Anthropology and Archaeology at SUNY Potsdam

The mission of the Anthropology Department at SUNY Potsdam is to provide students with knowledge of the five fields of anthropology and to give them practical experience in communities so that they can approach the world professionally and anthropologically.

From the distant past to modern times, from remote villages across the world to the city you live in, anthropology provides ways to look at humankind.

The Fall 2008 courses are now listed under Courses.

The anthropology major is for anyone interested in working with people in all of their cultural diversity, solving social problems, teaching social sciences, examining human behavior, and biology from an evolutionary point of view.

Unlike departments at large universities, which give priority to research and graduate students, our department emphasizes teaching undergraduates in small classes. Besides your study, you would be encouraged to take part in such projects as:

• The department magazine Collegiate Anthropologist, published twice a year.
• Laboratory and research assistantships in archaeology and biological anthropology.
• Teaching assistantships in all five fields.
• Independent research with faculty mentors.
• Assisting faculty with their own research, including bibliographic searches, video review, and analyzing artifacts.
• Preparing musuem exhibits.
• Planning the Northeastern Anthropological Association annual meeting.
• Learning and applying ArcGIS.
• Internships in North Country schools, businesses, government offices and social work agencies.
• Summer expeditions to archaeological dig sites in the North Country and elsewhere.  Recently, students have excavated at the site of slave cabins in Virginia, and cemeteries in Poland.
• The Anthropology Club, which hosts speakers, shows films, takes field trips and provides social opportunities.
• Membership in Lambda Alpha, the national honor society

Anthropology students attended the StonyBrook Human Evolution Conference in October 2006.