About

Fast Facts about the Department

The Department is home to 13 full-time faculty members and nearly 150 majors. Currently, we are one of the largest undergraduate-only anthropology departments in the United States (and the fourth largest department overall in North Carolina behind UNC-Chapel Hill, Duke University, and ECU). We offer both B.S. and B.A. degrees in anthropology as well as a B.S. in multidisciplinary anthropology. 

We maintain rigorous standards in the classroom and many of our students continue on to graduate school, postgraduate internships, and land jobs upon graduation using ideas that were sparked at Appalachian State. Our teachers aspire to provide the highest quality of education that extends beyond the classroom into the field (both domestically and internationally) through our numerous research possibilities for students. Over the past 29 years, two of our faculty have received a UNC Board of Governors Campus Excellence in Teaching Award and three of our faculty have been inducted into the College of Arts & Sciences Academy of Outstanding Teachers. In addition to excellence in teaching, we maintain one of the highest standards of research productivity in the College. Our faculty members have been awarded 5 of the scholar of the year awards (junior and senior levels) given by the College of Arts & Sciences) since 1994.

Anthropology has been taught at Appalachian State University since 1970. First part of a combined Department of Sociology and Anthropology, the Department of Anthropology was established in 1978.