Academics

Description of Anthropology

As the study of humankind, anthropology examines the culture, society, and biology of humans and their closest relatives across time. Anthropology encompasses the following sub-disciplines:

• Cultural anthropology, the study of human cultures across the globe
• Archaeology, the study of the human past through material culture
• Physical anthropology, the study of human evolution and biological diversity
• Linguistics, the study of human language and its meaning in social context

Students may go on to pursue careers in fields such as public health, nursing, law, education, business, urban planning, and museum studies.

Student Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of an Anthropology degree, students will be able to:

• Demonstrate knowledge of, and appreciation for, global cultural and biological diversity;
• Explain the logic of the four-field approach to American anthropology;
• Demonstrate a scientific understanding of biological evolution and cultural change over time;
• Evaluate the impacts of colonialism and globalization on world cultures;
• Apply critical and analytic thinking skills to representations of human culture; and
• Evaluate major ethnical dilemmas of anthropological research.

Description of Sociology

Sociology is the “study of social life, and the social causes and consequences of human behavior” (www.asanet.org). Sociologists study topics from welfare to health care reform, from organized religion to cults, from poverty to concentrations of wealth, from war to natural disasters, from aging to population change, from social media to music and film, from deviance to social order, from law to crime, from divisions of race/class/gender to shared cultural meanings. Students may go on to careers in areas such as social services (juvenile justice system, battered women shelters, disaster planning/relief), administrative support (information technology, human resources, employee training), social science researcher and/or analyst, law, education (graduate school, professor), marketing (copy writing, technology or software), and law enforcement.

Student Learning Outcomes

Sociology majors at Washburn University, upon graduation, should be able to:

• Critically analyze the role of culture and social structure in shaping the lives of members of society;
• Identify, describe, and apply core sociological theories/perspectives to social phenomena at the micro and/or macro levels;
• Explain the effects of race, class, gender, and other forms of diversity on life chances at the individual, institutional, and/or societal levels;
• Frame sociological questions of significance, outline processes by which they might be empirically answered, and evaluate the major ethical issues involved; and
• Demonstrate analytical reasoning skills by interpreting numerical, textual, and ethnographic information.

Degrees Offered

-- B.A. in Anthropology

-- B.A. in Sociology

Minors are also available in both disciplines.

Degree Requirements for Majors 

Anthropology -  Requirement Checklist 

Sociology -  Requirement Checklist

Degree Requirements for Minors

The minor in Anthropology consists of 15 credit hours. AN 112 (Cultural Anthropology) is required, along with 12 other hours, 6 hours of which have to be upper division. One of the upper division courses must have been completed at WU.

The minor in Sociology consists of 15 credit hours. SO 100 (Introduction to Sociology) is required, along with 12 other hours, 6 hours of which have to be upper division. One of the upper division courses must have been completed at WU.