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Mission

The mission of the Department of Anthropology is to research and teach about global human diversity and distinctiveness from the distant past to the present. Anthropology applies theoretical and practical tools to understand the human past, human biology, and evolution, language, contemporary society, and culture, and provides cross-cultural, environmental, and global perspectives on the past and present human behavior. Our mission is to apply anthropological concepts to the resolution of important social, cultural, and environmental problems of our times. The Department of Anthropology offers courses leading to the Bachelor of Arts degree and the Master of Arts or Master of Science degrees. For a full description of the M.A. and M.S. degrees, refer to the Graduate Catalog. The Anthropology major provides training in the four subdisciplines of archaeology, biological anthropology, anthropological linguistics, and sociocultural anthropology. The department also offers minors in Anthropology, American Indian Studies, Latino Studies, and Linguistics, and specialization in archaeological science, ecological anthropology, medical anthropology, applied anthropology, forensics, language preservation, and oral history.

Anthropology Department Undergraduate Program Description

Undergraduate Learning Objectives And Outcomes

Program Objectives – Students who have completed an undergraduate major in Anthropology at Idaho State University should be able to:

    1. Understand basic methods, concepts, alternative theories and approaches, and modes of explanation appropriate to each of the subfields of the discipline.
    2. Read and understand anthropological theory at the level of Bachelor of Arts.
    3. Understand the use of quantitative and qualitative analysis in anthropological research.
    4. Understand a comparative approach to the human condition, both cross-culturally and chronologically.
    5. Demonstrate technical writing skills at the level of Bachelor of Arts.

Learning Outcomes – Students in the Senior Seminar will demonstrate the following competencies based on the above objectives:

    1. Apply knowledge of anthropological methods, approaches, and modes of explanation to contemporary social issues.
    2. Use theory to formulate a testable explanation for a given cultural behavior.
    3. Select and perform quantitative and qualitative analytical techniques at a basic level.
    4. Carry out a research project using cross-cultural or diachronic (or combination of the two) comparative methods.
    5. Write a competent senior research project.

Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology

Beyond the general university requirements (8 of the 9 General Education Objectives--see the General Education Requirements (p. 50) in the Academic Information section of the undergraduate catalog), a student seeking Bachelor's degree with a major in anthropology must complete at least 37 credits in the following curriculum, earning at least a C grade in all lower and upper division core courses. Students for both the major and the minor in anthropology must have a minimum of 1 year of foreign language at the college level to graduate. Major and minor students must select their upper division anthropology elective courses in consultation with their major advisor. Also see here: