Anthropology Mission Statement

Anthropology is uniquely positioned to educate and engage students about the human condition. In doing so, our faculty take an integrated view of humanity from its deep past to diverse modernity. Our faculty are committed to training students in the methods by which anthropologists investigate the diversity of ancient and modern human cultures and societies. We do so by using theories that serve to explain the wide range of human diversity. While we share our knowledge with students, we foster critical thinking and analytical skills through classroom teaching and via field school research programs. As a result our students gain hands-on practical experience in diverse fieldwork settings in Central and South America and the Southwestern United States.

Anthropology Vision Statement

Our vision for the Anthropology Program is to strengthen the links between the subdisciplines of our field as well as to build new ties to our allied departmental disciplines through common research questions and shared intellectual histories. Strengthening those links and establishing new ties will provide learning and research environments for our students that expose them to a fully integrated social science program. Equally, it will allow us to pursue international and national recognition for the quality and breadth of our student training. As a faculty we will continue to hallmark our field experience component of student training and plan to grow that aspect of the program as much as possible.

The Anthropology program's vision includes national and international recognition for its quality of student training, its faculty research and scholarship, and its contributions to the discipline. We will achieve this by building on our strengths in archaeology, physical anthropology, and ethnology, providing field experiences in all three subfields, and preparing our undergraduates and graduate students to be successful in the pursuit of additional graduate study at the doctoral level or in professional careers.