The UNLV Department of Anthropology is committed to a holistic approach in exploring human behavior, past and present, through evolutionary, cultural, and biocultural lenses. Our faculty and students conduct research all around the world, including North America, Central America, the Caribbean, Near East, Africa, and Asia. Students have the opportunity to take courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels that cut across traditional subfields and focus on our departmental concentrations in food and nutrition; adaptive strategies; childhood and parenting; and sexuality, romance, gender, and identity. Each of these concentrations involves faculty from multiple subfields within Anthropology and engages with faculty in other departments at UNLV.
Undergraduate Support and Engagement
A UNLV Anthropology degree is a Liberal Arts degree. This equips you with important critical thinking, communication, collaborative, culturally-aware and synthetic capacities for jobs of the present and future. With changes in global migration patterns and family dynamics, novel pandemics and digital literacy, a Liberal Arts degree supports the necessary lifelong, adaptable learning to help you successfully embrace challenges and opportunities. A UNLV Anthropology degree also highlights the evolutionary and culturally contextualized ways in which humans behave, in the past and present, making for distinct emphases compared with other degrees. The scope is holistic, situating human behavior and meaning in context. The methodological skills—in ethnography, interviews, statistics, computer applications, and more—can be applied in various career paths.
A UNLV Anthropology B.A. degree can also be a step toward other graduate or professional degrees, whether in Anthropology or other fields. You can undertake coursework to help prepare for additional post-B.A. training in fields as varied as the Health Sciences to Criminal Justice, Social Work to Law School. Note that many post-graduate fields do not require a specific undergraduate degree, though they may have field-specific applicant expectations such as standardized tests or experiences. If you are interesting in pursuing postgraduate programs in Anthropology, talk with faculty and graduate students about how to prepare and career possibilities. Archaeologists earning an Anthropology M.A. degree may find employment in Cultural Resource Management (CRM), while earning an Anthropology PhD with a focus in skeletal anatomy may position one to teach anatomy in a medical school.
To illustrate positions requiring or supported by an Anthropology degree, try online keyword searches in LinkedIn, Indeed, or other professional and career websites. Note that Anthropology faculty tend to be more aware of job requirements to obtain a faculty position compared to industry, so you might try to arrange informational interviews with former Anthropology majors in jobs that look appealing to you.
- See the UNLV Undergraduate Catalog for some further information about career relevance
- See UNLV Career Services for support with resumes, interviewing and other professional preparations
- Consider campus programs and services such as the UNLV Graduate College Grad Rebel Advantage Program to prepare for graduate and professional school
- American Anthropological Association (AAA) Career Information
- American Association of Physical Anthropologists (AAPA) Career Information
- Get involved! Join the Anthropology Society or Lambda Alpha, where you can meet with other students passionate about Anthropology.
- Talk with faculty and graduate students. Learn how they got involved in Anthropology (they were once in your shoes), and see where those conversations take you.
- Attend departmental talks and other events like the annual Anthropology Open House. Meet other students, and participate in the broader UNLV Anthropology community.
- Engage with UNLV Anthropology social media and other web resources. Subscribe to the ANTHAccess Newsletter for monthly information about volunteer, research and other opportunities. Follow departmental Instagram, Twitter and/or Facebook for social media updates.
- Get involved in other campus activities that overlap with your interests in Anthropology. There is an incredible array of student organizations on campus
- Consider applying to be a peer mentor or Dean's Student Advisory Council member
- Visit The Intersection to find a hub of campus multicultural resources.
- Apply your motivation and skills through an internship. This can help you develop professionalism outside UNLV class experiences, and perhaps even lead to a job
- Consider studying abroad. If you are passionate about meeting people from varied backgrounds and are interested in international experiences, UNLV undergraduates have access to a wide array of study abroad opportunities through the USAC Consortium
- For professional support, including assistance with resumes, interviews, job searches and much more, visit UNLV Career Services.
One of the best ways to get the most from your degree program is to get involved in undergraduate research. You might work with a faculty mentor or perhaps a graduate student. This sort of apprenticeship approach allows you to learn about research design, procedures, ethics and other elements of the research process. If you aspire to graduate or professional school, research involvement can be a critical element to distinguishing your abilities and experiences in a competitive application process. Some UNLV research-related resources include:
