Anthropology Ph.D. Program

The University of Wyoming's Doctoral degree in Anthropology is designed to be completed in four years.  It is aimed at teaching skills and providing experiences that maximizes students chances of employment either in academia or the private sector.  To this end, students are required to take a course in teaching and teach at least one stand-alone class before graduating.  Internships at a federal agency or private firm are also encouraged.

*Application Deadlines*

PhD Applicants: DECEMBER 1st

• statement of purpose (S.O.P.)/letter of intent

• Please identify whom you would like as your faculty advisor. In your statement of purpose (SOP), you should identify a particular question or problem that you would like to address OR a general topic of interest to you. Then you should describe how you would like to address these interests and why the UW Anthropology program is a good fit for you. What do you hope to gain from the program? With whom would you like to work? Finally, you might discuss how your interests advance knowledge in Anthropology more broadly and why your research would be an important contribution to the advancement of knowledge.

  
  The majority of information in the letter of intent/statement of purpose should help the Graduate Admissions Committee understand your research interests and scholarship and many applicants often make the mistake of writing a personal biography in their statement of purpose. It is fine to provide a brief biographical sketch or to explain why during a particular semester you received poor grades or why you have decided to return to school after a hiatus, but make sure that you have addressed the other important components of the SOP
  

• 3 letters of recommendation

• official transcripts

• writing sample

Doctoral Program Requirements

• A minimum of 72 graduate hours (post BA, post MA hours may vary).

• A minimum of six content courses (18 hours) designed by the student and his/her committee. These courses are normally completed in the first two years of the Ph.D. program. In addition to anthropology 4000/5000 level courses may also be required in other departments.

• Two additional courses in their first or second year: ANTH 5880 (Professionalism in Anthropology) and ANTH 5890 (Teaching and Learning in Anthropology) (6 hours).

• At least two semesters of a single foreign language must be completed either prior to enrolling in the program or during your time in the graduate program.  Latin does not count as a foreign language.

• Teaching experience, including stand-alone (after the completion of ANTH 5890) courses as well as teaching assistance to UW faculty members.

• Participation in an approved internship experience (6-24 credit hours). Students pursue internships in state and federal agencies, museums, contract archaeology organizations, and other organizations that offer potential career experience.

• Successful completion of a Preliminary Exam, which usually takes place at the end of the second year (after the completion of 18 hours of content courses, ANTH 5880 and 5890). After the student passes the exams, s/he is admitted to candidacy.

• Student maintains a portfolio which documents teaching, internship, and research experience.

• Students are encouraged to present papers at professional conferences and submit articles for publication throughout their tenure as a student.

• After admission to candidacy, the student is expected to research, write, and defend a dissertation based on original research (up to 48 credit hours). Students may either submit a single thesis or a series of integrated publishable articles (30-40) pages each. A brief introduction and conclusion are also required chapters if the student chooses the series of integrated, publishable articles.  The student's committee must approve this choice and decide on the number, length and content of the articles (usually at the committee hearing preceding Preliminary Exam).

• Schedule a public dissertation defense that is announced at least a month before the defense date.

• Copies of the dissertation must be in the hands of the student's committee at least three weeks prior to the scheduled defense date.

Timeline/Checklist for your PhD degree.

 

In addition to the minimum requirements listed in the Graduate Bulletin, the Department of Anthropology has the following requirements.  Click here for a checklist for completing these items.

 

1. A minimum of six content courses (18 hours) designed by the student's committee. These courses are normally completed in the first two years of the Ph.D. program.

2. Two additional courses in their first or second year: ANTH 5880 (Professionalism in Anthropology) and ANTH 5890 (Teaching and Learning in Anthropology) (6 hours).

3. Participation in an approved internship experience (6-24 credit hours). Students pursue internships in state and federal agencies, museums, contract archaeology organizations, and other organizations that offer potential career experience.

4. Successful completion of a Preliminary Exam (see below), which usually takes place at the end of the second year. After the student passes the exams, s/he is admitted to candidacy. Exam guidelines are presented below after the degree completion outline.

PhD Committee Constitution and Formation

Doctoral committees are required to have a minimum of five members and at least three of them must be faculty members in Anthropology, defined as tenured and tenure-track faculty, extended term track Academic Professionals with terminal degree and a demonstrated record of research or creative activity appropriate to the student’s degree, Emeritus faculty, UW faculty employed via cooperative agreements with state and federal agencies. The doctoral committee must also have an outside member, a tenured or emeritus faculty whose tenure/promotion home lies outside the degree program being pursued by the student. Additional information about the policies of graduate committees can be found here:

https://www.uwyo.edu/uwgrad/_files/docs/grad_committee_formation.html

 PhD committees in Anthropology can have three or four faculty members from Anthropology, but if the student choses to have only three Anthropology faculty members, then a fifth member must be included from a different academic unit or as an external member. For example

Example 1: Four faculty members from Anthropology:
PhD Student: Jane Smith
Committee chair: Todd Surovell, Anthropology
External: Sophia Jackson, Botany
Member 3: Robert Kelly, Anthropology
Member 4: Jason Toohey, Anthropology
Member 5: Melissa Murphy, Anthropology

Example 2: Three faculty members from Anthropology
PhD student: Jane Smith
Committee chair: Todd Surovell, Anthropology
External: Sophia Jackson, Botany
Member 3: Robert Kelly, Anthropology
Member 4: Jason Toohey, Anthropology
Member 5: Archie Stonetool, Anthropology, University of Nevada Reno 

PhD Preliminary Examination Guidelines

1. A PhD student takes their Preliminary Exam when the student has completed at least 18 hours of post M.A. coursework; normally, this would be at the end of a student's second year (assuming the student entered with an MA). The exam consists of a written and an oral component.

2. The written component consists of four to five questions submitted jointly or singly by the student's committee members. The committee chair approves and organizes the questions. The questions relate to the student's proposed areas of dissertation research.

3. The student schedules the oral component of the exam at the same time the written examination is scheduled. The oral examination is scheduled approximately 6 weeks from the date the preliminary exam is handed out.

4. Questions for the written component are handed out on a Monday. The student has three weeks to return the answers. A copy of all answers should be turned in to each committee member. No answer should exceed 10 typed pages not including bibliography (12 point font, 1 inch margins, double-spaced). Hence, the exam will not exceed a maximum of 50 pages in length. If exam committee members combine questions, page limits will be indicated (e.g. for a four question exam, one or more answer may exceed the 10 page limit).

5. Students will be informed of the results of the written component of the exam approximately two weeks after they handed in their finished exam. Each question is graded on a pass/fail basis. Each faculty member grades her/his question, but may read and comment on the answers to any other question. The committee meets to decide as a whole whether the student passes or fails the examination. If the student passes the exam, his/her oral examination proceeds as scheduled. If the student fails the examination, the graduate committee decides on remediation or termination from the program.

6. The oral component of the exam provides an opportunity for the student's committee to explore answers to the written exam in more depth and to test the student's knowledge of relevant areas not covered by the written exams.

 

 

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