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INFORMATION ABOUT OUR GRADUATE PROGRAM
Anthropology at the University of South Carolina We thank you for your interest in the Graduate Program in Anthropology at the University of South Carolina. The following will give you an idea of the strengths of the department, what faculty are up to, what theses topics the present graduate students have been involved in, the curriculum and other aspects of student life. We also give you some hints for putting together a successful application. Return to Top Graduate Program Applications Deadline: FEBRUARY 1 We especially invite you to contact people in the department directly, either by phone, by e-mail, in a visit to the campus, or at meetings around the country. For more general information, you can always contact us through the department numbers: University of South Carolina Columbia, SC 29208 Telephone: (803) 777-6500 Fax: (803) 777-0259 Ann E. Kingsolver, Chair email: aekingso@mailbox.sc.edu Ken Kelly, Graduate Admissions Committee and Graduate Director email: Kenneth.Kelly@sc.edu Cat Keegan, Graduate Coordinator email: Keegan@sc.edu Please address requests for applications to Ms. Keegan. Contact Ms. Keegan if you have any questions regarding the processing of your application. Contact Dr. Kelly regarding the status of your application and fellowship awards. Dr. Kelly can answer your questions about the content of the program and can arrange for you to visit the Department. Feel free to discuss your specific interests, including resources and courses available, with any of the faculty with whom you wish to work. Return to Top The Department Return to Top Research Foci that cross-cut the traditional subfields of anthropology Visual Anthropology at USC includes a range of options for visual media ranging from ethnographic film production, to analyzing fictional cinema, to photography. Visual media are used in connection with a written thesis involving anthropological inquiry. Eight USC faculty are involved with the Visual Anthropology Credential Program, including professors specializing in cultural anthropology, media arts, and archaeology. For more on this program and its affiliated faculty please go to: http://www.cas.sc.edu/anth/Visualcert.html We share many projects in the department. A strong one, for example, is the historical archaeology of the African Diaspora in which archaeologists and anthropologists investigate the historical and present-day consequences of the African Diaspora since the 16th century in settings as diverse as Africa, the Caribbean, Latin America, and the United States. World Areas Faculty interests span African, Caribbean, Asian, and North, Central, and South American nations. See individual faculty listings for regional foci. Return to Top Certificate Programs Graduate Certificate Program in Historical Archaeology and Cultural Resource Management Certificate in Women's and Gender Studies Museum Management Visual Anthropology Certificate Other Resources SOUTH CAROLINA INSTITUTE OF ARCHAEOLOGY AND ANTHROPOLOGY Our graduate students regularly work with the many excellent archaeologists at SCIAA, and use their extensive library and collections. GEOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION SYSTEMS The Geography Department has international prominence in GIS and our graduate students may follow a sequence of GIS courses. SC DEPARTMENT OF ARCHIVES AND HISTORY Collaboration with Valarie Marcil, one of our MA graduates. Contains resources needed to document historic sites. PUBLIC HISTORY The University offers an MA through the History Department. Our students often take their courses in the use of historical sources and archives. The department sponsors a certificate program. MUSUEMS There are three major museums in Columbia: The University's McKissick Museum, The State Museum, and the Columbia Museum of Art. All three have extensive collections students may use in their research. Return to Top Anthropologists in Other Schools or Institutes Christopher F Amer (MA Texas A&M 1986; SCIAA, St. Arch. UW) National archaeology Email: amerc@sc.edu Daniel R Bilderback (MA Texas A&M 1994; Applied history, SCIAA) Anthropology, history Mark Brooks (MA Arizona State 1980; Co-PI, SRARP) Archaeological geology; Southeast US Email: mjbrooks@sc.edu Richard D Brooks (BA Kentucky Wesleyan 1972; Co-PI, SRARP) South Carolina history, colonial frontiers, geography of US Southeast Email: rdbrooks@sc.edu Christopher Ohlm Clement (Ph.D. U Florida 1995; Arch, SCIAA) Historical Arch, plantation archaeology Email: clement@sc.edu Chester DePratter (Ph.D. U Georgia 1983; Arch, SCIAA) Prehistoric and contact period archaeology, ethnohistory; Southeastern US Email: depratterc@sc.edu Keith Derting (BS Milligan C 1974; Head, Info. Mgt., SCIAA) Lithic technology, human ecology, cultural resource management; Southeastern US Email: derting@sc.edu Albert C Goodyear (Ph.D. Arizona S 1976; Arch, SCIAA) Archaeological theory, Paleoindian, lithic technology, geoarcheaology; North American, Southeast Email: goodyear@sc.edu Lynn B Harris (MA East Carolina U 1988; Arch; SCIAA) Archaeology, underwater, submerged archaeological resource management Email: nautical@charleston.net Adam King (Ph.D. Pennsylvania S. 1996; Spec Proj. Arch, SRARP) Political organization, prehistoric chiefdoms; regional change Email: aking@sc.edu Jonathan Leader (Ph.D. U Florida 1988; St. Arch, Interim Director of SCIAA; State Arch.; Adj. Asst Prof., Anth.) Archaeology, conservation, ethnohistory, prehistory and contact period; Eastern US Email: leader@sc.edu Sharon Pekrul (MA U South Carolina; Curator, SCIAA) North American archaeology, collections management Email: pekrul@sc.edu Nena Powell Rice (MA U of Denver 1990; Director of Outreach, SCIAA) Public Education, Archaeology Month Coordinator; Southwest, Arctic, Southeast Email: nrice@sc.edu Steven D. Smith (MA U Kentucky 1983; Dir. Cultural Res. Div., SCIAA) Cultural resource management; military sites arch Email: smiths@mailbox.sc.edu Stanley South (MA U North Carolina 1959; Arch, Anth SCIAA) Historical Archaeology, archaeological theory and method: US Southeast Email: stansouth@sc.edu James D Spirek (MA E Carolina U 1993; Arch, SCIAA) Archaeology underwater submerged cultural resource management Email: spirek@sc.edu D Keith Stephenson (MA U Georgia 1990; Arch, SRARP) Compliance archaeology, Woodland and Mississippian Social Organization, ceramic technology of the Southeast US; Southeast US Email: stephensonk@sc.edu Return to Top Program of Study Please see our Graduate Handbook Return to Top Admissions Process In addition to their undergraduate transcripts, the GRE exams, and two letters of recommendation, students are required to submit a writing sample and a statement of their purpose in studying Anthropology at USC. While our standards are flexible, we particularly seek students' whose GRE scores fall above 600 on each of the three parts of the test. We give greatest weight to the analytical reasoning score. We look closely at the letters of reference and grades, life experiences, and writing samples of students with lower scores, for evidence that they will be able to complete our program. Use your personal statement to tell us about experiences that may not be evident from your course work which you feel will contribute to your success in our program. Make your statement as professional as possible. We do not require that you know which sub-field you wish to specialize in but it is very helpful if you do know and can mention it in your statement. Tell us how you became interested in studying this and what experiences both in and outside of school you have already had in this area. Also, indicate the major professors (not too many!) with whom you want to work and explain why. In general the more focused your interests, the easier it will be for you to finish the program and for you to convince us that we can satisfy your needs. We do not require you to have majored in Anthropology as an undergraduate. In fact, many students have not. However, it is very helpful if you have had courses in Anthropology. Otherwise, it may be difficult for you to write a good statement of purpose. If you have not had such courses, you should try to study anthropology either at the University or College and/or do volunteer work having to do with the field you wish to study within anthropology. It may be helpful for you to delay your application until you have had such experience. If you are interested in Archaeology, it is very helpful if you have had experience working on a dig. If you have not yet done so, you might seek out opportunities to do so as a volunteer. Experience living abroad is very helpful, as are foreign languages and computer expertise. Your writing sample should be a research paper, completed during the past 5 years, if possible. We are looking for clear writing and evidence that you can summarize your own research and that of others. It can be helpful for you to visit campus. We like to meet prospective students and, while we do not require an interview, our impressions often are important in the final decision. Also, you will be able to meet our current students and talk with them about the program, meet the faculty with whom you will be working and visit the department. Most Thursday afternoons we have a colloquium at 3:30 pm where one of our faculty or an anthropologist from outside the university presents research. This is a good time to visit, as other graduate students will be present. However, since the faculty is often engaged in meetings away from the department, it is important that you call ahead and make an appointment. APPLICATION DEADLINE: FEBRUARY 1 Return to Top Assistantships and Other Support The Department provides a limited number of assistantships to graduate students. Support will not be provided by the department after the fourth semester. Assistantships are awarded to entering students shortly after admissions, usually by April 1. If you have a pressing need to know whether you have been given an assistantship, do not hesitate to call. However, the process is ongoing and it is likely that monies will become free during the summer or early in the Fall semester. Besides the department, there are other sources of support for students on campus. Our students have had assistantships in the office for International Programs, SCIAA, the University Recycling Office and the Institute for Families and Society, or taught introductory courses at a branch campus. Others have worked off campus for the Department of Health and Environmental Control. The Graduate Director will make every effort to alert qualified students to these opportunities. In addition, the Graduate School may provide extra funds for outstanding students. A typical assistantship for an M.A. student pays $3000 per semester and students work 14 hours per week. Assistantships for Ph.D. students pay $5000 per semester and require 20 hours of work per week. Assistantships qualify students for in-state tuition and for a tuition fee abatement of around $2000 per semester. In the Fall of 2001, 100% of the first and second year students had support from our Department or from the University. The Office of International Programs estimates that the total cost for a single graduate student, including tuition, fees and living expenses, to study here is approximately $17,764 per year. Foreign students will have to guarantee that they have this level of support before the University will give them the papers they will need for a visa. Return to Top Facilities Graduate students have office space during two years in residence. They also have access to the Graduate Student Computer Lab, a Physical Anthropology Lab, several Archaeology Labs, and a Linguistics Lab. Other computer facilities are available in the College of Arts and Sciences Computing Lab. Return to Top What are Students with MA's in Anthropology from SC Doing Now? In general, about half of our graduates go on to Ph.D. programs. Some have continued at USC (Linguistics, Public Health, Sociology). Others have gone elsewhere to study Anthropology (University of Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Iowa, Yale, UCLA, McGill, UC Riverside, Kent State University, University of Pittsburgh, Purdue, UC Berkeley, Texas A & M, University of South Florida, Medical School, University of SC., UNC - Chapel Hill, UVA, SUNY Birmingham, Simon Fraser University). Students who do not go on for the Ph.D. who concentrate in Archaeology have had the best luck finding opportunities in their field. Many are now working for SCIAA, museums, state agencies, National Park Service, and private archaeological research firms. However, the opportunities are highly cyclical. More such jobs become available during times of economic expansion. Cultural and linguistics students who do not go on to Ph.D. programs have to work hard to sell their skills because anthropology is not as well known as the other social science fields like sociology and psychology. However, our cultural graduates have found work in the Federal Government (designing recycling programs appropriate to the culture of each building), translation services consulting for private companies and government agencies, offering courses in cultural awareness to foreign businessmen doing work in the USA and teaching at community colleges. The graduates of the physical and biocultural program have continued in academic programs in biological sciences and public health, and in professional schools such as dentistry and medicine (as well as in physical anthropology). In the non-academic world, our graduates are employed by public health research projects, cultural resource management firms, cemetery relocation projects and are doing forensic death investigations. Return to Top
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