Department of Anthropology

The curriculum includes courses in the four major subfields of anthropology: archaeology, cultural/social anthropology, linguistic anthropology, and biological anthropology. These courses familiarize students with current issues in human evolution, linguistics, the development of culture, and cultural theory. Undergraduate majors are required to gain a background in all four of these major subfields. Graduate students may specialize in archaeology, cultural anthropology, or evolutionary anthropology. The program in archaeology emphasizes research and training in the archaeology of the Americas, including the Pacific Northwest, the Intermountain West, the Southwest, the Plains, Mesoamerica, and the Andes. Faculty specialize in archaeological science and community based Indigenous research methods. The department also conducts summer archaeological field schools. The program in cultural anthropology emphasizes ethnography, ethnobiology, medical anthropology, biocultural perspectives, and public health anthropology. Faculty research is based in North and Central America, Sub-Saharan Africa, and South Asia. The program in evolutionary anthropology emphasizes biocultural perspectives, behavioral ecology, evolutionary psychology, primatology, and evolutionary cultural anthropology. Evolutionary faculty have research interests that span several continents including the Americas, Europe, Southeast Asia, and Africa.  

Departmental offices and laboratories are located in College Hall near the center of campus. Physical facilities include special laboratories for biological anthropology, isotope and lithic analysis, paleoecology, geoarchaeology, and zooarchaeology, as well as research laboratories for faculty and advanced students. The Museum of Anthropology, with permanent and temporary exhibits, and ethnographic and archaeological research collections, is also housed in College Hall.

The department offers courses of study leading to the degrees of Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology, Bachelor of Arts in Human Biology, Master of Arts in Anthropology, and Doctor of Philosophy (Anthropology). Positions open to anthropologists include those in teaching, research, museum work, state and federal agencies, non-governmental organizations, private consulting firms, and international business. In addition, anthropology provides a strong general foundation for a pre-professional education.

Human Biology

Human Biology is an explicitly interdisciplinary degree jointly administered by the Department of Anthropology and the School of Biological Sciences. The BA in Human Biology offers students an opportunity to explore how human biology influences and is influenced by the environment, cultural and social structures, and economic and political policies. Human Biology melds approaches and content from social and biological sciences to provide students with a synthetic understanding of the roles of culture, the dynamics of natural and social systems, and biological attributes responsible for shaping the human being. Our aim is to prepare students to be engaged, creative, insightful, and skillful in diverse professions that encompass the arenas of health and environmental sciences, societal support, and public policy that influence the welfare of humans.

Student Learning Outcomes

We expect that our graduating students will have:

1. Broad understanding of the subfields of archaeology, biological anthropology, cultural anthropology, and linguistics;
2. Awareness of the basic research and analytical methods and underlying theories of the four subfields of anthropology;
3. Ability to read critically and synthesize information produced by professional anthropologists and published in academic books and journals;
4. Holistic understanding of human biology and cultural diversity;
5. Ability to apply the principles, findings, and analytical methods of anthropology to new situations and data, including those of everyday life.

https://anthro.wsu.edu/undergraduate-studies/program-learning-goals/