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The School of Anthropology admits students to the PhD program in Anthropology and the MA program in Applied Archaeology. Most students admitted to our programs have been in communication with potential advisors prior to submitting their application. Prospective students are therefore strongly encouraged to contact potential advisors via email to share your interests and confirm that they will be accepting students. Faculty expect and welcome this contact.
The candidate for the doctorate must show a broad factual and theoretical background in the fields of anthropology, an authoritative knowledge of a special field of research, a thorough grasp of research methods, and good critical judgment. Each student in the doctoral program will be advised by a major advisor and other faculty members representing the student's major and minor foci of study. The minimum unit requirement is 36 units in the major and 12 to 15 units in the minor. Unit requirements for minors outside of Anthropology are set by the minor field department. An additional 18 units will be devoted to preparing the dissertation. A minimum of 30 units must be taken in residence.
Concentrations for Ph.D. minor in Anthropology are available in Applied Anthropology; Ecological Anthropology; Medical Anthropology; Anthropology, History and Social Memory and Southwest Land, Culture and Society; and any of the four traditional subfields of Anthropology.
In addition to the unit requirements, there are foreign language, statistics, and examination requirements for the doctorate. The examinations for the program are: a comprehensive exam, which consists of both written and oral sections, and a final exam which is an oral defense of the dissertation. The dissertation is based on original scholarly research and usually requires extensive fieldwork. Up to 30 graduate semester credits maybe transferred from an MA degree program completed at the UA or another institution (note, however, the residency requirement.) Dissertation hours cannot be transferred. The maximum completion time for the doctorate is 5 years after comprehensive exams are taken.
History
The School of Anthropology traces its roots back over 100 years. It was founded in 1915 as the Department of Archaeology, with the appointment of Byron Cummings as Professor of Archaeology and Director of the Arizona State Museum. It became a broadly-based, four-field Department of Anthropology in the 1940s under the direction of Emil Haury, and soon after emerged as one of the leading Anthropology programs in the United States. The department was reconfigured as the School of Anthropology in 2009.
The School of Anthropology currently consists of five divisions: applied anthropology/BARA, archaeology, biological anthropology, linguistic anthropology, and sociocultural anthropology, with multiple faculty affiliated with each. A number of recognized program strengths crosscut these division: Anthropology of the Southwest, Anthrozoology; Community Based Research and Cultural Heritage in Arizona and the Southwest; Ecological and Evolutionary Anthropology; Health, Medicine, and Discursive Practice; International Migration, Borders, and Refugees; Mediterranean Studies; Sex, Gender, and Sexuality.
More information about the school can be found here: https://anthropology.arizona.edu/
College of Social & Behavioral Sciences
University of Arizona - Main - Tucson
Recommended tests:
The GRE is optional to students whose native language is English. If English is not your native language, please take TOEFL.
Required test(s):
TOEFL is required of students whose native language is NOT English.
Minimum GRE Verbal: Optional; no minimum, but most successful applicants will have scores in the 90th percentile
Minimum GRE Quantitative: Optional; no minimum
Minimum GRE Written: Optional; no minimum, but similar caveats as GRE verbal above
Minimum GMAT: N/A
Minimum MAT: N/A
Minimum TOEFL: 550 for paper-based exam or 79 for internet-based exam.
GRE Institution Code (University of Arizona): 4832
PhD Track:
Merit based Financial aid. Competative.
Domestic Applicants:
International Applicants:
International applicants will not be considered for conditional admission by this program.
4832
ETS Major Field Code(s) for this program: 1700, 1701, 1799
NRC Taxon(a) for this program: Anthropology
64
The Doctoral Degree
The candidate for the doctorate must show a broad factual and theoretical background in the fields of anthropology, an authoritative knowledge of a special field of research, a thorough grasp of research methods, and good critical judgment. Each student in the doctoral program will be advised by a major advisor and other faculty members representing the student's major and minor foci of study. The minimum unit requirement is 36 units in the major and 12 to 15 units in the minor. Unit requirements for minors outside of Anthropology are set by the minor field department. An additional 18 units will be devoted to preparing the dissertation. A minimum of 30 units must be taken in residence.
Required for all ANTH PHD students: (3 units each)
ANTH 636 Foundations of Archaeological Interpretation
ANTH 637 Archaeological Methodology
ANTH 562 Archaeological Quantitative Methods or equivalent statistics course
Other Sample Coursework: (3 units each)
ANTH 512A Geoarchaeology
ANTH 540A Cultural Resource Management
ANTH 546A Mapping Ancient Cities
ANTH 547 Pueblo Archaeology
ANTH 552 Archaeology of the Southwest
ANTH 553 Mesoamerican Archaeology
ANTH 556 Old World Prehistory
ANTH 557 Contesting the Past: Archaeology and Heritage
ANTH 558 Historical Archaeology
ANTH 572 Zooarchaeology
ANTH 574 Archaeometry
ANTH 595A Critical Issues in Mediterranean Archaeology
ANTH 596F Ceramic Analysis (Practicumor Seminar)
ANTH 596H Experimental Archaeology
ANTH 596N Archaeology of Performance
ANTH 606 Archaeology and Descendent Communities
12 units of electives from the list below (or additional methods classes from the list above):
ANTH 548 Writing Culture
ANTH 576 Language in Culture
ANTH 613 Culture and Power
ANTH 696C Linguistic Anthropology Seminar (may be repeated for credit)
N/A
A minor is requiured during the PhD portion of your degree.
12 to 15 units in the minor. Unit requirements for minors outside of Anthropology are set by the minor field department
Please refer to the Graduate Student Handbook for students who are pursuing this program of study.
| Program-level Information | |
|---|---|
| Application Acceptance Rate | 28.17% |
| Avg. Time-to-degree (years) | 7.78 |
| Department-level Information | |
| Enrollment Percent Male | 30% |
| Enrollment Percent Female | 70% |
| Enrollment Percent International | 25.56% |
| Enrollment Percent URM | 15.56% |