2024-2025 Undergraduate Catalog
Anthropology and Sociology Department
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Karen Koster, Chair
301 East Hall
(605) 658-6750
anthropology@usd.edu
www.usd.edu/anthropology
FACULTY
Associate Professors:
Tony Krus: Archaeology, Archaeology of Human-Environment Interaction, Stable Isotope Analysis, GIS, Bayesian Statistics
Louisa Roberts: Global and Transnational Sociology, Quantitative Methods, Attitudes and Belief Systems
Assistant Professors:
Isaiah Cohen: Sociology of Education, Marriage and Family, Sociology of Law, Quantitative and Qualitative Methods
Saige Kelmelis: Bioarchaeology, Forensic Anthropology, Demography, Epidemiology, Tattoos and Health
Crystal Sheedy: Cultural Anthropology, Linguistic Anthropology, Ethnography, Yucatec Maya
Senior Lecturers:
Cheryl Hartman: Partner Violence, Social Class, Third Culture Kids, Society and Culture
Stephanie Spars: Forensic Anthropology, Sociology, Archaeology
Archaeologist in Residence:
Brian Molyneaux: Art and Archaeology, Cultural Resources Management, Archaeological Method and Theory
Emeritus Faculty:
L. E. Bradley: Archaeology of North America, Upper Paleolithic Europe, Computer Applications
Dona Davis: Cross-Cultural Studies, Gender Studies, Medical Anthropology, North Atlantic Maritime Cultures
Richard Fox: Historical Archaeology, US Plains, North American Archaeology
Jack Niemonen: Race Relations, Social Problems, Social Stratification
MAJOR:
Anthropology, B.A., B.S.
Sociology, B.A., B.S.
MINORS:
Anthropology
Archaeology
Geography
Sociology
Anthropology is the study of humans - their culture, material objects and biological characteristics. Cultural Anthropologists study human culture, customs, and languages through time and space. Archaeologists excavate and study the material objects left by past cultures, while Biological Anthropologists study living and extant humans and their nonhuman relatives to understand the complexities of evolution and biosocial variation. Forensic Anthropology is a sub-field of Anthropology that applies skeletal analysis and archaeological techniques in forensic contexts. Linguistic Anthropology studies the connections between languages and cultures. Our program exposes students to all aspects of Anthropology in the classroom, laboratory and the field and provides our majors with numerous opportunities to participate directly in ongoing research projects.
Sociologists study how people create, maintain, and transform the social world. This perspective helps build complex understandings of social dynamics in such areas as family and marital change, crime and delinquency, religion, race relations, education, globalization, health care, mass media, social movements, and belief systems. Sociology encourages students to develop the sociological imagination: grasping how our individual lives are shaped by broader social patterns. The ability to connect private troubles to public issues requires analytical and critical thinking skills and a high level of methodological sophistication. The Sociology Program at USD provides students with the theoretical and methodological tools to help understand these complexities and to engage with these topics in socially productive ways. Undergraduate majors study the theory and methods of sociological research and survey the substantive areas of the discipline. The USD Sociology major gives you the skills for success in careers such as law, social services, public administration, business, marketing, human resources, public health, advocacy, and education.
SCHOLARSHIPS
Please contact the department for additional information about available scholarships and awards. Also see College of Arts & Sciences for college/school level scholarships.
Student Learning Outcomes for Anthropology (B.A., B.S.)
- Students will understand human evolution.
- Students will understand the major theoretical schools that have shaped Anthropology.
- Students will master social science reasoning that includes multiple lines of evidence.
- Students will be able to systematically explore issues, objects or works through the collection and analysis of evidence that results in informed conclusions or judgments and break down complex topics or issues into parts to gain a better understanding of them.
- Students will be able to demonstrate cognitive, effective, and behavioral skills that support effective and appropriate interaction in a variety of cultural contexts.
- Students will intentionally engage with diversity in ways that increase awareness, content knowledge, cognitive sophistication, and empathic understanding of the complex ways individuals interact within systems and institutions leading to opportunities for equal access to participation in educational and community programs for all members of society.
Student Learning Outcomes for Sociology (B.A., B.S.)
- Students will be able to identify key concepts and theories of the foundational scholars in sociology.
- Students will demonstrate understanding of sociological research methods, including the ability to define a proposed model of the social world, the ability to propose and operationalize research plans based on current knowledge and existing questions, and the ability to analyze and interpret relevant data.
- Students will intentionally engage with diversity in ways that increase awareness, content knowledge, cognitive sophistication, and empathic understanding of the complex ways individuals interact within systems and institutions leading to opportunities for equal access to participation in educational and community programs for all members of society.
- Students will be able to demonstrate cognitive, effective, and behavioral skills that support effective and appropriate interaction in a variety of cultural contexts.
- Students will be able to systematically explore issues, objects or works through the collection and analysis of evidence that results in informed conclusions or judgments, and break down complex topics or issues into parts to gain a better understanding of them.
Programs
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