The goal of the Department of Anthropology at SDSU is to enable students to better understand human biological and cultural diversity; across space and time—past, present, and future. The discipline of anthropology incorporates a diverse range of theoretical and methodological approaches that draw from the social and natural sciences, as well as from the humanities. Our department fully embraces this diversity of traditions by supporting an integrated subdiscipline approach that requires students to gain knowledge and training in all four subfields—cultural anthropology, physical/biological anthropology, archaeology, and linguistic anthropology. As such, our students are trained in the application of anthropological principles and methodologies to address problems in the contemporary world. Our department has 8 core faculty and a number of lecturers that cover the broad spectrum of anthropology. With a regional focus on the Pacific Rim, our anthropologists work locally here in San Diego and southern California, as well as internationally in Mexico (Baja California, Oaxaca, and Campeche), Belize, Venezuela, the Solomon Islands, and Indonesia. One of our program’s greatest strengths is that we provide numerous opportunities for students, at both the undergraduate and graduate level, to engage in research with faculty. Our students can gain research experience through annual field schools as well as through collaboration with faculty on current projects. Come see how and why SDSU was recently named the top small research university in the United States!
