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Undergraduate Study
Anthropology provides the global perspective and critical thinking skills that will open doors to a wide range of career paths. The major will also prepare you for graduate study in anthropology.
Here are some of the courses we offer:
Student Opportunities:
Cornell University is located on the traditional homelands of the Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫ' (the Cayuga Nation). The Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫ' are members of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, an alliance of six sovereign Nations with a historic and contemporary presence on this land. The Confederacy precedes the establishment of Cornell University, New York State, and the United States of America. We acknowledge the painful history of Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫ' dispossession, and honor the ongoing connection of Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫ' people, past and present, to these lands and waters. Cornell’s American Indian and Indigenous Studies Program (AIISP) has submitted this land acknowledgement to traditional Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫ' leaders for their consideration and approval. Anthropology will post a final version as soon as it is available.
Department Collections
The Anthropology Collections include approximately 20,000 items representing human activity around the world from the Lower Paleolithic to the present. Archaeological and ethnographic materials are about equally represented.
Located in 150 McGraw Hall, the Collections are teaching collections available for on campus instruction and learning opportunities for community organizations. Individuals or classes of up to 20 students can make appointments to visit the Collections to work with particular materials. Students can also do guided independent research using the Collections on a wide range of projects, from studying Hopi kachina dolls or Mississippian pottery.
Even when not open, we offer an exhibit gallery in the first-floor hallway of McGraw Hall that showcases selections from the Collections. A larger exhibit space is located in the department seminar room, 215 McGraw, where classes and department colloquia are held. The curator of the Anthropology Collections is Frederic W. Gleach.