Simon, Sugiyama

Admission

In addition to the general requirements for admission to the Graduate College, the School of Human Evolution and Social Change requires applicants to provide a statement of their interests and professional goals and three letters of recommendation. Applicants who received their BA during the past ten years must also submit scores on the Graduate Record Examination. Undergraduate course work in anthropology is not a prerequisite for admission, but is generally advisable. Students may be admitted without such a background and may be required to acquire knowledge of general anthropology in a manner to be specified at the time of admission.

Program of Study

The primary purpose and scope of the graduate program in Anthropology are intended to lead to the PhD degree. However, special training programs designed to terminate with a master’s degree are possible at the discretion of the student and faculty advisors. For example, the concentrations in linguistics and museum studies are at the master’s level.

The doctoral program is divided into three phases. The first consists of 24 semester hours of course work and readings, culminating in a research portfolio, which normally consists of two research papers. The faculty may require additional hours of course work or other preparation for entering students who are unfamiliar with the concepts of general anthropology at a level equivalent to that of the ASU undergraduate anthropology core. Mastery of the phase I course material is demonstrated by successful completion of a sequence of core courses.

Admission to phase II of the doctoral program is granted to students on the basis of performance in phase I, the quality of the MA research portfolio, prior course work, faculty recommendations, and other relevant information. The second phase consists of 30 semester hours of course work, readings in anthropology and related fields, and directed research designed to prepare the student for the dissertation project. Proficiency in one foreign language may be required by the supervisory committee. The second phase is completed when the following have been met: (1) passing a written comprehensive examination and (2) passing the oral defense of the dissertation proposal. The successful student is then advanced to candidacy.

The final phase consists of 24 semester hours of research and dissertation.

Museum Studies Certificate

The certificate is awarded to nondegree or graduate students who are accepted into the certificate program and who complete 12 semester hours of required course work and a six-semester hour internship at an approved museum. The certificate may be taken independently or in conjunction with the MA degree in Anthropology with a concentration in museum anthropology.

Master of Arts

Special training programs are designed at the master’s level in archaeology, museum anthropology, physical anthropology, and social-cultural anthropology.

See Master’s Degrees for general requirements. A concurrent MA degree in Anthropology and MS degree in Justice Studies is also available.

Doctor of Philosophy

For more information on the PhD degree, see Doctor of Philosophy.

Concentrations

The school’s faculty are organized into two sets of cross-cutting units: academic concentrations and thematically based research groups. Graduate students may pursue curricula associated with a single academic concentration and/or research group, or may design a program of study that combines various foci or is interdisciplinary in nature. Examples of single academic concentrations are described below.

Archaeology Concentration

Graduate studies in archaeology provide training that emphasizes a solid methodological and theoretical foundation, coupled with a practical approach to field and laboratory applications. Major theoretical course offerings are concerned with the archaeology of complex societies, hunter-gatherer adaptations, settlement patterns and locational analysis, intrasite spatial analysis, cultural ecology, economic archaeology, ideation, and style. Analytical topics are covered in courses dealing with quantitative and formal methods, simulation, geoarchaeology, field methods and the analysis of ceramics, lithics, fauna, and pollen. The university’s location in an archaeologically rich area has resulted in an especially strong emphasis on U.S. Southwest research. Other geographic emphases are on Mesoamerica, the circum-Mediterranean Old World, sub-Saharan Africa, and other parts of North America.

Bioarchaeology Concentration

Bioarchaeology, a theoretical and applied interface of archaeology and physical anthropology, is concerned with reconstructing the cultural, biological, and environmental conditions of past human lifeways and their roles in human adaptation. The bioarchaeology concentration can be pursued as part of the archaeology or physical anthropology concentration. The ASU program emphasizes a dual theoretical and methodological foundation in the relevant aspects of archaeology and in skeletal biology and dental anthropology. Course offerings include archaeological method and theory, comparative anatomy, death and dying in cross-cultural perspective, demography, dental anthropology, disease and human evolution, economic archaeology, faunal analysis, fossil hominids, human origins, human osteology, mortuary analysis, prehistoric diet, quantitative analysis, and a variety of topical and areal courses in archaeology and physical anthropology.

Environmental Technology and Society

This concentration provides an interdisciplinary social science perspective, which may be applied to issues of anthropological concern. Among the theoretical and methodological perspectives and issues emphasized by this approach are historical and urban geography, political ecology, conceptual and mathematical modeling, and science and technology studies.

Museum Anthropology Concentration

Museum anthropology encompasses theoretically oriented analyses of museums as cultural institutions (including the activities of staff members, visitors, represented peoples, and all implicated others) as well as applied aspects of working in museums and related agencies. Drawing on all subdisciplines of anthropology, special emphasis is placed on connecting material culture and ideation in a variety of institutional and field settings. Museum anthropology students apply museum philosophy, principles, practices, and current critiques to explore the many dimensions of curatorship, including research, collections management, exhibition work, educational programming, and administration. The department also offers an MA degree in Anthropology with a concentration in museum anthropology and a nondegree certificate in Museum Studies at the graduate level.

Physical Anthropology Concentration

The graduate program in physical anthropology introduces students to current data, methods, and theories in six core areas of physical anthropology: anthropological genetics, dental anthropology, fossil hominids, health and disease, osteology, and primatology. The program focuses on the student’s area of interest, which may fall within one of seven areas of study in which faculty are actively involved and collaborating, or may bridge and extend these areas. Areas of study for which special course lists and groups of faculty have been organized include anthropological genetics, dental anthropology, health and disease, peopling of the Pacific basin and adjoining areas, primate ecology and social behavior, primate functional morphology, paleoanthropology, and skeletal biology.

Social-Cultural Anthropology Concentration

The social-cultural program provides education in most topics of social-cultural anthropology. Strong resources for studies in ecology, demography, religion, social organization, and political economy are available. An emphasis in method and theory crosscuts all of these topics. Special areas of strength include the U.S. Southwest, Mesoamerica, and Southeast Asia. Social-cultural faculty also share interests with faculty in physical anthropology and archaeology, especially in the study of disease, sociobiology, and native societies of the New World. MA and PhD concentrations in anthropological linguistics are also available.

Research Activity

For current information about specific research activity, access the School of Human Evolution and Social Change Web site at www.asu.edu/clas/shesc.

COURSES

Information about all courses is available on the Web at ASU Interactive. For more information, see Classification of Courses.