The Anthropology Program strives to fulfill its responsibilities by providing quality undergraduate academic education in anthropology. Emphasis is placed on exposing students to a holistic approach to anthropology that incorporates three major subfields--cultural anthropology, physical anthropology, and archaeology. A major or minor in anthropology is especially appropriate for professionals closely involved with people. Our graduates acquire skills useful in many careers rather than just skills applicable to one job. Students trained in our program should have acquired oral and written communication skills, research skills, and "people" or "sociocultural" skills which qualify them well for careers in international business, government, politics, criminal justice, social work, and medicine or other health-related professions. Our graduates are especially well prepared to practice in south Texas or a comparable area made special by the meeting of different cultures.
Specific graduation requirements for this program beyond university bachelor’s degree requirements.
A student graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology with Archaeology Concentration is required to demonstrate proficiency (beginning, intermediate or advanced) in a foreign language. Proficiency can be demonstrated by:
Core Curriculum - 42 hours
The Core Curriculum serves as a broad foundation for the undergraduate degree. All candidates for a bachelor’s degree must achieve core student learning outcomes, including communication, critical thinking, empirical and quantitative skills, teamwork, personal responsibility and social responsibility, by completing courses within each category or component area of the Core Curriculum as outlined below.
The University has approved specific courses that satisfy Core Curriculum Requirements. Approved courses can be found on the Core Curriculum Page. Students seeking the most efficient way to complete the core curriculum and major or minor requirements are advised to take approved courses that can fulfill both requirements. Although core curriculum courses can also be used to fulfill major or minor requirements, earned credits hours are only applied once.
Major Requirements - 54 hours
Required Courses - 15 hours
Anthropology Core:
ANTH 1324 | Human Evolution | 3 |
ANTH 2302 | Introduction to Archeology | 3 |
ANTH 2351 | Introduction to Cultural Anthropology | 3 |
ANTH 4345 | Anthropological Theory and Method | 3 |
Choose one:
ANTH 1302 | Human Cultures in World Prehistory | 3 |
ANTH 1354 | The Anthropology of Expressive Culture | 3 |
ANTH 2311 | Global Health and Social Justice: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Illness and Inequality | 3 |
Social and Behavioral Sciences:
If ANTH 1324, ANTH 2302 or ANTH 2351 are used to fulfill core curriculum credit hours, students must take an additional social behavioral science course from the core curriculum list below to fulfill anthropology major requirement credit hours.
Choose from:
ECON 1301 | Introduction to Economics | 3 |
ECON 2301 | Principles of Macroeconomics | 3 |
ENGL 2315 | Humans and Language | 3 |
PHIL 1362 | Race, Sexuality, and Class | 3 |
PSYC 2301 | General Psychology | 3 |
SOCI 1301 | Introduction to Sociology | 3 |
Prescribed Electives - 12 hours
This degree plan includes courses that appear in more than one section of the degree plan. Except for core curriculum courses, such courses can only be used to fulfill one requirement on the degree plan and credit hours will only applied once.
Choose from:
ANTH 3343 | Museum Studies Internship | 3 |
ANTH 3344 | Archive Studies Internship | 3 |
ANTH 3345 | Anthropology Community Internship | 3 |
ANTH 4304 | Indians of North America | 3 |
ANTH 4305 | Great Discoveries in Archaeology | 3 |
ANTH 4306 | Anthropology of Borders | 3 |
ANTH 4307 | Shipwrecks, Pirates, and Sea: Maritime Archaeology and History | 3 |
ANTH 4309 | Anthropology of Sex & Gender | 3 |
ANTH 4310 | Food and Culture | 3 |
ANTH 4311 | Medical Anthropology | 3 |
ANTH 4312 | Political and Legal Anthropology | 3 |
ANTH 4314 | Environmental Anthropology | 3 |
ANTH 4315 | Discovering the Rio Grande Valley | 3 |
ANTH 4316 | Open Source GIS for Cultural Resources | 3 |
ANTH 4317 | Field Experience Borderlands | 3 |
ANTH 4320 | Anthropology of Conflict and Human Rights | 3 |
ANTH 4321 | Human Skeletal Anatomy | 3 |
ANTH 4322 | Ancient Diseases in Modern Bodies | 3 |
ANTH 4323 | Mexican American Culture | 3 |
ANTH 4348 | Peoples and Cultures of Mexico | 3 |
ANTH 4350 | Mexican American Folk Medicine | 3 |
ANTH 4351 | Global Health: Critical Perspectives | 3 |
ANTH 4361 | Historical Archaeology | 3 |
ANTH 4364 | Religion in Society | 3 |
ANTH 4365 | Archaeology of South America | 3 |
ANTH 4366 | Ecuadorian Archaeology | 3 |
ANTH 4369 | Archaeology of Mexico and Central America | 3 |
ANTH 4370 | Texas Archaeology | 3 |
ANTH 4374 | Archaeology of North America | 3 |
ANTH 4377 | Global Cultural Heritage Issues and Debates | 3 |
ANTH 4385 | Topics in Anthropology | 3 |
ANTH 4390 | Directed Studies | 3 |
ANTH 4395 | Fieldwork in Anthropology | 3 |
ENGL 3361 | Introduction to Descriptive Linguistics | 3 |
ENGL 3370 | Language and Culture | 3 |
Archaeology Concentration - 15 hours
This degree plan includes courses that appear in more than one section of the degree plan. Except for core curriculum courses, such courses can only be used to fulfill one requirement on the degree plan and credit hours will only applied once.
Archaeology Specialization Capstone Course - 3 hours
ANTH 4363 | Interpreting the Past: Theory and Method in Archaeology | 3 |
Regional Archaeology Courses - 6 hours
Choose from:
ANTH 4365 | Archaeology of South America | 3 |
ANTH 4366 | Ecuadorian Archaeology | 3 |
ANTH 4369 | Archaeology of Mexico and Central America | 3 |
ANTH 4370 | Texas Archaeology | 3 |
ANTH 4374 | Archaeology of North America | 3 |
Archaeology Topics Course - 3 hours
Choose from:
ANTH 4303 | Forensic Anthropology | 3 |
ANTH 4305 | Great Discoveries in Archaeology | 3 |
ANTH 4307 | Shipwrecks, Pirates, and Sea: Maritime Archaeology and History | 3 |
ANTH 4309 | Anthropology of Sex & Gender | 3 |
ANTH 4310 | Food and Culture | 3 |
ANTH 4316 | Open Source GIS for Cultural Resources | 3 |
ANTH 4321 | Human Skeletal Anatomy | 3 |
ANTH 4361 | Historical Archaeology | 3 |
ANTH 4377 | Global Cultural Heritage Issues and Debates | 3 |
ANTH 4385 | Topics in Anthropology | 3 |
Archaeology Experiential Course - 3 hours
Choose from:
ANTH 3343 | Museum Studies Internship | 3 |
ANTH 3344 | Archive Studies Internship | 3 |
ANTH 3345 | Anthropology Community Internship | 3 |
ANTH 4315 | Discovering the Rio Grande Valley | 3 |
ANTH 4317 | Field Experience Borderlands | 3 |
ANTH 4395 | Fieldwork in Anthropology | 3 |
Support Courses - 12 hours
Humanities Courses - 6 hours
Choose from:
ARTS 2346 | Ceramics I | 3 |
ARTS 3350 | Pre-Hispanic Mesoamerican Art and Architecture | 3 |
ARTS 3351 | Andean Pre-Hispanic Art and Architecture | 3 |
ARTS 3352 | Art and Architecture of Asia, Africa and Oceania | 3 |
ARTS 3356 | Mexican Viceregal Art and Architecture | 3 |
ARTS 3357 | South American Viceregal Art and Architecture | 3 |
ARTS 3380 | Museums, Museology, and Museography | 3 |
ARTS 4352 | Latin American Art and Architecture | 3 |
HIST 3300 | Historiography and Methods | 3 |
HIST 3302 | World Environmental History | 3 |
HIST 3320 | Colonial America to 1763 | 3 |
HIST 3361 | Colonial Latin America | 3 |
HIST 3363 | Mexico from Pre-Conquest to the Present | 3 |
HIST 3370 | Early Middle East History | 3 |
HIST 3372 | History of East Asia to 1800 | 3 |
GEOG 1303 | World Regional Geography | 3 |
GEOG 3320 | Cultural Geography for Educators I | 3 |
Natural Sciences Courses - 6 hours
Choose from:
BIOL 2428 | Comparative Vertebrate Anatomy | 4 |
ENVR 1401 | Introduction to Environmental Science I | 4 |
ENVR 1402 | Introduction to Environmental Science II | 4 |
ENVR 2301 | Earth System Science | 3 |
ENVR 2302 | Environment and Society | 3 |
GEOG 2313 | Principles of Geography Physics Elementary | 3 |
GEOG 3333 | Latin American Geography | 3 |
GEOL 1403 | Physical Geology | 4 |
GEOL 1404 | Historical Geology | 4 |
GEOL 3401 | Geomorphology | 4 |
GEOL 4302 | Environmental Geology | 3 |
GEOL 4403 | Sedimentology and Stratigraphy | 4 |
GEOL 4411 | Introduction to Geographic Information Systems | 4 |
GEOL 4412 | Advanced Geographic Information Systems | 4 |
Free Electives – 24 hours
Free elective credit hours at the advanced level may be needed to achieve the institutional minimum of 42 advanced hours.
Total Credit Hours: 42
View this program’s recommended roadmap to graduation.
UTRGV Roadmaps are a suggested sequence of courses designed to assist students in completing their undergraduate degree requirements. This is a term-by-term sample roadmap of courses required to complete the degree. Students must satisfy all requirements in their catalog including, but not limited to course prerequisites, grade point average and course grade benchmarks, progression requirements, and graduation requirements.
Students should meet with their academic advisor every semester to discuss their individualized path toward completion. Degree progress within this roadmap depends upon such factors as course availability, individual student academic preparation and readiness, student time management, work and personal responsibilities, and financial considerations. Students may choose to take courses during summer terms to reduce course loads during long semesters.