OU Department of Anthropology

Biological Anthropology

Current Faculty Research Projects and Interests

Skeletal biology, medical anthropology, biohistory of the African Diaspora, Latinos, Afro-Americans (Rankin-Hill)
Population genetic studies of human history (Lewis)
Effect of gene-environment interactions on diabetes and other complex diseases (Warren)
Medical anthropology, political economy, inequality, and post-socialism, in Latin America and Cuba (Hirschfeld)
Behavioral ecology and life history theory (Anderson)
Ethics of genetics research and community research methods (Foster)
The evolution of disease associated genetic variation (Lewis)
Nonpaternity and paternity confidence (Anderson)
Model based approaches to quantitative population genetics (Lewis)
Skeletal biology and paleopathology of domestic dogs (Warren)

Program Requirements

Biological anthropology examines the interaction between biology and culture. The Anthropology Department at the University of Oklahoma has a broadly-based Master's program in biological anthropology, and offers a Ph.D. in anthropology with an emphasis on biological anthropology. Skeletal biology, human variation, genetic/molecular anthropology, medical anthropology, bioarchaeology, and biocultural adaptation are the faculty's primary specialization areas.

A broad range of graduate-level biological anthropology courses are currently offered, including Human Osteology and Paleopathology, Human Adaptability, Medicine and Society, Human Variation, Theory and Method in Biological Anthropology, and Human Evolutionary History. Special topics courses and seminars in biological anthropology and advanced biological anthropology are also offered. Recent special topics courses and seminars include Human Growth as well as Biology of Poverty. Additional graduate level courses in this subfield will be offered in the future.

Master's students complete 30 hours of course work and a thesis. Master's course work includes core courses in biological anthropology, archæology, linguistics, and sociocultural anthropology, and elective course work focused in biological anthropology.

Ph.D. candidates also take core courses in biological anthropology, archæology, linguistics, and sociocultural anthropology, if they have not already done so in their Master's program. Ph.D. requirements include 90 hours of credit (60 credit hours of course work plus 30 hours of dissertation research), a thesis, a general exam, and a dissertation. Students who enter the Ph.D. program with a Master's degree in anthropology take 60 credit hours (30 hours of course work plus 30 hours of dissertation research), take the general exam, and complete a dissertation.

The Anthropology Department is in the process of implementing a newly-developed Ph.D. track in Health and Human Biology. The Health and Human Biology track is an integrative Biological and Medical Anthropology program focusing on the adaptation, evolution, and behaviors of human ancestors and contemporary populations.

Independent Research Projects

Thesis, dissertation, and other graduate-level research is conducted in consultation with the faculty. To aid in this process, each graduate student is assigned a faculty mentor upon entry into the program. The wide variety of independent research opportunities in biological anthropology for the Master's and Ph.D. programs include research at the Oklahoma Skeletal Biological lab, the Molecular Anthropology lab at the OU Stephenson Research and Technology Center, the Oklahoma Archeological Survey, the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History, and with Anthropology faculty members.

Recent student research focused on biological anthropology and/or medical anthropology includes:

Measuring Mimbres Populational Health Status During the Pithouse to Pueblo Transition (M.A. thesis).
Parents' Perceptions on Medical Care and Services for their Children with Down Syndrome in Tulsa, Oklahoma (M.A. thesis).
Sherwood Washburn's Continuing Legacy (M.A. thesis).
Perception and Management of Type II Diabetes: The Narrated Experience of Diabetes in an Absentee Shawnee Community (M.A. thesis).
Mortuary Variability at the McDuffee Site (3CG21): A Middle Mississippian Site From Northeastern Arkansas (M.A. thesis).
Health Maintenance in Lima, Oklahoma: Intersections of Folk Medicine, Spirituality and Biomedicine (M.A. thesis).
A Cross-Cultural Study of Adaptations to Chronic Arthritis in Hispanic-Americans (M.A. thesis).
A Prospective Cohort Study of Maternal Factors in Childhood Asthma: Parity, Obesity, Fetal Growth, and Social Stressors (Ph.D. dissertation).

Faculty

Dr. Kermyt Anderson
Dr. Morris Foster
Dr. Katherine Hirschfeld
Dr. Cecil Lewis
Dr. Lesley Rankin-Hill
Dr. Diane Warren