Degree Requirements:
(See general College requirements in ‘Graduate Regulations ’.)
M.A./Ph.D. students will normally complete 30 credits towards a Master’s degree (including 6 credits of ANTH 700 ) and 36 credits of Ph.D. course work (including 6 credits of ANTH 800 ). Ph.D. students will normally complete 36 credits (including 6 credits of ANTH 800 ).
Students will pursue their studies in either Historical Archaeology or Historical Anthropology. All students entering the M.A./Ph.D. or Ph.D. tracks are required to take Socio-Cultural Theory (ANTH 600 ), Archaeological Theory (ANTH 603 ), one graduate-level course in linguistic anthropology, and one graduate-level course in biological anthropology.
All students are also required to take the Presentation and Paper course (ANTH 640 ) during their fourth semester in conjunction with the fourth-semester “Presentation and Paper” requirement (see below).
The intent of these requirements is to build general proficiency and professional skills required in the discipline. This approach is designed to produce graduates who are maximally equipped to succeed in the job market for teaching positions and other equivalent professional positions.
By May 1st of their first year all students in the M.A./Ph.D. and Ph.D. program are required to submit to the Director of Graduate Studies a one-page prospectus in anticipation of their fourth-semester “Presentation and Paper” along with a list of at least three Presentation and Paper committee members from the Anthropology Department. All students in the M.A./Ph.D. and Ph.D. tracks will complete the Presentation and Paper process during their fourth semester. Fourth-semester students will enroll in the Presentation and Paper class (ANTH 640 ), write an article-length paper in conjunction with the class that engages questions of anthropological significance, and present the paper to the department by the end of the academic year. For students in the doctoral tracks who are earning a W&M Master’s degree, the paper will be submitted as the thesis and the presentation will serve as the defense. Although the instructor of ANTH 640 will assess and grade students’ work in the course, a student’s committee will evaluate the Presentation and Paper to assess whether the student will be recommended to advance to candidacy in the Ph.D. program. Once the Presentation and Paper process is complete, the student’s committee chair will write a letter to the Graduate Committee summarizing the committee’s assessment of the Presentation and Paper. The Graduate Committee will then evaluate the Presentation and Paper in light of the committee’s assessment and will determine whether to admit the M.A./Ph.D or Ph.D. student to candidacy in the Ph.D. program, to award a terminal M.A., or to require withdrawal of the student. To continue to qualify for a graduate assistantship, M.A./Ph.D. students must be awarded the M.A. degree before the beginning of the fifth semester, and both M.A./Ph.D. and Ph.D. students must be admitted to candidacy in the Ph.D. program before the beginning of the fifth semester to continue to qualify for a graduate assistantship.
During the summer between their second and third years in the doctoral program, all students will write a draft grant proposal designed to support the student’s dissertation research, written according to the guidelines of one of the principal granting agencies in anthropology (e.g., Wenner-Gren, National Science Foundation, or Fulbright-Hays). Students will consult with their advisor to determine the target granting agency and thus the style that the proposal will take. Draft grant proposals should engage with a research question of broad anthropological significance in a particular setting and demonstrate fluency in the related literature. Draft grant proposals should be submitted to the Director of Graduate Studies by September 1st of the student’s third year.
During their third year in the program, students will form a preliminary dissertation committee in consultation with their advisor. The student will present a draft proposal at a meeting with the committee to plan the content of the qualifying examination. This exam will explore key theoretical concerns and methodological issues related to the dissertation as well as ethnographic, historical and archaeological data that form a background to their research. Preparation will incorporate a thorough review of the relevant literature and preparation of an extensive bibliography of works to be read. No later than March of their third year of study all students must take an oral qualifying exam conducted by the student’s primary dissertation committee.
Before the beginning of their fourth year in the program, each student must pass a reading examination in a language of scholarship relevant to their research interests; the language selected should be useful in reading the literature in their field of study.
By the end of the eighth semester of graduate study, or before embarking on their dissertation research, each student, in cooperation with their advisor and committee, will write and present a dissertation proposal suitable for submission to a funding agency. The proposal will be defended at a meeting open to all faculty members and students in the Anthropology Department and any guests they might invite. The defense is evaluated by the student’s dissertation committee.
Each candidate for the Ph.D. must submit an acceptable dissertation based on original research and constituting a contribution to scholarly knowledge.
All requirements for the doctoral degree must be completed within a maximum of seven (7) calendar years of the time the student was admitted to the doctoral candidacy (see above).
The table below summarizes the typical M.A./Ph.D. and Ph.D. curricula. Course availability may require some adjustments to this sequence. See the Anthropology Department’s Web page, http://www.wm.edu/anthropology, for additional information about requirements and course of study.
