Anthropology includes virtually everything having to do with humanity; therefore, it offers a broad undergraduate education that is applicable to a wide range of career opportunities. Some students find jobs in archaeology with state and federal government agencies such as the U.S. Forest Service, as well as with private construction and archaeological research firms. Other students begin a career in international development with service in the Peace Corps. According to an article published in USA Today, the globalization of business and an increasingly diverse work force have made anthropology "a hot new degree…for aspiring executives" in corporate America.

In most cases, a career in Anthropology requires graduate study leading to a masters or Ph.D. Traditionally, graduate schools trained students to conduct research and become professors, but this is changing. Over the past three decades, an increasing number of anthropologists have developed careers in business, industry, social services and government. Now more than half of all new Anthropology Ph.D.s (and probably most M.A.s) go into "applied" or "practicing" anthropology instead of university employment.

Missouri State Anthropology graduates have gone to work for the National Park Service, the Bureau of Land Management, several branches of the military, the Missouri Department of Transportation, United Parcel Service, public health departments, museums, zoos, hospitals, social service agencies, private businesses, AmeriCorps and the Peace Corps, to name a few. They also have gone on to graduate study at many different universities, including Chicago, Arizona State, Harvard, UCLA, Illinois and Indiana, studying history, religious studies, international relations, business, law, education, communications and social work, as well as anthropology and archaeology.

Anthropology includes four major subdisciplines. Biological (a.k.a. Physical) Anthropology is the biological study of human beings from an evolutionary perspective, including the study of monkeys and apes, the study of human evolution, and human biological diversity. Cultural Anthropology is the comparative study of human life as it exists throughout the world today. A major component of cultural anthropology is Ethnography, the description and analysis of a culture. Linguistic Anthropology is the study of language as the most important component of culture. Archaeology is the reconstruction of societies from the past through the recovery and analysis of their material remains. All fields of Anthropology have practical applications to the problems and needs of society today. This is often regarded as the fifth field of Anthropology—Applied Anthropology.

The Anthropology major at Missouri State offers a well-rounded background in all four fields of anthropology, as previously defined, leaving specialization primarily for graduate school. The total number of hours required for the  Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in Anthropology is 30 and for the Bachelor of Science (B.S.) is 39.

Required Core Courses

(15 hours for the B.A. and 18 for the B.S.)

ANT 226 (cultural), 227 (biological), 240 (archaeology), 280 (linguistic), and 595 (theory)

SOC 302 (Statistics for Social Research) or the equivalent is required for the B.S. only.

Additional Electives for the Major

(15 hours for the B.A. and 21 for the B.S.)

Four of the following five courses:

1. One upper-division course in archaeology
2. One upper-division course in biological anthropology
3. One upper-division course in cultural anthropology
4. One upper-division course in linguistics or linguistic anthropology
5. One upper-division course in "peoples and cultures"

Sample Elective Courses

 
Please consult the Missouri State Catalog online at www.missouristate.edu/catalog for specific course descriptions.

There are currently six full-time anthropologists in the department:

Margaret Buckner (PhD Paris) Linguistic, cultural and medical anthropology, ethnomusicology, Africa

David Byers (PhD Utah) Zooarchaeology, geoarchaeology, paleocology, Native North America

William Meadows (PhD Oklahoma) Cultural anthropology, ethnohistory, Midwest archaeology, Native North America, Japan

Elizabeth Sobel (PhD Michigan) Public archaeology, Native North America

Suzanne Walker-Pacheco (PhD CUNY) Biological and forensic anthropology, primatology, Hispanic health, Latin America

William Wedenoja (PhD UC San Diego) Cultural, psychological and applied anthropology, religion, the Caribbean

Faculty members have conducted research projects in Missouri, Oklahoma, Utah, Montana, Wyoming, Washington, Jamaica, Japan, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Mexico, Sierra Leone, Central African Republic, and Guinea-Bissau.

Anthropology faculty have received university awards for excellence in teaching, research and service, as well as fellowships and research grants from the National Geographic Society, the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, the National Science Foundation, Fulbright-Hays, the Explorer’s Club, the National Institute of Mental Health and the U.S. Forest Service.

The department is located on the fourth floor of Strong Hall, with excellent computer facilities, seminar rooms, lecture classrooms with built-in multimedia and an anthropology teaching laboratory.

The department sponsors an Anthropology Club, which arranges speakers, films, field trips, social events and fund-raising activities and an anthropology honor society, the Delta of Missouri chapter of Lambda Alpha.

A field school in archaeology is offered in the summer. Advanced training and experience in archaeology and cultural anthropology often are available through faculty projects in Africa, Jamaica,  Mexico, Missouri, Montana, and Washington. Opportunities also exist for internships, service-learning and independent study projects

The Center for Archaeological Research, a division of the College of Humanities and Public Affairs, conducts extensive contract research throughout the state. Currently, four professional archaeologists are employed by the Center, which has offices and research facilities on campus. The Center offers students regular opportunities for volunteer experience and employment, particularly through work-study.

The department offers several different scholarships for majors in Sociology and Anthropology. Selection is competitive and based on academic accomplishment, financial need and public service. See the Department web site at http://soc-ant.missouristate.edu for more information.