Anthropology (B.A.)

Anthropology is the study of the human species, its cultures and traditions, human behavior and biology, and how these evolve over time. As a member of our learning “village,” you’ll gain the knowledge and skills you need to prepare for a variety of careers. Recent graduates have found work as educators, museum staff, integrative health center coordinators, and archaeological project directors. Some serve with the Peace Corps, AmeriCorps, or Teach for America. Others pursue graduate degrees in fields such as anthropology (including archaeology), law, public health, ecology, and gerontology.

Our faculty teach the three primary subdisciplines: cultural anthropology, archaeology, and biological anthropology. Their areas of expertise span the cultures of southern Africa (Lesotho), east Asia (Korea), southern Asia (India), Peru, Mexico, Hawaii, and the Native Americans of the Northeast.

Small class sizes ensure that you’ll have plenty of opportunity to collaborate closely with your professors in the classroom, lab, and field. A mandatory methods class in the area of your choice will teach you the practical interviewing, field mapping, and community relations skills that are vital to real-world research. The program also requires a one-course minimum fieldwork component, but most of our students do more than that. Guided by a faculty member, you might join one of our ethnographic courses in Hawaii or India, work with Native Americans on a traditional farm, or take part in an archaeological field school on Cayuga sites in central New York.

At the end of four years, a senior capstone course will pull your coursework and fieldwork experiences together, highlighting various career options and preparing you for the transition to the professional world or graduate study. A recent survey of our graduates from the last 10 years shows that nearly all of them are in jobs or graduate and professional programs directly related to their anthropological interests.