Welcome. Anthropology is the comparative, holistic study of humankind in all places and times. The Department of Anthropology at UK offers graduate and undergraduate training in three subdisciplines of anthropology: archaeology, cultural, and biological. With a strong reputation for research speaking to core debates in academic, policy, and private spheres, we train students to become professional anthropologists who can engage in both academic and non-academic settings, with strong foundations in theoretical and substantive areas. Currently, the program has about 100 undergraduate majors and 60 graduate students.

The Department of Anthropology is proud of its heritage and excited about its future. Founded in 1926, the department was the first anthropology department in the southeast and among the earliest established in the United States. Today the department has 12 full-time faculty with areas of expertise that include applied anthropology, archaeology, biocultural anthropology, cultural heritage, development anthropology, ecological anthropology, economic anthropology, and medical anthropology. The international scope of the faculty research extends to Africa, the Middle East, Europe, Central America, Mexico, and the United States. Another 17 affiliated or adjunct faculty work in a variety of programs and colleges around campus.

The archaeology program offers many opportunities for students in training, research, and public engagement. It includes the academic component with faculty expertise in eastern North America and Mesoamerica as well as the William S. Webb Museum of Anthropology, the Office of State Archaeology, the Program for Archaeological Research and the Kentucky Archaeological Survey, which focus more specifically on the archaeology of the Ohio Valley.

This brief summary can only hint at the rich opportunities for study and the exciting research we are conducting in anthropology at UK. I invite you to follow the links on this page to learn more about our program.

Chris Pool
Department Chair