The Master's Program in anthropology at Kent State University was founded in 1970 and is housed in the recently renovated Lowry Hall.  Students receive training in three fields of anthropology: cultural anthropology, archaeology, and biological anthropology.  Training in cultural anthropology emphasizes the study of culture, specifically kinship, religion, and symbolic meaning in a variety of ecological and economic settings.  Students interested in archaeology receive training in both theory and field methods.  The focus of archaeological research in the department has been North America.  Students in biological anthropology receive training in evolutionary theory, structural and functional primate anatomy, including human anatomy and primate behavior and ecology.

The M.A. program is strongly research-oriented and encourages students to develop their own projects or participate in existing projects by their second semester.  The aim of the program is to provide students with the best possible training to either continue study in a Ph.D. program or obtain employment after completing the M.A. program.  (Picture at left: Students working in the osteology lab.)

Program Requirements

The minimum requirements for the M.A. are 30 hours of coursework and 6 hours of thesis.  The core sequence of course work includes courses in each of the three subdisciplines represented by the faculty in the department.  Students are also encouraged to take one or two semesters of advanced quantitative methods.  A variety of graduate seminars are offered regularly in the department and students are encouraged to take appropriate courses in related disciplines, e.g. biology, geology, and geography.  In most cases, students complete degree requirements by submitting original research work as a formal document, the Master's thesis.

Students have access to our extensive collection of hominoid fossil casts.

Students are encouraged to develop research questions that will serve as the basis for the Master's thesis in their second semester.  The department has an exceptional cast collection of fossil hominoids as well as casting, photography, X-ray, computer, anatomy, and archaeology labs and collections.  A number of out-of-department options for research are also available to students including museum collections, faculty administered field sites in South America, Asia, and North America, and molecular biology labs.  Right: Field excavation at a Late Whittlesey Tradition site in Ohio. 

There are currently 17 graduate students in the M.A. program.  They completed undergraduate degrees at institutions such as Boston University, Louisiana State University, Washington University in St. Louis, Miami University of Ohio, and the University of Michigan.  Our current students are conducting research at a number of institutions: e.g. the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, the Smithsonian, and the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, as well as field sites in Ohio, Vietnam, and Venezuela.  Students are strongly encouraged to participate in professional meetings such as the Society for American Archaeology, the American Anthropological Association, and the American Association of Physical Anthropology

Link to Current Graduate Students

List of Recent M.A. Theses

• minimum of 3.0 GPA is normally required
• a recognized undergraduate degree, not necessarily in Anthropology
• Graduate Record Exam or Miller's Analogy Exam
• three letters of recommendation (at least two of which should be from academic contacts)
• a personal Statement of Intent
• the availability of an appropriate faculty member

Students are advised to visit the department and discuss their intentions with faculty before they apply.  Applications are due February 1 for the following fall semester - they are not considered for the spring semester.  Applicants will be notified of acceptance and funding in early March.  Accepted students will be assigned to a faculty advisor depending on the student's research interests.  The advisor may change during the course of the program if the student so wishes.

Students with an M.A. degree may apply for the Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences, Biological Anthropology Program.  Contact R. Meindl (BAP Coordinator) or Jim Blank (Chair of BMS).

For general information about university admission guidelines go to: http://dept.kent.edu/rags-alpha/catalog/admission.htm

Application to the Program

Applications are available on request from the Anthropology Department.

The application form can be printed at: http://dept.kent.edu/rags-alpha/application/  

or completed online at: https://admissions.rags.kent.edu/

Sources of financial aid to students include teaching assistantships that carry stipends and tuition wavers, faculty grants, work-study and on-campus employment, and other federal loans.  The application packets contain information on these sources of income for graduate students.

The Student Financial Aid Office can provide additional information: http://www.sfa.kent.edu/

For the online Graduate Catalog go to:
http://dept.kent.edu/rags-alpha/catalog/

Or contact:

Department of Anthropology
Kent State University
226 Lowry Hall
Kent, OH 44242
(330) 672-4363

For further information about the program contact:
Dr. Marilyn Norconk
Department of Anthropology
Kent State University
Kent, OH 44242
(330) 672-4123

mnorconk@kent.edu

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