Donations to the department of anthropology help us sponsor graduate student research and recognize outstanding students with monetary awards. Alumni sponsored departmental research grants include the Susan Abbott-Jamieson Pre-Dissertation Research Fund, and the Anne Parrish Graduate Student Field Study Memorial. The department also created two awards to recognize excellence in teaching and research. These awards are named after two long-time faculty members that exemplify the department's commitment to excellence: the Margaret Lantis Award for Excellence in Original Research, and the William Y. Adams Award for Excellence in Teaching. Additional information on these awards can be found on the Graduate Program–Student Support pages.

The A&S Office of Advancement has information on ways to give to the college and specific programs, or contact the departmental chair, Christopher Pool, about donating specifically to the department's research and recognition funds.

Seventy-eight doctorates have been granted by the department since creation of the program in the mid-1960s. The first Ph.D. was conferred in 1972, and the department has averaged two Ph.D.'s per year over the past 36 years (1972-2007). See Ph.D. Dissertations for a chronological list of degrees.