Doctorate of Philosophy in Anthropology
The University of Texas at San Antonio's Ph.D. program in Environmental Anthropology offers a four-field approach to basic and applied research. Students will develop empirical understandings of how humans culturally construct and organize past and present environments; how power relations are embedded in these activities; and the impact socio-physical environments have upon human and non-human primates. Graduate course offerings view ecological anthropology through multiple lenses: political economy, environmental politics, indigenous epistemologies, landscape production, agrarian economy, social, behavioral and evolutionary ecology, medical anthropology, and primate conservation.
Faculty areal specializations include archaeology of the Maya lowlands and Andean South America; archaeology of Texas and the Greater Southwest; primate behavioral and conservation ecology in Southeast Asia and Africa; resource management practices and human-animal relations in island Pacific; indigenous and environmental politics in lowland and Andean South America; the cultural anthropology of Texas and the Plains; ethnography and applied anthropology of Mexico and the United States; and medical anthropology of the US-Mexico border region.
Many incoming students are offered some form of financial assistance. During the admission review process, all Ph.D. applicants are simultaneously considered for teaching assistantships and scholarship funding. Evaluation criteria include undergraduate and graduate GPAs, GRE scores, applicant statements, supporting letters, and writing samples. Other funding sources include research assistantships, departmental small grants, and teaching opportunities.
Admission Deadline
The admission deadline for applying to the Ph.D. program is FEBRUARY 1.
If you have any questions or would like to talk further with Anthropology faculty about the Ph.D. program, please contact the Anthropology Graduate Advisor of Record, Thad Bartlett, Ph.D. (210-458-5712, thad.bartlett@utsa.edu), or any of the Anthropology faculty in your particular area of interest
Application Materials
Resume or CV
The resume or curriculum vitae should provide summary information about applicants' academic and professional backgrounds.
Record of Academic Performance
Applicants must provide official transcripts documenting undergraduate and graduate coursework and degrees.
Essay
Include a statement describing your reasons for entering UTSA's Ph.D. program in Anthropology. This document should be 750-900 words in length (approximately three-to-five double-spaced pages) and should answer the following questions as completely as possible:
1. What particular facet of anthropology do you wish to pursue in your graduate education, including topical and regional specializations?
2. How have your prior coursework and related experiences prepared you for graduate work in anthropology?
3. How do your graduate interests mesh with an environmental emphasis in anthropology?
4. What is your commitment to a four-field approach to anthropology? What experiences have you had, if any, which might illustrate your commitment to a four-field approach?
5. How do your interests mesh with our faculty and resources?
6. Which of our faculty members (at least 2) would you be interested in working with? Please outline the reasons for this designation.
Three Letters of Recommendation
As part of your application, you will need three letters of recommendation. Recommendations should preferably be from Anthropology faculty with whom you have worked during your academic training. We realize that this is not always possible, especially if you were trained at a smaller institution or Anthropology was not your major. In such cases, recommendations from other social science faculty or faculty in related fields are appropriate. Recommending faculty should be given information about how to submit letters electronically.
GRE (Graduate Record of Examination) Scores
For information about the GRE, including test locations and dates, please see www.ets.org. At the University of Texas at San Antonio, GRE scores will be considered only as one element in the evaluation of applicants. Other elements include undergraduate and graduate academic performance, the application essay, and letters of recommendation.
Record of Undergraduate Academic Performance
Applicants should have successfully completed at least 18 hours of undergraduate anthropology coursework. In addition, this background should reflect facility in anthropology's four fields: archaeology, biological/physical anthropology, cultural anthropology, and linguistic anthropology.
Admission Statuses
A degree-seeking applicant admitted to the Ph.D. program may receive unconditional, conditional, or probationary admission status. Please see UTSA's Graduate Catalog for clarification of these terms.
In any given application cycle, Ph.D. applicants will be evaluated on the strength of their application materials and also against other applicants in the same pool.
Applicants for the Ph.D. program may be denied admission but asked to reapply to the M.A. program. If admitted to the M.A. program, such students may reapply to the Ph.D. program upon successful completion of their M.A. degrees.