About our Department

Our undergraduate and graduate students get their hands dirty—whether it is learning how to build a Native American birch bark canoe, excavating a historic site, or collaborating with community organizations for social justice across the Pioneer Valley and beyond. We’re passionate about hands-on experience, and students have numerous opportunities to work and study in the field. Our small class sizes give students personalized attention so they can fine-tune the skills they’ll take to the workforce and beyond.

Our flexible program allows students to design their own focus. We offer a wide range of courses in all of the sub-specialties of anthropology:  archaeology, bio-archaeology, socio-cultural, linguistic, and biological anthropology. We encourage students to combine coursework from these different fields to explore topics from multiple angles. See our special interdisciplinary tracks in Health and the Body; Native American and Indigenous Studies; and Inequality, Race and Social Justice.

Our faculty are renowned for their research and innovations in all the subfields of anthropology. Faculty work closely with students through exciting research projects, lab work, field schools, internships and numerous hands-on activities. We have leading scholars in evolutionary anthropology, making new discoveries about how we have evolved as a species and the behavior of our closest primate relatives. Others are examining language diversity, the legacies of colonialism, cultural heritage, health and disease in cross-cultural perspectives, how communities create sustainable economies, and kinship and family life in a global world. 

UMass anthropology faculty have the additional distinction of being nationally known leaders in developing community-based and participatory research methods that seek to make a positive impact on communities and issues of public concern. We now have a new accelerated master’s in Community Based Research and Practice.

Learn more about faculty members' research, grants, and publications.

As a UMass graduate, you’re connected to a robust and engaged alumni network. You’ll benefit from peer support, career connections, and mentoring opportunities. Across the country and the globe, our graduates are engaged in groundbreaking work that changes how we understand our world.  Meet our Alumni

Learn more about our undergraduate and graduate programs.

Faculty 2024–2025

The Faculty Caucus of the department includes all faculty members. The Graduate Student Caucus (GSC) is organized in a manner similar to the AUC (Anthro Undergrad Caucus). These three caucuses feed into the Department Meeting. Membership in the Department Meeting is all faculty; a designated number of representatives from both the undergraduate and the graduate caucuses. The graduate and undergraduate representatives have full voting rights in the Department Meeting. The Department Meeting usually convenes monthly during the school year in accordance with a schedule announced at the beginning of each academic year.

Under existing departmental by-laws, and by tradition, the Department Meeting sets policy and makes decisions in the most significant areas of the life of the department. (Certain decision-making powers are vested, by departmental by-laws or by university-wide regulations, in the department chair or specific committees; the Department Meeting may act in an advisory capacity in those instances, but it does not then actually make decisions.)

In addition to the caucuses and the Department Meeting, the department is structured with several "officers" and a number of both standing and ad hoc committees. The officers of the department have formal status and, among other things, serve to connect the department to other parts of the university. Foremost among these officers is the department chair, who handles the departmental budget and a variety of other administrative tasks, and who connects the department to the dean of the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences. 

The three other major officers are the graduate program director (GPD), who works with graduate students, maintains their files, and connects with the graduate school; and the undergraduate program director (UPD), and the director of undergraduate advising (DUA). 

The Department of Anthropology tries to keep the number of its standing committees to a minimum, in order to simplify the administrative process. The four major committees are the Personnel Committee, the Graduate Studies Committee, the Undergraduate Studies Committee, and the Curriculum Committee.

Ad hoc committees are formed whenever a particular task needs doing. For example, ad hoc committees handle such matters as the hiring of new faculty. Student members, from the caucuses, are asked to join such committees.

Department chair handles the departmental budget and a variety of other administrative tasks and connects the department to the Dean of the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences. The Chair calls and chairs faculty caucuses and the Department Meeting. The Chair is also the person who hears complaints and problems from the various people associated with the department and who generally tries to keep the entire operation running smoothly.

Graduate program director (GPD) manages the graduate program, following procedures developed both by the graduate school and by the department. Many of the procedures are bureaucratic and can be delegated to Shelley, but SOL extensions and approval of thesis and dissertation committees and certifying that one is ready to defend a dissertation all require the direct intervention of the GPD. The GPD serves as the chair of the Graduate Studies Committee.

Undergraduate program director (UPD) reports to the undergraduate registrar, and manages the undergraduate program for majors and minors, following procedures mandated by the university and the department.

Director of undergraduate advising (DUA) undertakes face-to-face advising with undergraduate students and serves on the Undergraduate Studies Committee.

Scheduler meets with subfield caucus heads and liaises with the office of course and classroom management to schedule classes.

Department colloquium series coordinator organizes the theme and speaker lineup for the department’s colloquium series.

Subfield caucus heads (archaeology, biological, cultural and linguistic anthropology) call meetings as needed for curricular planning and any other special projects as needed by the chair.