Graduate study in anthropology is open to individuals with varied undergraduate majors and training backgrounds.
Graduate students normally are admitted under the assumption that they intend to pursue the PhD. The department also offers a terminal MA, with a focus on cultural resource management (CRM) in archaeology, which provides academic preparation for a professional career in that field.
PhD students who enter the program with a bachelor’s degree are typically awarded a master’s degree upon fulfilling program requirements at the end of their second year. The MA portion of the PhD program features coursework across all subfields of anthropology. Students are also strongly encouraged to conduct independent summer research, which is often supported by departmental and other university-based funding sources.
For additional information, view the Graduate Programs website and the current Graduate Student Guidebook on the Department of Anthropology website.
Learning Outcomes
Disciplinary Expertise
Graduate students will gain an in-depth understanding of anthropology and the discipline’s contributions to our understanding of people and culture, in the past and present.
Skills for Independent Research
Graduate students will acquire professional and ethical research, reasoning, methodological, and management skills to identify important research problems. They will also learn how to design and execute a project, productively engage with feedback, and successfully report (via writing and presentations) the results of their independent research to diverse sets of audiences.
Teaching Contributions
Graduate students will learn how to communicate anthropological concepts and theories effectively and ethically to different audiences.
Disciplinary, Academic, and Community Contributions
Graduate students will develop service, mentoring, and leadership skills that enable them to advance and support professional, management, academic, and community needs.
The Master of Arts program in anthropology requires 30–36 s.h. of graduate credit, depending on a student's previous anthropological training. Students may count a maximum of 9 s.h. earned in courses outside of anthropology toward the MA in anthropology. It is expected that a full-time student will complete all MA requirements by the end of the second year in the program. Students must maintain a cumulative grade-point average of at least 3.00.
Master's degree students who choose to focus on cultural resource management—archaeology normally do not go on to earn a PhD in anthropology.
By the end of their first semester, each student must select an MA committee, consisting of an advisor and two additional professors. Each year, students compile, in consultation with their advisor, the three strongest papers written for anthropology courses, conferences, or journals; an annotated bibliography; their current curriculum vitae; and a three-page narrative to describe their intellectual trajectory in the MA program to date.
Master's degree students who intend to earn a doctorate should consider taking a statistics course during their MA study.
General Coursework
MA students not pursuing the cultural resource management—archaeology focus must complete core seminars in all three subfields (total of 9 s.h.).
Course List
| Course # |
Title |
Hours |
| |
| ANTH:5101 | Seminar Sociocultural Anthropology | 3 |
| ANTH:5201 | Seminar: Archaeological Theory and Method | 3 |
| ANTH:5301 | Seminar: Biological Anthropology | 3 |
Electives
In consultation with the advisor and committee members, a student selects a minimum of 21 s.h. of additional coursework to complete the remaining semester hours required for the MA. Elective work may include courses in other disciplines, directed study, and up to 6 s.h. of MA thesis credit for students who choose the thesis option.
Cultural Resource Management—Archaeology Focus
Most archaeological excavations and surveys are conducted as cultural resource management (CRM), so it is essential that all researchers who work with archaeological data and individuals committed to site preservation have a basic understanding of CRM. Students who select this focus area learn about the field and how to address related ethical issues as well as technical and theoretical challenges.
Students must complete the archaeological core graduate seminar. They must also complete a research paper, which is an archaeological study with a substantive data analysis directed toward an explicit archaeological research problem, suitable to meet the section three requirement for the Registry of Professional Archaeologists application form.
The cultural resource management—archaeology focus requires a total of 30 s.h., including 24 s.h. of coursework and 6 s.h. of independent research or thesis credit.
Required Coursework
Course List
| Course # |
Title |
Hours |
| |
| ANTH:3240 | Cultural Resources Management Archaeology: Practice and Practicalities | 3 |
| ANTH:5201 | Seminar: Archaeological Theory and Method | 3 |
Area Electives
Course List
| Course # |
Title |
Hours |
| |
| ANTH:3243 | Archaeology of the American Midcontinent | 3 |
| ANTH:3257 | North American Archaeology | 3 |
| ANTH:3260 | Pleistocene Peopling of the Americas | 3 |
| ANTH:3265 | Archaeology of the Great Plains | 3 |
Technical Electives
Course List
| Course # |
Title |
Hours |
| |
| ANTH:3207 | Animal Bones in Archaeology | 3 |
| ANTH:3237 | Politics of the Archaeological Past | 3 |
| ANTH:3255 | Introduction to Archaeological Ceramics | 3 |
| ANTH:3295 | Field Research in Archaeology | 3 |
| ANTH:3305 | Human Osteology | 3 |
Independent Research or Thesis
Applicants for admission to the graduate program in anthropology are considered regardless of their previous field of training. Students without previous training in anthropology are expected to perform additional work as necessary to achieve the competence expected for their degree objective.
Students normally are admitted under the assumption that they intend to pursue the PhD, with the exception of students entering into the MA program with the cultural research management–archaeology subprogram. Students without an MA in anthropology devote the first two years to fulfilling the MA requirements. After those requirements are completed, the student's committee may award the MA with admittance to the PhD program.
Students with an MA in anthropology from another institution may proceed directly into a PhD program organized around their special research interests. If they lack any of the requirements of the graduate program at the University of Iowa, they are informed of those requirements when admitted. Acceptance of credit hours from other institutions will follow UI regulations.
Applicants for admission to the graduate program must meet the admission requirements of the Graduate College; see the Manual of Rules and Regulations on the Graduate College website.
Anthropology graduate program applicants are required to upload the following documentation to the University of Iowa Graduate Admissions online application:
- official academic records/transcripts from previous institutions attended;
- a brief statement of interest or intent regarding why graduate study in the Department of Anthropology is desired;
- three letters of recommendation;
- a writing sample (preferably a research paper); and
- an application for graduate funding.
For more information concerning the required application elements, see Graduate Admissions Process on the Department of Anthropology website.
When completing the online Graduate College Application for Admission for Degree, applicants should enter MA or PhD based on their final degree objective. Students at the MA level do not write a thesis, so "MA (thesis)" is not an option. For questions about which degree option to choose, contact the Department of Anthropology.
Graduates establish careers at universities, colleges, museums, healthcare institutions, and a diverse range of governmental and nongovernmental agencies. For more information, see Careers and Opportunities on the Department of Anthropology website.
Sample Plan of Study
Sample plans represent one way to complete a program of study. Actual course selection and sequence will vary and should be discussed with an academic advisor. For additional sample plans, see MyUI.
Anthropology, MA
Plan of Study Grid (Manual)
| Academic Career |
|---|
| Any Semester |
|---|
| a, b, c, d |
|
|
|
| | Hours | 0 |
| First Year |
|---|
| Fall |
|---|
| e |
|
| f |
|
| ANTH:5101 |
Seminar Sociocultural Anthropology |
3 |
| g |
3 |
| g |
3 |
| | Hours | 9 |
| Spring |
|---|
| h |
|
| ANTH:5201 |
Seminar: Archaeological Theory and Method |
3 |
| ANTH:5301 |
Seminar: Biological Anthropology |
3 |
| g |
3 |
| | Hours | 9 |
| Second Year |
|---|
| Fall |
|---|
| g |
3 |
| | Hours | 3 |
| Spring |
|---|
| i |
|
| g |
3 |
| g |
3 |
| j |
|
| | Hours | 6 |
| | Total Hours | 27 |
