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Department of Anthropology

Students are urged to consult the

Anthropology Grad Handbook August 2024 (This archived document is no longer maintained and may not meet accessibility standards. To request content in an accessible format, contact us.)

for more information regarding the requirements and procedures of the Graduate Program in Anthropology.

All students in the Ph.D. program are required to complete 48 approved course credits, but how a particular student fulfills that requirement depends upon which of the two tracks he or she is following.

Students in the Human Evolutionary Sciences (HES) track of the Ph.D. program in Anthropology are required to take a minimum of 30 approved course credits. Students entering the Human Evolutionary Sciences program must take the following core courses, which will be offered in a regular cycle: 16:070:561 Human Behavioral Ecology, 16:070:558 Evolution of the Hominidae, 16:070:568 Primate Ecology and Social Behavior, 16:070:508 Evolutionary Theory & Processes, 16:070:502 Proseminar in Anthropology II, and 16:070:579 Archaeological Sciences. In addition, all HES students must take one course in Statistics such as 01:960:401 Basic Statistics for Research (or an equivalent). If a student took an equivalent course as a MA/MS student prior to coming to Rutgers, that fulfills the requirement. Students in HES are not allowed to take more than three independent study courses.

Students in the CITE track of the Ph.D. program in Anthropology are required to take 36 approved course credits. Students in the CITE track must take 16:070:505 History of Anthropological Theory, 16:070:506 Research Design and Methods in Social/Cultural Anthropology, 16:070:532 Anthropology, Theory, Ethnography, and 16:070:514 Language as Social Action. These courses are offered on a rotating basis every two years.

All Ph.D. students are also required to complete a minimum of 24 Research Credits.

In addition, students in the Ph.D. program are required to do the following:

Present their work in progress at a Second Year Colloquium;
Take written qualifying exams in the form of two Field Statements
Submit a dissertation proposal to his/her committee, for oral examination, after the completion of 48 credits and approval of two field statements. Students are admitted into candidacy for the Ph.D., thereby achieving "ABD" (All But Dissertation) status, after successfully passing the defense of the dissertation proposal.
Write a dissertation and defend it in a public forum for evaluation by her/his dissertation committee. If the dissertation is judged acceptable, and all other requirements have been fulfilled, a Ph.D. degree is awarded.

Although there is no formal fieldwork requirement, most anthropology students find fieldwork necessary for the Ph.D. There is no specific language requirement, but students are advised to learn languages that will be necessary for successful completion of their research. The Graduate School encourages students in all programs to finish their degrees in five years, but recognizes that anthropology students may take a bit longer because of the extra demands of fieldwork, but the six-year (or seven-year in special cases) limit on University-based funding still applies. The Graduate School requires students to formally request an extension if they will require more than seven years to complete their Ph.D. Students in the anthropology program can do this as part of the existing Annual Review of Students. Extensions beyond the tenth year will be granted only for compelling and extraordinary reasons.

Departmental Teaching Assistantships (TAs)

The Department offers most TA assignments as part of multi-year financial packages that include fellowships. Any remaining TA'ships are awarded competitively within the program, in the spring, for the following academic year.

More information about TA assignments, fellowships, Bigel Fellowships for summer fieldwork, and other funding opportunities can be found in the Department of Anthropology's Graduate Handbook.

External Grants and Fellowships

Some graduate students at the university are supported by fellowships funded by sources outside the university. As soon as students have a sense of the direction of their work, they should begin exploring sources of research funding. First-year students are encouraged to apply for pre-doctoral grants such as those funded by the Mellon Foundation, the National Science Foundation , the Ford Foundation, or the Jacob Javits Fellowship Program. Faculty members can offer guidance, but students should also familiarize themselves with the various published guides available in the library. The Alexander Library reference desk has a brochure listing books available on scholarships, grants, foundations, etc. The Foundation Center (now called Candid Center Northeast) has offices in New York City and offers an extensive amount of information on grant programs, etc. Another excellent source of assistance and information about graduate grantmanship is Rutgers' Chaser program. This program is designed expressly to aid Rutgers' graduate students in identifing grant sources and to help them through the grant application process.

One particularly good source of information is This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. in the Dean's Office at the Graduate School (732-932-2705). She can help you locate sources of funding and can also help you revise drafts of your proposals, especially once you start applying for grants to conduct doctoral dissertation fieldwork overseas. Some of the organizations that fund such fieldwork include the National Science Foundation, the Wenner-Gren Foundation, Fulbright-IIE, Fulbright-Hays, the Smithsonian, the Social Science Research Foundation, and others. Our students have been successful in applying for all these grants.