anthropology with a concentration in social-cultural anthropology and a M.S. degree in Justice Studies. The principal purpose of the program is to prepare individuals with complementary knowledge and skills for basic and applied research, in addition to administrative and educational activities related to justice studies and anthropology.
Students must be admitted separately to each program, following the guidelines of the Graduate College, Department of Anthropology, and School of Justice Studies. Additional information on the M.A. in Anthropology and the M.S. in Justice Studies may be obtained from each academic unit.
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
Concentrations are available at the doctoral level in archaeology, physical anthropology, and social-cultural anthropology.
See “Doctor of Philosophy” for more information on the Ph.D. degree.
RESEARCH AND TEACHING ACTIVITIES
Faculty in the Department of Anthropology are actively engaged in research on a wide range of problems and in a variety of geographical settings, with special strength in the American Southwest, Southeast Asia, Mesoamerica, the Near East, and the Arctic. Individual faculty conduct research in Arizona, New Mexico, Ohio, Alaska, Canada, Guatemala, Mexico, England, Spain, Jordan, Morocco, Kenya, Madagascar, New Guinea, Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines.
While most research and teaching center on problems associated with one of the traditional subfields of anthropology, many departmental programs include faculty from various branches of anthropology. Research and teaching in archaeology center on archaeological theory, research methods, quantitative methods, computer and statistical applications, paleoecology of hunter-gatherers, and the archaeology of social complexity. The program in social-cultural anthropology emphasizes social organization, religion, ecology and demography, research methods, human biology and social behavior, and anthropological linguistics. The physical anthropology program stresses osteology, dental anthropology, primatology, functional morphology, growth and development, paleoanthropology, human biological variation, disease ecology, and human origins. The program in museum studies includes emphases in curation, exhibition, educational programming, and administration. The medical anthropology program emphasizes biocultural perspectives on the study of health and illness behavior. The bioarchaeology program applies a holistic, ecological perspective in considering biological, environmental, demographic, and cultural processes at regional and local scales. The program in linguistics is interdisciplinary and has strengths in American Indian and Southeast Asian languages, bilingualism, language renewal, language and education, and ethnopoetics.
Among the research resources of the department are large archaeological, ethnographic, dental, and osteological collections; a majority of available fossil hominid casts; numerous archaeology and physical anthropology laboratories; departmental computers; radiographic, serologic, and pollen facilities; ethnographic and linguistic archives. The department publishes a monograph series, Anthropological ResearchPapers, and two series of field reports, Anthropological Field Studies and OCRM Reports. The department also maintains the Office of Cultural Resource Management and the Arizona State University Museum of Anthropology. The department operates the Deer Valley Rock Art Center in north Phoenix, a research and interpretive center situated at the largest concentration of petroglyphs in the Phoenix area. The Museum of Anthropology, which is housed in the Anthropology Building, works closely with the Heard Museum of Native American Cultures and Art, the Desert Botanical Gardens, the Pueblo Grande Museum, the Tempe Historical Society, and other museums in the area.
Omnibus Graduate Courses: See omnibus graduate courses that may be offered.
Page last updated:
Visits to this page: