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Anthropology (PhD)

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General Admission Contact The New School for Social Research Office of Admission 72 Fifth Avenue, 1st floor New York, NY 10011 212.229.5600 or 800.523.5411 [email protected]

Admissions Liaison [email protected]

Department of Anthropology 6 East 16th Street, 9th floor New York, NY 10003 Tel: 212.229.5757 x3016 Fax: 212.229.5595

Mailing Address 79 Fifth Avenue, 9th floor New York, NY 10003

Chair  Hugh Raffles

Senior Secretary Charles Whitcroft

Student Advisor Jack Jiang

Anthropology Student Handbook

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The PhD in Anthropology, open to those who have completed the Anthropology MA at The New School for Social Research, prepares students for creative independent research and teaching.

At the PhD level, we encourage students to develop their own theoretical and geographic specializations through participation in a required sequence of three doctoral proseminars and tutorial work with individual faculty.

• Degree Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
• Credits 60 credits
• Format Full-time or part-time, on campus
• Start Term Fall

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A full account of degree requirements and procedures is contained in the  Anthropology student handbook .

PhD candidates must earn 30 credits in addition to the 30 credits taken in the Anthropology MA program, for a total of 60 credits. Students in the Anthropology MA program may apply for entry into the PhD program upon successful completion of the MA written examination and submission to the department of a brief written proposal indicating an area of future research.

To earn the PhD in Anthropology, a student must complete 30 credits beyond the MA, including:

• Three doctoral proseminar courses in the Anthropology department: a course in project conceptualization, a course in ethnographic research methods, and a grant-writing workshop
• At least one course in the history and one course in the ethnography of the area in which they will be working (these area courses may be taken either at The New School or through the Inter-University Consortium)

Department Workshops Doctoral students are required to attend the bimonthly department workshop. The content of the workshop is determined by students in consultation with workshop faculty, and has included presentations by anthropology faculty on such topics as publishing, grant-writing, and job talks; as well as presentations by students of research proposals, dissertation chapters, and reports from the field. The workshop is also often the catalyst for student-organized themed conferences. In addition, doctoral students are required to attend the department colloquia series of invited speakers.

Language Requirement Each PhD student, regardless of specialization, must demonstrate reading knowledge of one language other than English by passing a language examination administered by the department. Some area specializations will require further language study to be determined in consultation with faculty. If further study is recommended, arrangements will be made through The New School's foreign language program or the Inter-University Consortium.

Graduate Minors Students can use elective courses toward completing one of the university’s  graduate minors . These structured pathways of study immerse master's and doctoral students in disciplines outside their primary field and expose them to alternative modes of research and practice. Completed graduate minors are officially recorded on students' transcript.

Qualifying Examination and Dissertation All Anthropology doctoral students are required to pass the Qualifying Examination to advance to candidacy and continue towards the doctoral degree. In general, students are expected to take the exam within two years of entering the doctoral program.

The Qualifying Examination consists of two parts: a written proposal and a three-hour oral examination. The written component has three elements: a detailed prospectus that describes the student's proposed research project and two bibliographic essays on fields selected and developed in consultation with the student's advisor and Qualifying Examination Committee. Following successful completion of this exam, the PhD candidate normally begins an extended period of ethnographic fieldwork. The written dissertation and its defense in front of a committee of four faculty members constitute the remaining requirements for the PhD.

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Anthropology, official name of program, department(s) sponsoring program, degree designation, nysed program code, requirements.

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Anthropology

Anthropologists study people—our diversity, our cultural practices, our social and political relations, our evolutionary history and our changing environments over time.

Anthropology offers a unique perspective on topics from racism and inequality to biodiversity conservation, from climate change to the varied cultures of New York City.

We offer a comprehensive major and several minors in specific areas of anthropology, and are home to the only public college MA program in anthropology in New York City. We teach students to understand contemporary global issues and how they reflect fundamental human concerns.

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Curious about a career in museums? Join Hunter College's Anthropology and History Departments for the Museum Careers Panel.

Join us to celebrate the launch of Professor Marc Edelman's new book, "Peasant Politics of the Twenty-First Century!"

Doctoral Lecturer in Anthropology Ingrid Lundeen has won a prize from the Journal of Human Evolution for a paper on primate fossils.

Read the Full Paper

Hunter College Anthropology Professor Jonathan Shannon long has served as one of the foremost chroniclers of the rich history of traditional ...

A new doctoral lecturer in Hunter’s Anthropology Department has made an important discovery about starlings.

"With each class, I learned to see the world with a different lens. The study of human culture is an endlessly fascinating endeavor. My mentors and teachers made it all the more enjoyable and rewarding!" Heba Shaaban, anthropology & biochemistry major and Macaulay Honors graduate '18

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Our faculty conduct research around the globe, in the field, the laboratory, and the library, using the methods of ethnography, evolutionary science, archaeology and critical cultural studies. Our active research projects invite student engagement.

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Anthropology is a broad and diverse discipline that seeks to better understand the human species in terms of our cultural, behavioral, and biological development through time. Towards this end, the field of anthropology includes comparisons with our closest living relatives - the lemurs, monkeys and apes that, together with us, constitute the zoological Order Primates. The wide scope of anthropology has resulted in the emergence of four sub-disciplines: cultural anthropology, archaeology, biological anthropology, and linguistics. Cultural anthropology concentrates on the cultural behavior of modern humans. Archaeology represents the study of human cultural and behavioral variation over time investigated through the material culture of past people. Biological anthropology examines humans as biological organisms in an evolutionary framework. This, itself, encompasses a very broad range of topics, including human biology, the study of the behavioral ecology and anatomy of living non-human primates, and the fossil record for primate and human evolution. Linguistics is the study of language and its structure (see Department of Linguistics ).

The Department of Anthropology has 16 core (full-time) faculty and a number of associate faculty, covering the areas of cultural anthropology, paleolithic archaeology, Southwest Asian archaeology, zooarchaeology, the behavioral ecology and conservation of living primates, evolutionary morphology, brain evolution, primate paleontology, and human evolution. 

The department maintains close ties with faculty in Stony Brook's Department of Anatomical Sciences  (Renaissance School of Medicine) and of Biomedical Engineering  (College of Engineering and Applied Sciences), as well as the Departments of Africana Studies , Ecology and Evolution , History , and  Geosciences   (College of Arts and Sciences). As such, research opportunities abound for undergraduate students as well as for graduate students in anthropology!

This is an extremely exciting time for anthropology, and Stony Brook is at the forefront of anthropological research in the 21st century. Our faculty is diverse, our commitment is high, our research is cutting-edge, and our facilities are unique. Come and join us!

We encourage you to explore our site and hope that you find Stony Brook University and our department to be both exciting and friendly. Please feel free to   contact us if you have any questions.

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Biological Anthropology at NYU

Physical anthropology or biological anthropology is an area of investigation that examines all aspects of the biological domain of humans. As a subdiscipline of anthropology it has its intellectual and academic roots in the social sciences, but it also has strong interdisciplinary connections with the natural sciences, especially biology, psychology, ethology and the earth sciences. Consequently, practitioners of biological anthropology have long embraced a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary perspective that integrates a diversity of approaches from the social and natural sciences. Biological anthropologists acknowledge this paradigm as the most profitable for unravelling the complex theoretical and conceptual issues that underlie the study of human beings. In parallel with the remarkable growth and maturation of the natural sciences, knowledge and expertise in biological anthropology has greatly expanded in recent years beyond the intellectual and technical grasp of individual generalists, and as a result the subdiscipline has witnessed a corresponding degree of sub-specialization. The research programs and interests of the biological anthropologists in our department (Profs. Antón, Asangba, Bailey, Higham, and Williams) intersect many of these major subdisciplinary specialties, including primate socioecology, comparative primate morphology, molecular anthropology, paleoanthropology, primate paleontology, and skeletal morphology. In addition to expertise in these specialist areas, faculty and student research is unified by a conceptual and intellectual foundation in genetics, evolutionary theory, ecology, and behavior. We regard these as core themes in a common enterprise that can be referred to as evolutionary primatology – the study of human beings and other primates within an evolutionary context. Our research is based on a solid foundation of traditional approaches and concepts in biological anthropology, an appreciation of the multidisciplinarity of the subdiscipline, and technical and theoretical proficiency in newly emerging specialty areas. The research and training program in our department is distinguished by its unique commitment to integrating laboratory-based and field-based research. We have state-of-the-art laboratories in population genetics, molecular systematics, behavioral endocrinology, paleoanthropology and osteology, with superb facilities for both research and teaching in these areas. In addition, faculty and students are conducting primatological and paleoanthropological research at sites in Puerto Rico, Colombia, Brazil, Argentina, Zambia, South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania, Indonesia, and China. Our faculty maintains an active network of collaborative and educational links with colleagues and institutions worldwide as part of this major international research effort.

New York Consortium for Evolutionary Primatology

The biological anthropologists at New York University participate in the New York Consortium for Evolutionary Primatology (NYCEP), a unique research and graduate training consortium that brings together researchers, educators and resources from five institutions in New York City – City University of New York, Columbia University, New York University, the American Museum of Natural History, and the Wildlife Conservation Society at the Bronx Zoo. The consortium includes over sixty scholars with research interests in comparative anatomy, paleontology, molecular systematics, population genetics, social behavior, ecology, and conservation of primates (including humans), spanning the entire breadth of the field of evolutionary primatology. In addition to providing a wider menu of courses for graduate students to choose from, NYCEP also offers an integrated educational curriculum and research program with a multidisciplinary and global agenda. For more information visit: http://www.nycep.org

Center for the Study of Human Origins

The Center for the Study of Human Origins (CSHO) in the Department of Anthropology at New York University was founded in 2002. Its mission is to enhance and facilitate research in all fields of biological anthropology and archaeology that are broadly related to the study of human origins and evolution from a biological and cultural perspective. CSHO’s aim is to foster and support multidisciplinary investigations, with an emphasis on the development of collaborative projects, international fieldwork, and state-of-the-art laboratory research.

Faculty members associated with the Center currently work on aspects of primate and human paleontology, skeletal biology and comparative anatomy, molecular primatology, population genetics, primate socioecology and conservation, Paleolithic archaeology, zooarchaeology, and the origins of symbolism, complex societies, and city-states. In addition to research, the Center also aims to promote a greater understanding and appreciation of the study of human origins among the academic community and the public at large through conferences, workshops, educational programs, and outreach activities.

Special Resources and Facilities

Excellent research laboratories dedicated to primate population genetics and molecular primatology, comparative anatomy, paleoanthropology, and human osteology, are available in the department.

In addition, the faculty is engaged in ongoing research at field sites in Africa and Asia

A number of other departments and schools at New York University provide resources of collaboration and instruction. These include the Departments of Biology, the Center for Neural Science, and the various academic departments of the School of Medicine and the College of Dentistry. In addition, the department’s ties to various institutions abroad and in the United States greatly enhance research opportunities available to students interested in primatology, paleoanthropology, and skeletal biology.

The many libraries and museums in New York that are available to students enrolled in the department include the incomparable collections at the American Museum of Natural History.

Through CSHO, the department sponsors a special lecture and workshop series to which leading international scholars are invited to present their latest research.

• Paleoanthropology and Skeletal Morphology Laboratories
• Paleoanthropological Field Studies
• Population Genetics and Molecular Anthropology Laboratory
• Endocrionology Laboratory
• Primate Behavior Field Studies

Susan C. Antón   Research/Interest: Biological anthropology; skeletal biology; evolution of genus Homo; dispersal; evolutionary morphology; human osteology and anatomy; growth, development and life history patterns. Field programs in Asia and the Pacific.

Abigail Asangba

Research/Interest: Host-microbe interactions; human and non-human primate microbiome, preterm birth, gynecologic cancers.

Shara E. Bailey   Research/Interest: Biological anthropology; paleoanthropology; dental morphology and morphometrics; Middle-Late Pleistocene hominins; Neandertals; modern human origins; Plio-Pleistocene hominin evolution; Europe; Africa.

James Higham  Research/Interest: Sexual selection, communication, behavioral endocrinology.

Scott A. Williams  Research/Interest: Human evolution; Evolutionary functional morphology; Fossil hominins; Bipedalism; Trunk; Axial skeleton; Vertebral column; 

Anthropology (BA)

Program description, sociocultural anthropology, linguistic anthropology, archaeological anthropology, biological anthropology, departmental objectives, honors program.

The Department of Anthropology is one of the country's leading graduate and undergraduate centers for cultural anthropology, archaeology, linguistic anthropology, and biological anthropology—the four principal subfields studied in the undergraduate curriculum. The department considers its greatest assets to be the various individual areas of faculty expertise: archaeological specialties such as medieval archaeology and European, Near Eastern, and South Asian prehistory; biological anthropology areas such as molecular primatology, primate behavioral ecology, and paleoanthropology; linguistic anthropology foci such as discourse analysis and language socialization; and sociocultural anthropology specialties such as the ethnography of North America, Africa, India, China, the Near and Middle East, Russia and the former Soviet Union, the Caribbean, Latin America, Europe, Australia, and the South Pacific. Major theoretical emphasis is on the systems of thought and symbolic representation of the self and society; the relation between female and male domains of interaction; changing patterns of social organization and hierarchy within small-scale societies, urban settings, and bureaucratic institutions; medical anthropology; evolutionary approaches to the study of primate and human origins; religion; art; science studies; race and ethnicity; and the problem of ethnographic representation in film and other media.

Departmental resources include an extensive film and video collection as well as teaching and research labs for archaeology, linguistic anthropology, and biological anthropology, which can be used for research by advanced undergraduates. A departmental colloquium series and an undergraduate student association welcome undergraduate participation. The department participates in the University's Hagop Kevorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies, the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, the Jordan Center for the Advanced Study of Russia, the Institute for French Studies, the Center for Religion and Media, the Center for the Study of Human Origins, the Institute for Study of the Ancient World, the Program in Museum Studies, and the Center for Media, Culture, and History.

Formal and informal cooperative arrangements with museums, zoos, and other academic institutions in the greater New York area place at students' disposal a group of anthropological scholars, materials, and resources unparalleled in the country.

Fields of Inquiry

This field is the study of social organization and the systems of thought and values that both reflect and inform social practice in different cultures. Sociocultural anthropology is interdisciplinary in orientation, analyzing and synthesizing religious, artistic, economic, and political practices through the common medium of culture. Traditionally, cultural anthropology emphasized the study of small-scale societies in non-Western settings. Contemporary sociocultural anthropology maintains such interests but increasingly applies its insights and methods to urban and industrialized societies and attends more closely to the production of culture. An emphasis of the department is the ethnographic study of cultural, social, and political processes that shape our lives and those of other people, especially as we are drawn together and influence one another in increasingly transnational and global interactions.

This field focuses on how language is interpreted and used in cultural contexts. Language use is socially organized, and it is a key to understanding the ways in which speakers create and change social realities. Studied within historical as well as cultural frameworks and in relation to other social institutions (e.g., politics, education, law, medicine), variation in ways of speaking language(s) adds to our understanding of how social categories such as ethnicity, race, and gender are interactionally constituted across contexts, cultures, and societies.

This field uses artifacts and other material remains to understand human culture. It attempts to breathe life into a material record that at first glance appears static and fragmentary. The research interests of anthropological archaeologists range from the earliest production of durable tools 3.3 million years ago to the refuse currently being generated by modern cities. All aspects of past human existence, including art, technology, religion, gender, economic and social organization, and food-getting strategies, are addressed by researchers in anthropological archaeology.

This field encompasses the study of human and nonhuman primate biological diversity and includes the anatomy, genetics, behavior, ecology, and evolution of humans and other primates. It is linked to the other subfields of anthropology by its commitment to the study of human biology, behavior, and evolution within the context of culture, society, and ecology. Close ties with the American Museum of Natural History and the Wildlife Conservation Society at the Bronx Zoo facilitate the department's diverse research interests in biological anthropology.

Anthropology courses contribute to undergraduate education in two ways. First, the scope of the discipline's interests bridges the humanities, the social sciences, and the natural sciences. Anthropology asks basic questions concerning the origins and development of humans and their cultures and divergent systems of thought, belief, and social order. By systematically analyzing various cultural traditions—contemporary as well as historically known—anthropology raises critical questions concerning the foundations of world civilizations. An understanding of the distinctive way anthropology formulates and attempts to answer its basic questions is a necessary component of a comprehensive liberal arts education.

Second, the department offers concentrated programs of study for the minor, major, or honors student. A minor usually emphasizes one of the four subdisciplines, although students are free to select courses from across the subfields. For the major, the department encourages study in all of the subdisciplines, because each supplements and complements the others in presenting humans as both biological and social beings. The honors program includes in-depth research and writing in an aspect of sociocultural, linguistic, archaeological, or biological anthropology, as well as the pursuit of additional advanced course work at the senior undergraduate and graduate level. The department also participates in the interdisciplinary minor in archaeology.

The director of undergraduate studies (DUS) works closely with anthropology majors and minors in designing programs of study that integrate their individual goals with the offerings and intellectual goals of the department and complementary disciplines. Majors should meet with the DUS at least once per semester, typically just prior to registration for the next semester, to discuss their progress through the program, decide on future course work, and discuss post-graduation plans.

The department prides itself on its graduate and undergraduate programs' integrated nature, which enables major, minor, and honors students to participate in a variety of challenging graduate courses and seminars. Additionally, an active Anthropology Undergraduate Student Association (AUSA) connects students to one another through special events and an e-mail forum.

A degree in anthropology is awarded with honors to selected anthropology majors who apply for admission to the program through the DUS during their junior year. Honors program candidates are expected to meet all the requirements for the program and to maintain an overall grade point average of 3.65 and an average of 3.65 in the major. Candidates for the honors program must complete a total of ten 4-credit courses (40 credits) in anthropology, including the two-semester research/thesis writing sequence, ANTH-UA 950 Honors Research I and ANTH-UA 951 Honors Research II taken in the senior year, plus at least one graduate course, typically taken in the junior or senior year. All of these courses count toward the major.

In the spring semester of the junior year, students will secure a faculty supervisor for their honors thesis. (In January of the senior year, the student will choose a second faculty reader in consultation with the thesis supervisor). In the fall semester of the senior year, all thesis writers from across departmental subdisciplines enroll in ANTH-UA 950 Honors Research I , a 2-credit seminar course in which research methods are taught and individualized to fit each student’s topic—e.g., assembling a bibliography; constructing hypotheses; using secondary, primary, and occasionally original sources to generate data; and analyzing data. In the spring semester, all thesis writers enroll in ANTH-UA 951 Honors Research II , a 2-credit seminar course in which students share their developing theses with the group. In both semesters, students should also enroll in a 2-credit independent study with their thesis adviser. Honors candidates are strongly encouraged to formally present posters/papers at the Dean’s Undergraduate Research Conference and within the department. Feedback will be offered at different stages by both faculty and student peers in the seminar. It is the responsibility of the thesis writer to consult with his or her departmental faculty mentor who is supervising the honors project and who will serve as the primary thesis reader.

New York University's Office of Undergraduate Admissions supports the application process for all undergraduate programs at NYU.  For additional information about undergraduate admissions, including application requirements, see How to Apply . 

Program Requirements

Independent study, internships .

The major in anthropology consists of nine 4-credit courses (36 credits) as outlined below.

The foreign language requirement is satisfied upon successful completion through the Intermediate level of a language. This may be accomplished in fewer than 16 credits, but those credits must then be completed as elective credit.

The remaining elective courses for the major (five courses/20 credits) may be selected from any subfield of anthropology. Students must take at least five courses from the Department of Anthropology at New York University in order to receive a major in anthropology from NYU, and a grade of C or better is required in every course to be counted toward the major. Students are not required to focus on any one of the subfields of anthropology represented in the department, but rather are free to choose elective courses that accommodate their interests as narrowly or broadly as they see fit, in consultation with the DUS. Internships approved by the DUS are encouraged, but internship credits may not be applied toward the major. Independent study courses, conducted under the supervision of a departmental faculty member, are also encouraged and can be applied toward the major, up to a limit of 8 credits. Majors should consult regularly with the DUS in order to take full advantage of the seminars and research opportunities open to them.

Students must obtain permission from the director of undergraduate studies to register for the independent study courses ANTH-UA 997 or 998 (2 or 4 credits per term; 6 or 8 credits may be appropriate in exceptional cases). Independent study is an opportunity for students to work closely with a faculty adviser on a project related to their area of study. Students must choose a member of the faculty in their area of study with whom they have taken at least one anthropology course. After securing approval from a faculty member in writing, the student should see the director of undergraduate studies (DUS) in order to register for an independent study course.

It is imperative that students meet on a regular basis with their faculty adviser throughout the semester in which they are doing the independent study. Upon completion of the independent study, the faculty adviser must present written proof that the student has completed all course work for the study to the DUS, along with the student's final grade.

Independent study units can be applied toward the major and minor in anthropology and can fulfill one of the student's elective requirements, provided that the student earns a grade of at least C. A maximum of 8 credits of independent study can be applied to the 36 credits required for the major in anthropology, and a maximum of 4 credits of independent study can be applied to the 16 credits required for the minor.

Only anthropology majors who have the permission of the director of undergraduate studies may register for the internship courses ANTH-UA 980 or 981 (2 or 4 credits per term). Internship credits cannot be applied toward the major. Internships are opportunities for students to gain practical work experience relevant to anthropology and are sponsored by selected institutions, agencies, and research laboratories. Internships are negotiated between the student, the internship sponsor, and a faculty member in anthropology who will supervise the internship. The expected time commitment for internships is 8 hours per week for 4 credits.

On the internship form, which is available in the department office, the student will describe the intended internship, indicating how it is relevant to his/her academic training in anthropology. The statement should also include an outline of the professional and educational duties and responsibilities of the student intern. The student, the department faculty, and the internship site sponsor will each sign the form, which the student will return to the department.

The student will submit weekly or other periodic reports to her/his anthropology faculty supervisor describing the internship's activities and what she/he has learned. These reports will serve as self-assessments of the professional and educational component of the internship, and will contribute to the student's final grade.

At the end of the internship period, the internship site sponsor will provide the anthropology faculty supervisor with a written account of the student's activities, responsibilities, number of hours per week spent on the internship, and a brief report describing and assessing the student intern's work, which will contribute to the student's final grade. The student's final grade will be determined and submitted by the department faculty supervisor.

Sample Plan of Study

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of program requirements, students are expected to have developed:

• An understanding of all four sub-fields of Anthropology (sociocultural anthropology, linguistic anthropology, biological anthropology, and anthropological archaeology), including their goals and methods of study.
• Experience with the basic laboratory methods and techniques used in biological anthropology and anthropological archaeology.
• The ability to conduct independent research using anthropological methods such as archival research, excavation, laboratory studies, ethnographic research, library research, museum studies, and appropriate technologies.
• Effective written and oral communication skills.
• An understanding of the ways in which an anthropological perspective can be applied to contemporary issues such as climate change, human rights, and the role of the media in modern society.

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University-wide policies can be found on the New York University Policy pages .

A full list of relevant academic policies can be found on the CAS Academic Policies page . 

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PhD: Anthropology

Anthropology, phd.

The Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology is awarded to students who have shown mastery of the general materials of anthropology and a substantial command of the specialized subject matter of one or more of the four subfields (Archaeology, Biological Anthropology, Linguistic Anthropology, or Sociocultural Anthropology) and who have successfully carried out and formally presented research judged to constitute an original contribution to the discipline.

We highly recommend that students contact faculty members they are most interested in working with before applying. Applicants are not required to have an MA or MS before admission, though some faculty prefer to admit students with an MA or MS. Students who enter with an MA or MS are required to demonstrate that they have fulfilled our MA requirements, either in their previous institution or here, before they can advance to candidacy.

Students with an MA/MS (or professional equivalent) may apply directly to our PhD program; students with a BA may also apply for admission to our PhD program, and will be required to complete an MA before being considered for advancement in our PhD program.

Applicants are not required to submit GRE aptitude test scores. Students from countries in which English is not the primary language must also submit TOEFL scores; additionally, all foreign students must provide immigration forms guaranteeing financial support.

Admission to candidacy

To be admitted to candidacy for the Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology, a student must have satisfied at least the minimal course credit requirement (at least 56 hours, exclusive of courses graded below B-, with a GPA of 3.5 or better), and all MA requirements. In addition, a student must:

pass a written examination covering three literature areas (one of which may be a regional competency examination)

propose a dissertation research project in colloquium before the department

pass an oral examination administered by the guidance committee in which questions address both the written exam and the colloquium

Submit a dissertation prospectus approved by the student's doctoral committee.

Minimum credits satisfying master's requirements (subfields and electives): 30

Electives (exclusive of ANTH 591, 599, 698, 699, and including no more than 8 credits of ANTH 597, and not more than 8 credits of course work outside of anthropology) to be chosen with the advice of the student's guidance committee and the written approval of its chair: 26

ANTH 699, Dissertation, as required to maintain registration after admission to candidacy.

Total minimum credit hours: 56

Students who have completed an MA at another university or in another discipline may request credit for up to 30 credit hours toward the PhD, and they may request exemption from one or more of the subfield distribution or discipline-specific requirements on the basis of previous graduate coursework in the relevant area. Students should address such requests to the Director of Graduate Studies.

Funding is limited, and all students who apply by the Fall deadline (December 15th) are automatically considered for funding as a Teaching or Research Assistant.

Funding covers tuition for the required graduate credits plus a stipend. Students who are eligible for the Clark Fellowship should submit this application at the same time.

See language requirement for the master's degree. Students having completed an MA at another university that required a language examination may submit evidence of having satisfied this requirement. In some instances, the choice of research area by the student may require demonstration of additional language proficiency (e.g. due to a lack of relevance of the language competence previously demonstrated).

Students should seek the advice of the members of their doctoral committee regarding appropriate language and research skills for the pursuit of their individualized programs of study. 

Each doctoral candidate must demonstrate the ability to complete an original research project and submit the findings in a dissertation acceptable to the student's dissertation committee. Upon approval by this committee, the dissertation must be defended in a public defense attended by the candidate's committee, an outside reader appointed by and representing the dean of the Graduate School and any others who wish to attend. A successful defense and submission of the dissertation to the Graduate School complete the requirements for awarding the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology.

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2024:Q2 Quarterly Highlights

Labor market conditions improved slightly for recent college graduates in the second quarter of 2024. The unemployment rate edged down to 4.5 percent and the underemployment rate inched lower to 40.5 percent.

This web feature tracks employment data for recent college graduates across the United States since 1990, allowing for a historical perspective on the experience of those moving into the labor market.

• compare the unemployment rate for recent college graduates with that of other groups
• monitor the underemployment rate of recent college graduates

A table tracks outcomes by college major with the latest available annual data.

How to cite this report:

Federal Reserve Bank of New York, The Labor Market for Recent College Graduates, https://nyfed.org/collegelabor.

Related reading:

The data do not represent official estimates of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, its President, the Federal Reserve System, or the Federal Open Market Committee.

We describe the framework for this analysis in “Underemployment in the Early Careers of College Graduates following the Great Recession” (NBER Studies in Income and Wealth ) and “Are Recent College Graduates Finding Good Jobs?,” a 2014 article in the New York Fed’s Current Issues in Economics and Finance series. These papers examine more than two decades of data on the employment outcomes of recent college graduates across the United States, and contain more details and historical perspective.

We launched this web feature to make some of the data featured in these papers available on a timely and updated basis. New unemployment and underemployment data for recent college graduates post on a quarterly basis (typically in February, May, August, and November), and wages and outcome data for college graduates are released on an annual basis (typically in February). Data extend from 1990 to the present. Periodic analysis of these data are published on the Liberty Street Economics blog.

Our definition of underemployment is based on the kinds of jobs held by college graduates. A college graduate working in a job that typically does not require a college degree is considered underemployed. We use survey data from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Information Network (O*NET) Education and Training Questionnaire to help determine whether a bachelor’s degree is required to perform a job. The articles cited above describe our approach in detail.

Some additional research that utilizes these data include “Working as a Barista After College Is Not as Common as You Might Think” ( Liberty Street Economics ).

Our underemployment figures are calculated as a percentage holding a bachelor’s degree or higher, so they do include those with graduate and professional degrees. See the notes below the x-axis on the Underemployment chart for more detail.

The “Share with Graduate Degree” column in the table represents, for each college major, the percentage of workers with a bachelor’s degree that also possesses a graduate degree of any kind. For example, 50.2 percent of those with a bachelor’s degree in history also possess some kind of graduate degree, based on February 2022 data.

All data presented here are national measures.

Unfortunately, we do not.

No, we only publish data that encompass the most recent year period available to utilize from the American Community Survey, which serves as the source for our analysis.

We do not have updated data by gender available in this web feature, but we did provide some gender analysis in “Underemployment in the Early Careers of College Graduates following the Great Recession.”

Unfortunately, at this time, our analysis only pertains to those with at least a bachelor’s degree.

No. Through 2023:Q2, we examined the types of jobs held by those who are underemployed, categorizing jobs broadly by skill level and pay to generate time series data for the percentages of graduates holding “good non-college jobs” and “low-wage jobs.” Starting with the 2023:Q3 update, the web feature will no longer include the data series for "underemployed job types," although historical data remain available for download .

In our definition, early career graduates are those aged 22 to 27, and mid-career graduates are those aged 35 to 45.

Boyarchenko, N., R. K. Crump, A. Kovner, and O. Shachar. 2021. “ Measuring Corporate Bond Market Dislocations .” Federal Reserve Bank of New York Staff Reports , no. 957, January, revised July.

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