About the Program
Professors: Linda Van Blerkom (Anthropology)
Associate Professors: Tammy Windfelder (Biology)
Biological anthropology studies humans as the products of biology, culture, environment, and organism (developmental history). It takes a comparative and evolutionary approach to understanding humans and their closest primate relatives. It deals with important questions about human existence: Where did we come from? How did we get here? What is our relationship to the rest of nature? These and other concerns of the discipline go to the very core of what it means to be human and inform such debates as the biological validity of race or to what extent humans are innately violent. This interdisciplinary major combines coursework in anthropology, biology, and chemistry in an attempt to deepen students' understanding of human biology and behavior, of what it means to be human. We teach and engage in field and laboratory research in primate and human behavioral ecology, osteology, paleontology, evolutionary genetics, infectious disease, and other areas designed to prepare students for graduate study or employment in biological and forensic anthropology as well as in human biology, primatology, human genetics, and the health professions.
Students completing the major in biological anthropology are expected to fulfill the following learning objectives:
- Basic understanding of human biology, from the molecular/cellular level up through organismic and populations levels (genetics, anatomy, morphogenesis, evolution, ecology).
- Understanding of the core perspectives of anthropology (comparative, holistic, and evolutionary) and the four subdisciplines (cultural, linguistics, archaeology, and biological).
- Ability to design a research project in biological anthropology and an understanding of the scientific method.
- Awareness of the human species' place in nature, its relationship to the rest of the animal kingdom, and its ecological embeddedness in planetary ecosystems.
- Knowledge of human evolution and the biological and ecological underpinnings of human and primate behavior; appreciation of the relative contributions of biological and cultural influences on behavior.
- Ability to apply osteological or archaeological methods to the analysis of human skeletal remains and other evidence of prehistoric human activities.
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Requirements for the Major (64 credits)
I. Introductory Courses (24 credits)
ANTH 3/Human Evolution: Introduction to Biological Anthropology and Archaelogy (4)
ANTH 4/Cultural Diversity: Introduction to Cultural Anthropology and Linguistics (4)
BIOL 7/Ecology and Evolution (4)
BIOL 9/Diversity of Life: Animals, Plants, and Microbes (4)
CHEM 6/Principles of Chemistry I (4)
CHEM 7/Principles of Chemistry II (4)
II. Intermediate Level Course Work (12 credits)
ANTH 11/Cultural Ecology (4)
BIOL 22/Molecular and Cellular Biology (4)
BIOL 24/Vertebrate Anatomy and Physiology (4)
III. Methods (8 credits)
MATH 3/Introductory Statistics (4)
ANTH 124/Human Osteology (4) OR ANTH 101/Archeological Method and Theory (4)
IV. Additional Courses (16 credits)
ANTH 25/Primatology (4) OR BIOL 167/Animal Behavior (4)
ANTH 127/Human Evolutionary Genetics (4) OR BIOL 166/Evolutionary Genetics (4)
BIOL 140/Vertebrate Morphogenesis (4) OR BIOL 142/Departmental Biology (4)
ANTH 125/Medical Anthropology (4) OR ANTH 126/Evolution and Human Behavior (4) OR ANTH 137/Special Topics in Biological Anthropology (4)
V. Capstone/Research Experience (4 credits)
Students must take one of the following options:
ANTH 199/Senior Seminar in Anthropology (4) OR
BIOL 190/Seminar in Biology (2) PLUS BIOL 195/Independent Study in Biology: Literature Research (2) OR
BIOL/195 or 196 for 4 credits instead of 2 (this option may be pursued in years when BIOL 190 is not offered; both BIOL 195 and 196 have a 4 credit option)
Regardless of the option chosen, bio-anth majors are expected to complete the required paper or research project on a topic of biological anthropology. We especially encourage all students to engage in some kind of hands-on laboratory or field research experience.
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