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Undergraduate Degrees & Minor in Anthropology

Global Engagement Leads to Individual Success: Earn Your Bachelor of Anthropology

When you pursue your bachelor of anthropology, you’ll explore world cultures in depth with the aim of understanding the world through an exploration of the people who inhabit it, while identifying the differences and similarities among us.

Immersing yourself in comparative cultural studies provides the insight and cultural literacy so important to creating change. Social justice and environmental passions fuel the curious, creative minds that flock to BSU to earn their bachelor’s degree in anthropology. The Department of Anthropology at BSU offers several options:

  • Anthropology, BA
    • Anthropology for Educators Concentration
    • Cultural Anthropology Concentration
    • General Anthropology Concentration
  • Anthropology, BS
    • Public Archaeology Concentration
  • Anthropology Minor

With your anthropology bachelor’s degree, you can pursue jobs that require analytical thinking, research, a global understanding of cultures and a passion for sustainability.

Minor, BA, BS Anthropology Program Highlights

a BSU student at an archaeology dig sitting on the ground holding a dustpan and digging tool both filled with soil surrounded by a specimen bag, measuring tape, hat and clipboard

Expand your horizons by studying abroad

We encourage bachelor of anthropology students to attend our interdisciplinary field school in Trinidad and Tobago. You’ll have the opportunity take part in research and service learning with students from many fields of study, as well as work with the Fondes Amandes Community Reforestation Project. You may further enhance your learning experiences by studying abroad in places like Cuba, Cambodia or South Africa.

a person examining artifacts

Experience specialized experiential learning opportunities

Bachelor of anthropology students get multiple opportunities to step away from textbooks and experience hands-on learning through field and laboratory work. ’s Biological and Archaeological Lab includes an extensive human osteology cast collection, as well as nonhuman skeletal material to identify, compare and contrast. Students have opportunities to curate various exhibits utilizing archaeological and ethnographic artifacts.

2 BSU students sitting behind an info table for the Anthropology Club at the Student Involvement Fair

Connect with other bachelor of anthropology students

Anthropology students often participate in group projects, cooperative field and lab work, and take part in ’s Anthropology Club. You will network and form lasting bonds with other engaged, social justice-minded classmates.

Smaller classes equal personal attention

Earn your bachelor of anthropology degree in small classes of 15- 20 students—with classes maxing out at no more than 35. This gives you the chance to become acquainted with faculty, receive guidance on career opportunities and graduate schools and seek letters of recommendation.

Financial aid opportunities

In addition to financial aid, scholarships available to Anthropology majors include the George Horner Award for Student Excellence, the Curtiss Hoffman Fund for Public Archaeology, and the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Student Annual Award.

Flexibility to learn on your schedule

’s College of Continuing Studies gives you maximum flexibility to complete your degree. The BA in cultural anthropology program may be taken on Bridgewater’s main campus, or you may pursue your degree primarily online or at night. Our night/online program follows the same requirements and curriculum as our day program, with many of our faculty members teaching during the day as well as at night.

Diverse faculty offers personal advising

’s anthropology faculty include professors active in applied fields and publishing, and many serve on prestigious boards. You’ll learn from faculty that include: the editor of the Journal of International Women’s Studies; a medical anthropologist studying African ethnomedicine and African immigrant health issues in the U.S. and Europe; the author of Reclaiming the Faravahar: Zoroastrian Survival in Contemporary Tehran; a biological anthropologist whose work focuses on the evolution of intelligence, among others.

Program of Study for Minor, BA, BS Anthropology Students

You will study and experience your discipline while pursuing a bachelor’s degree in anthropology. BSU offers four concentrations in the anthropology major. Choose the cultural anthropology focus and take a foreign language to facilitate a deeper understanding of people and places.

General anthropology delves into cultural, biological, applied and archaeological anthropology. When you graduate BSU with a bachelor’s degree in cultural or general anthropology, you’ll have a firm grasp on human problems and be equipped to improve people’s lives and the planet.

The public archaeology concentration prepares you to work in cultural resource management or museums.

The anthropology for educators concentration offers rigorous preparation in course work across the three subfields of anthropology.

BSU also offers a minor in anthropology, which makes the ideal complement to bachelor’s degrees like sociology or history.

Click any link below to reveal each program's course detail.

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Program details from 2024-2025 Undergraduate/Graduate Catalog

Programs Related to This Program

If you are interested in a double major with your bachelor’s degree in anthropology or expanding your knowledge, consider these related majors, minors and programs::

Childhood Studies
Elementary Education
Special Education
Native American and Indigenous Studies
Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies
African American Studies
American Studies
Global Languages and Cultures
Global Migration Studies
African Studies
Latin American and Caribbean Studies
Middle East and North African Studies
Asian Studies
Sustainability

Because I had so many opportunities to explore my interests and work closely with professors, I was able to identify a career path that was absolutely perfect for me. Going into a PhD program with other students from all over the country made me realize just how special the Department of Anthropology at BSU really is.”
Sofiya Shryer, '18
Anthropology, General Anthropology Concentration, BS

Careers in Anthropology

BSU undergraduate students in anthropology may continue on to graduate school. For alumni who enter the workforce with their anthropology bachelor’s degree, they secure jobs in writing and documentary filmmaking, environmental protection, museums, higher education and more.

We find that our hands-on approach to learning and focus on critical thinking prepares students with a bachelor’s degree in anthropology to step into a variety of careers. Bachelor of anthropology students also work in positions such as:

  • Global Marketing and Communications
  • Research Coordinator, Public Health and Community Medicine
  • Sustainability Specialist and Educator
  • Project Manager
  • Clinical Director
  • Marketing Operations Manager
  • Field Specialist

Any hiring manager who values a global approach to problem-solving finds a bachelor’s degree in anthropology from BSU an asset. We see our students go on to work in both the public and private sectors in areas like healthcare as well as humanitarian services. Students who study public archaeology often go on to jobs in research and teaching.

According to the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median salary for anthropologists is

$66,130

For those with an anthropology bachelor’s degree, jobs in the field are expected to grow 7% by 2030.

Students sitting at a classroom table with a skull and bones on the table listening to the class professor

Continue your education beyond your anthropology undergraduate degree

51Թ bachelor of anthropology students may choose to earn their graduate certificate in anthropology. Graduate school marks a natural transition especially for our general anthropology students.
View BSU Graduate Programs

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