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Archaeology

The archaeology subfield at CUNY maintains a dual focus: on major theoretical issues of wide concern in anthropology (rise of the state, hunter-gatherer organization, chieftainship, gender, human impacts); and on providing rigorous training in archaeological method (lithic technology, locational analyses, zooarchaeology, pottery analysis, quantitative methods). While maintaining a strong scientific tradition and a solid basic training in environmental archaeology, the faculty have also been active in studies of perception, gender relations, political ecology, and the integration of historical documents and archaeology. In recent years the archaeology subfield has developed particular strengths in the emerging area of Historical Ecology and the application of archaeological methods and data to aspects of Global Change research. Faculty research ranges from urban New York to rural Iceland, with particular strengths in Mesoamerica, Ecuador, South Asia, Near East, Europe, and North America. Major facilities and programs include the Hunter Bioarchaeology Laboratory, the Brooklyn Zooarchaeology Facility, the Hunter AMICA imaging facility (jointly with Physical Anthropology) and a developing GIS facility. The North Atlantic Biocultural Organization (NABO) and the international Archaeological Field school in Iceland (CUNY- Arch. Inst. Iceland- Oslo) are both managed from CUNY, providing students with a wide network of opportunities and professional connections. Consortial relationships with NYU, Columbia, Fordham, and the American Museum of Natural History expand these resources for students and faculty.

Sample Dissertations

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Linguistic Anthropology

The linguistic anthropology subfield prepares students to investigate the role of language in community, national, and cross-cultural interactions. It is distinguished from purely linguistic perspectives by its concern with the social and cultural factors that underlie people's use of language to share information and shape social reality and that contribute to communicative dysfunctions in community life. The Anthropology Doctoral Program cooperates with the Linguistics Doctoral Program in the sharing of faculty and in the offering of courses preparing students for the study of urban problems that involve language. The offerings include courses in sociolinguistics, urban linguistics, applied linguistics, bilingualism, and other issues involving the role of language in public education and public life in general in a multilingual city. Relevant courses in linguistic anthropology not offered at CUNY may be taken at New York University through the consortial arrangement. The unusual number of specialists in creole languages among Anthropology and Linguistics faculty allows a concentration on public education policies for speakers of such languages for whom English is a second language or, with even more subtle problems, a second dialect.

Sample Dissertations

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Physical Anthropology

Physical Anthropology at CUNY covers a wide range of topics, with a strong emphasis on evolutionary approaches to understanding human and nonhuman primate biology. Current research involves six main areas: the comparative morphology, paleontology, biogeography, and systematics of humans and other primates; primate ecology and its relationships to both social behavior (including cognition) and to conservation problems; the biology of modern humans (with a focus on adaptation); processes of skeletal growth and development, osteology, and bone biology; craniofacial development and comparative anatomy; and forensic anthropology. The subfield has played a leading role in creating the New York Consortium in Evolutionary Primatology (NYCEP, see below), an NSF-funded training program which gives CUNY students access to faculty, laboratories and collections at New York University, Columbia University, the American Museum of Natural History, and the Wildlife Conservation Society (Bronx Zoo); a number of special courses in this program are jointly taught by CUNY, New York University, and Columbia faculty. Active laboratories in the CUNY system are at Hunter College (where there is a new multi-purpose imaging facility, as well as labs specializing in bone biology, paleontology, and the analysis of vocalization), at Queens College (osteology and bioarchaeology), and at Lehman College (primate cognition and osteology/forensics). Other labs directed by CUNY faculty are located at the American Museum of Natural History (three dimensional geometric morphometrics and computer visualization) and Mt. Sinai School of Medicine (comparative morphology of the head and neck and speech origins). CUNY faculty members have field projects under way in paleontology and in primate and human ecology in France, several African countries and in South America.

Sample Dissertations

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Special Programs

New York Consortium in Evolutionary Primatology (NYCEP) [http://www.nycep.org] The New York Consortium in Evolutionary Primatology (NYCEP) is an integrated graduate training and research program in primate behavioral and evolutionary biology, funded by an NSF training grant. NYCEP involves faculty from the City University of New York, Columbia University, and New York University and selected staff of the American Museum of Natural History and the Wildlife Conservation Society. This unique consortium links a group of over thirty evolutionary biologists in New York City whose research focuses on human as well as nonhuman primates from the perspectives of morphology, paleontology, systematics, molecular and population genetics, behavior and ecology, and conservation biology.

Students in this program take courses in all these areas at the three universities, attend seminars that draw upon the staff of all five cooperating institutions, and have the opportunity to engage in original research in laboratories, museums, and in the field. The array of courses and research opportunities is far greater and more comprehensive than any one of the three participating degree granting institutions in New York City could otherwise offer, or than are available in any similar program. NSF funding has permitted the inception of a unique program widely acknowledged to be successful at attracting and training top-flight graduate students, and especially minorities and women. The collaboration among public and private universities and privately endowed (and publicly assisted) institutions dedicated to bringing the natural sciences to the general public is nationally unique and only possible in New York City where these institutions are all easily accessible.

Evolutionary primatology draws upon theory, method, and empirical data from other natural sciences, especially biology, anthropology, and geology. Collaboration among specialists with diverse research interests has proven extremely fruitful, especially in large-scale field projects. For example paleoanthropological research typically involves human and primate paleontologists, paleontologists specializing in other taxonomic groups, palynologists, taphonomists, archaeologists, sedimentary geologists, and geochronologists. Similarly, studies on natural primate populations may include geneticists, behaviorists, and conservationists. It is rare for students to have the opportunity to experience all these disciplines during their graduate careers. One of the distinct advantages of NYCEP is that the faculty are active in research that combines many of these areas of study, so that the value of adopting a multidisciplinary approach to scientific problems is introduced from the start of a student's graduate career. NYCEP itself has catalyzed new, collaborative research initiatives among faculty and students at the participating institutions.

NYCEP also offers the student a chance to apply this multidisciplinary training in the field before undertaking independent research. Faculty and associates have field research programs on living primates at sites in Africa, Asia, and South America, as well as primate (including human) paleontology in East Africa, Asia and the Caribbean. Many courses are taught jointly by faculty members from two different institutions or departments. This teaching collaboration provides students with a variety of viewpoints early in their careers.

CUNY Faculty Participants in NYCEP:

All WCS, Stony Brook, and AMNH personnel listed are CUNY Graduate Center Anthropology adjuncts; members of other CUNY departments are on their respective graduate faculties.

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Interdisciplinary Study

Students in the PhD Program in Anthropology benefit from several interdisciplinary centers, academic concentrations, and certificate programs at the CUNY Graduate Center. Interdisciplinary concentrations include: Cultural Studies; Health, Society and the City; Language in Context; Latin American and Caribbean Studies; and Public Policy and Urban Studies. Certificate Programs are available in Women's Studies and American Studies. In addition, many research centers provide a nexus for students interested in Lesbian and Gay Studies (CLAGS is the first such research center in the United States), Western Hemisphere Affairs (The Bildner Center), Jewish Studies, Studies of the European Union, and Research on the African Diaspora in the Americas and the Caribbean, among others.

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Requirements for the Doctorate

A minimum of 60 credits of approved course work is required for a PhD in Anthropology. The student's course of study must be designed in consultation with an advisor assigned by the Executive Officer. The first level provides grounding in general anthropology, theory, and the basic concepts and methods of the student's subfield. At the second level, students pursue advanced work within the subfield, selected from the broad range of specialties represented on the faculty. The third level, after completion of 60 credits, is devoted to research for the dissertation. All students are required to complete one core course or similar basic work in each of the subfields other than their own before the completion of 45 credits. Students who have a strong background may be exempted from part or all of the requirement. At least 15 credits of advanced level seminars or courses are required, unless exempted by the Executive Officer. In cultural anthropology, students are also required to take two area courses.

First Examination: The First Examination, a general qualifying examination in the student's subfield, consists of a six-hour written portion and a one-hour oral portion with the examining committee, and includes a general evaluation of the student's progress in the program. The student will normally take the First Examination in the semester following completion of 24 credits, although an extension may be granted by the Executive Officer to no later than the semester following the one in which the student is registered for the 36th credit. Students may elect to take a First Examination that combines two or more subfields. All students are required to take the First Examination.

Language Requirement: The student must demonstrate a reading knowledge of one foreign language appropriate to his or her field of specialization. The foreign language examination must be passed before the student is advanced to candidacy.

Statistics Requirement: For archaeology and physical anthropology, one course in statistics, to be approved by the student's advisor and the Executive Officer, must be completed with a grade of B or better. Students in linguistic anthropology may present a second language (which may be a field language) instead of statistics. In cultural anthropology, students may take a research methods course in lieu of statistics.

Second Examination: The Second Examination is a three-hour oral examination in which the student must demonstrate thorough knowledge of two areas of specialization within the subfield, generally one topical and one area specialty. Normally the Second Examination takes place upon completion of 60 credits. A three-member faculty advisory committee is appointed to assist the student in preparing for the Second Examination, which includes the preparation of selective bibliographies for the two specialties. One additional faculty member is appointed to the committee for the actual examination.

Research Proposal: With the assistance of the advisory committee, the student prepares a research proposal setting forth the proposed dissertation research. The proposal must be defended before the committee for the Second Examination, either at the time of the examination or within three months after the specialities portion is taken.

Upon completion of all the above requirements, including approval of the research proposal by the examining committee, the student will be advanced to doctoral candidacy.

Dissertation: The candidate must write a dissertation on an approved subject, under the supervision of a dissertation committee composed of the student's principal advisor, two other faculty members, and an outside reader. Approval by a majority of the committee constitutes successful completion of the dissertation requirement.

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Tuition

(as of Fall 2005)
Tuition is $2,860 per semester for full-time incoming students who are New York State residents; tuition is $560 per credit for full-time (7 or more credits) incoming students from out-of-state. Tuition per semester for Second Level Doctoral students (from the semester following the completion of completion of 45 credits, fully earned and evaluated, and the First Examination to Advancement to Candidacy) is $1,793 for New York State residents, and $3,983 for out-of-state residents. Tuition per semester for Doctoral Third-Level students, from the semester following the advancement to candidacy to completion of degree, is $710 for New York State residents and $1,423 for out-of-state residents. Tuition and fees are subject to change without notice at any time by action of the Board of Trustees of the City University of New York. Tuition decreases as the student fulfills various requirements for advancement.

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Financial Aid

Financial aid consists of fellowships, assistantships, lectureships, and tuition waivers. Special fellowship programs administered by The Graduate School include the MAGNET Program Fellowships designated for minority applicants, and the Robert E. Gilleece Fellowship available to incoming full-time doctoral students who demonstrate exceptional academic promise. Each of these fellowships, competitive awards for which qualified students in all programs may apply, includes a four-year stipend of $16,000 per year, plus full tuition for qualified students. University Fellowships, annual awards ranging from $1,000 to $10,000, are available to full-time doctoral students based on academic merit and financial need. A limited number of dissertation awards and fellowships, other grants, and adjunct lectureship positions also are available.

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Housing

The Assistant Director of Admissions assists students in locating convenient and affordable housing.

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Contact Information

For further information, please contact the PhD Program in Anthropology at:

Professor Louise D. Lennihan, Executive Officer (Chair)
email: LLennihan@gc.cuny.edu

For information about the four sub-fields, please contact:

For other information, please contact:

Ellen DeRiso, Assistant Program Officer
EDeRiso@gc.cuny.edu

For general information regarding admissions, please contact:
Office of Admissions
The Graduate Center
The City University of New York
365 Fifth Ave.
New York, NY 10016
Telephone: 212-817-7470
Fax: 212-817-1624

Please note that Anthropology has one admissions cycle per year, for enrollment of new students every Fall.  The Anthropology application deadline (postmark, not receipt) is January 8 for students who are applying for financial aid. April 1 is the deadline for students not applying for financial aid.. Also note that it is now possible to download an application form.

last modified 02.18.06
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