Graduate Program

Graduate Anthropology Program

Overview

Anthropology has been taught at the University of Oklahoma since 1905 and became its own department in 1927. Celebrated faculty like Morris Opler and Robert Bell established the Department as a leader in the scholarly study of Native North America. In addition to conducting research in the southwest, southeast, and plains of North America, we have maintained a secondary emphasis on Latin America.

We offer an M.A. in anthropology, an M.A. in applied linguistic anthropology, an M.A. in anthropology with a concentration in socio-cultural anthropology, and an Accelerated BA in Anthropology/MA in Anthropology with a Concentration in Socio-Cultural Anthropology. We also offer a PhD in Anthropology with a Concentration in Archaeology and a PhD in Anthropology with a Concentration in Human Health and Biology. Students receive rigorous training in the four subdisciplines of anthropology: sociocultural, archaeological, biological, and linguistic. The Department will not be accepting new students to the PhD in Anthropology with a Concentration in Socio-Cultural Anthropology and Linguistics in 2023/24 in order to develop a new strategic plan for this Concentration.

With over twenty full-time professors and about seventy graduate students, degree candidates receive personalized attention from faculty mentors. As part of a medium-sized department, our students benefit from the resources of a large research university while enjoying a nurturing intellectual environment. Our graduates have been successful in securing tenure-track academic jobs as well as positions in cultural resource management, museums, and government archaeology.

To apply to the graduate program, please see this page:

Apply to the University of Oklahoma Graduate College

Individual faculty are happy to provide more information on their research and on the anthropology graduate program as it relates to your subdiscipline of interest. For information on tuition and fees, visit the Bursar's Office.

Shelbie Barlett with an excavated ceramic vessel, Mexico

Not all faculty members can chair graduate student committees. Graduate students (current and applying) should check faculty members' Graduate Faculty Appointment Status and adhere to Graduate College and department guidelines when assembling their committees.

Current graduate students who wish to check the appointment status of their committee members within the Graduate College (M1, M2, M3, SM; appointment expiration date) should check this page, as well as the explanation of what these designations mean.

Resources

The Department of Anthropology maintains close connections with several academic units across campus. The Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History, the Oklahoma Archeological Survey, and the Center for Applied Social Research provide research and training opportunities for our students. Also, students can establish linguistic and ethnographic projects with the more than 35 Native American tribal entities across the state. The Department offers laboratory facilities for research in genetic and physical anthropology and archaeology as well as summer field schools in archaeology.

Financial support usually consists of a half-time graduate assistantship, usually as a grader for an undergraduate class or research assistant for a faculty member. Ph.D. students may teach their own classes. We fund master’s students for a maximum of two years and doctoral students for a maximum of four years beyond the Master’s degree. Our students have also been successful in obtaining external funding.