The Department of Anthropology is celebrating its 40th anniversary this 2013/2014 school semester.

Over the past 40 years, the Anthropology Department has endeavored to nurture new anthropologists, encourage participation in the academic community, and emphasize the importance of applied anthropology. Our emphasis on active community engagement has led our faculty and students to field sites around the globe. 

Since the Anthropology Department's inaugural 1973/74 school year, over 1,100 undergraduate students have received Bachelor of Arts degrees and over 230 graduate students have Master of Applied Anthropology degrees. Our newly-created PhD program saw it's first two graduates this past Spring, and we are looking forward to seeing our current 26 doctoral candidates complete their degrees. 

As we continue on past this milestone, we look forward to the future: to the places and the possibilities our field will take us, as well as the contributions we hope to make both to the academic community and to the local and global communities we work with every day. Anthropological research provides us with tools to better inform our understanding of the world. The Department of Anthropology is proud to be a part of the scientific community, and it is proud to be a part of University of Maryland's College of Behavioral and Social Sciences.