Mission Statement

Housed in the Sociocultural Studies Department, Anthropology promotes student success, completion and transfer, and seeks to create lifelong learners who understand and appreciate the significance of culture as a major factor in the lives of humans.

Program Description

Anthropology is the study of humans worldwide, both in the past and present. The program is designed to introduce students to culture as the core concept for understanding human behavior. The four subfields of anthropology (physical, archaeological, linguistics and cultural) are used as a foundation to examine varied perspectives about the world. Anthropology students graduate with an awareness of cultural and biological diversity and the complexity of past and contemporary societies. The degree offers preparatory courses for the major core program at CSU Chico, in addition to courses approved for CSU General Education.

The program in anthropology is designed to prepare students for a variety of exciting careers, which may include education, research, medicine, business, non-profit and public service fields. As an example, anthropologists may be employed on international research teams, such as with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention scientists working to control Ebola outbreaks in West Africa. Anthropologists may also be employed as resident scientists at the Intel Corporation or as curation specialists in the US Army Corps of Engineers. Numerous anthropological skills, such as the ability to think critically and creatively about the world and the ability to apply research methods to solve problems, translate to various employment sectors.  

Upon successful completion of the Anthropology program, the student will be able to:

1. Identify and discuss major topics relevant to Physical Anthropology, including human and primate evolution and variation among hominids.
2. Define culture and apply the concept to a broad cross-cultural understanding of human behavior.
3. Examine past cultural systems through analysis of physical cultural remains.
4. Describe and analyze human linguistic systems and the influence of language on human perceptions of the world.

The courses that comprise the AA-T degree are also for Butte and transfer General Education. With close to 60 sections offered each school year, Anthropology serves a significant number of students and meets an array of important General Education and transfer requirements. Most Anthropology courses are dedicated to understanding culture process. One course, ANTH 2 Physical Anthropology, focuses on physical/natural phenomena.

Anthropology does not have a fulltime instructor as present. Heading into the second semester in the same situation, Anthropology historically has had two FT instructors to support students and the program. Eight associate faculty are currently utilized this semester; teaching 100% of sections offered in Anthropology.  

Student Learning/Administrative Unit Outcomes

SLO reporting last occurred Spring 2016. 

Standards/Goals for Student Achievement (Instruction Departments)

ANTH instrutors will increase FTES by participating in more interaction between students and instructors. During a time of all sections being online, this will be performed through the use of Zoom time with students.

Success and retention rates were beginning to improve starting in 2015. Both success and retention began to falter in 2018, likely because of events occurring outside of the classroom. The Camp Fire and subsequent power outages created a situation where maintaining continuity where major challenges.  

ANTH, beginning in 2018 has increased the number degrees awarded. Further increase in confered awards may come with the development of a certificate program in the area of Field Anthropolgy.

Standards/Goals for Student Achievement (All Other Departments)

Strategic Direction

The Anthropology Department supports the college in meeting its Strategic Direction and Priority Themes by:

Enhancing a Culture of Completion and Goal Achievement - Faculty is working to provide as many courses as possible with free, open-source textbooks, thereby reducing costs for students.
Supporting Student, Faculty, and Staff Success - Enhance SLO Participation: provide stipends for associate faculty to perform 'deep dive.' 
Meeting Enrollment Targets - Provide various marketing methods to increase enrollment of ANTH courses, such as creating short videos of the discipline Anthropology that would be presented to high school counselors in the college service area.
Meeting student achievement goals – Student success continues to be a problem. More information is needed on the root causes of Anthropology's low success rate, meaningful before any attempts can be made to improve those rates.

Program Review

Anthropology completed its most recent Program Review in July 2015. The Validation Team provided 12 Recommendations. Due to the recency of the last Program Review and the lack of full-time leadership, there has been limited progress on meeting the Recommendations. Below is an abbreviated version of the Recommendations, with comments.

Hire two additional full-time faculty members in the discipline (one as a replacement hire). One hire should be a Cultural Anthropologist, the other a Physical Anthropologist. 

Note: In the past three years, the Anthropology Department has lost three fulltime instructors, two from retirement, and another left after losing home and personal effects in the Camp Fire. The 2015 Program Review Recommendation called for a second full-time hire, and at the time would have brought the number of full-time instructors in the program to 3. Instead, there are none.

Ensure compliance with associate faculty evaluation timelines. *** The area dean has offered a stipend payment of $150 per evaluation to full-time faculty who assist the department chair in completing associate faculty evaluations as scheduled. However, because our one full-time faculty in ANTH is only in her first year, reaching compliance in the near future is unlikely. The department chair will continue to work toward meeting this Recommendation.
Enhance comprehensive SLO/PLO/GELO analysis and reporting by increasing associate faculty participation. *** Still to be addressed.
Engage in collaborative activities with faculty in other social science and relevant science disciplines. *** Still to be addressed. While important, right now this is a lower priority for the program.
Maintain breadth of course offerings, especially ANTH 14 and 33 (at risk due to  retirement). *** Previously, we were able to offer these two courses because of a retired instructor had made themselves available in retirement as an associate faculty. The prospect for continuing to offer these two courses long-term is uncertain.
Encourage Administration to approve/adopt the policies and procedures of Archaeology collections. *** Still to be addressed.
Enhance the relationship with Chico State. *** Still to be addressed.
Provide opportunities for student learning experiences outside of the classroom (field trips, Chico State events, student club activities, etc.) *** Still to be addressed.
Lower pedagogical caps in Anthropology courses to encourage the use of more student-centered instructions. *** Still to be addressed. This would be ideal, but likely would be exceedingly difficult if not impossible to achieve. Right now, this is a lower priority for the program.
Advocate with Professional Development to change the policy that currently limits to 50% (75% with dean approval) the FLEX hours awarded for Individual Activity Contracts. *** Still to be addressed. Right now, this is a lower priority for the program.
Explore the viability of a multidisciplinary Certificate in Museum Studies. *** Not a priority, as this is not feasible to implement with current faculty.

Department Goals

More Zoom meetings with associate faculty (ANTH lacks a full-time instructor)
Develop a course, possibly modifying ANTH 34, that would be inline with the requirements for a Native American Enthic Studies

Future Development Strategies

Requested Non-Financial Resources

Current Financial Resources