Admission Requirements

Admission to this program is contingent upon admission to the Graduate School. Only a limited number of applicants who have demonstrated superior ability can be accepted in this program.

In addition to the transcripts and other materials required by the Graduate School, the Department requires all materials cited above for admission to the Master of Arts program; curriculum vitae; writing sample, three letters of recommendation, and letter of intent.  An applicant's admissibility into the doctoral program will not be reviewed until all these materials have been received.

All application and admissions materials must be submitted to the Office of Graduate Admissions by January 15 to begin in the Fall semester.

The Plan of Work must be submitted before forty credits have been completed and before the qualifying examination is scheduled.

The Doctor of Philosophy requires ninety credits beyond the baccalaureate degree, thirty of which must be earned as dissertation credit.

A minimum of thirty credits of graduate work must be at the 7000-level or above (excluding dissertation credits). Students must petition the Graduate Committee for course equivalents, substitutes, or any other exceptions to the Ph.D. requirements. The student is expected to command in detail theories, concepts, methodology, and research techniques in common usage in the student's subfield of concentration (cultural anthropology, linguistics, archaeology, or biological anthropology).

In the Qualifying Examinations, the student must demonstrate, by written examination, competence in depth in at least three areas of specialization relating to the dissertation topic, including mastery of a broad range of theoretical materials and an ability to think and write analytically. After passing the Qualifying Examinations and prior to beginning fieldwork, the student must submit the following documents:

1. an oral defense of the dissertation prospectus and an approved doctoral dissertation outline and record of approval form;
2. a prospectus; and
3. a Human Investigations Committee Behavioral Protocol Summary Form, when applicable.

Once the student has attained candidate status, he/she is required to register for doctoral dissertation credits. Students must register for 9000-level credits (ANT 9991, ANT 9992, ANT 9993, and ANT 9994) through the Graduate Office and must fulfill 7.5 credits in these courses each semester for four consecutive semesters (excluding spring-summer). All course work completed to satisfy the following degree requirements must be done in accordance with the regulations of the Graduate School and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

Additionally, the student is expected to:

1. complete substantial field research, which will ordinarily be of sufficient duration and scope to provide materials for the student’s dissertation (in the case of biological anthropology and some other specializations, the dissertation may be based on laboratory research); and
2. submit an acceptable dissertation and present a final lecture.

Coursework: The following courses, or their equivalents, must be completed:

Foreign Language Requirement: Doctoral students must demonstrate a proficiency in an approved scholarly language. In conjunction with your faculty advisor you will identify the language other than English most relevant to your scholarly work. This should be a language that has a substantial scholarly literature, such as a relevant academic journal.  Your advisor, or another faculty member in the department, will select a scholarly passage in that language, roughly 300 words in length, on a subject related to your dissertation research. You have 90 minutes to complete the examination with the aid of a printed bilingual dictionary, but no electronic aids.

Additional Information: A more detailed discussion of the doctoral program is available from the department. Students should also consult the Graduate School's general requirements for doctoral degrees.