College of Arts & SciencesAnthropology

Welcome to the graduate and undergraduate Anthropology programs at Texas Tech. We are committed to excellence in teaching, nationally and internationally recognized research, and outstanding service to the university, profession, and community. We think you will find us to be an energized program with approximately 20 graduate students and over 100 undergraduate majors. We offer course work and field programs in archaeology, ethnology, and physical anthropology. Students have opportunities to conduct research with our faculty in Belize, Italy, Texas, and Oklahoma. As you explore our website, we think you will find that our faculty and students represent a broad range of interests (from forensic anthropology to contract archaeology). Dedicated to the creation and dissemination of knowledge in anthropology, our faculty members are experienced teachers, researchers, and professional leaders at the state, regional, national, and international levels. We take great pride in creating an environment conducive to learning, growth, and development for all of our students.

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 research opportunities.

Our vision for the Anthropology Program is to maintain strong links between the subdisciplines of our field as well as ties to our allied departmental disciplines through common research questions and shared intellectual histories. These connections provide learning and research environments for our students that expose them to a fully integrated social science program. Equally, they 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. 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, biological anthropology, and ethnology, encouraging 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.