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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, BS
  • Anthropology, Cultural Anthropology Concentration, BA
  • Anthropology, General Anthropology Concentration, BA
  • Anthropology, Public Anthropology Concentration, BS
  • 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. BSU’s Forensic Anthropology course includes a skull-casting lab and small animal work to compare and contrast. Anthropology of Art concludes with students curating an ethnographic artifact exhibit.
Anthropology Club table at Rondileau Student Union with 3 students looking at a display on the table of a spinning wheel with different anthropology related questions on each section

Connect with other bachelor of anthropology students

Archaeological anthropology and general anthropology students often take part in BSU’s Anthropology Club. You’ll 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 bachelor of anthropology students include the Curtiss Hoffman Scholarship for Public Archaeology and the George Horner Award for Student Excellence.

Flexibility to learn on your schedule

BSU’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 during the day, or you may pursue your degree at night. Our night program follows the same requirements and curriculum as our day program, and many of our faculty members teach during the day as well as at night.

Diverse faculty offers personal advising

BSU’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 three 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 feel primed to improve people’s lives and the planet.

The archaeological anthropology concentration prepares you to work in cultural resource management or museums.

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 2023-2024 Undergraduate/Graduate Catalog

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 archaeological anthropology 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.

2 students sitting on either side of a table that has a row of skulls displayed down the middle of it

Continue your education beyond your anthropology undergraduate degree

Bridgewater State University 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.