Graduate Coursework

Guidelines For Students in the PhD Program

The Department of Anthropology revised its guidelines for PhD students in 2015. Those who entered the program before 2015 should follow respective program guidelines below. All students who enter the program after 2015 are expected to adhere to these guidelines: 2024 ANTH GRAD Handbookanthropology/_files/_documents/_graduate/2024-anth-handbook-diss-format-02.19.24.pdf

Archaeology
Biological Anthropology
Cultural Anthropology
Nautical Archaeology
MASTER OF ARTS (THESIS OPTION) – FOR PHD STUDENTS ONLY
MASTER OF ARTS (NON-THESIS OPTION) – FOR PHD STUDENTS ONLY

Work leading to the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Anthropology is designed to give prospective candidates a thorough and comprehensive knowledge of their professional field and training in their methods of research. Students entering the Nautical Archaeology Program receive a PhD in Anthropology with additional specialized coursework and dissertation research in ship reconstruction, seafaring, and conservation.

Student’s Advisory Committee
Upon admission to the PhD program the student will be assigned a provisional advisor. The advisor will be a faculty member whose research is related to the topics of interest identified by the student in his or her application materials, but may or may not continue as Advisory Committee Chair. Incoming students should consult with their provisional advisor before registering for classes regarding any background preparation they may need in preparation for the core courses. By the end of the second year, the student should select an Advisory Committee Chair and, in consultation with the chair, select the remainder of the Advisory Committee. The student’s Advisory Committee will consist of not fewer than four members of the Texas A&M graduate faculty representative of the student’s fields of study and research. The chair or co-chair must be from the student’s department. Two members should be from the department and one must be outside the department. The duties of the committee include the responsibility for the proposed degree program, the annual evaluation, the dissertation research proposal, the preliminary examination, the dissertation and its oral defense. An individual who is not a member of graduate faculty may be on the committee in name only. This person will not be listed nor sign any Office of Graduate and Professional Studies (OGAPS) paperwork. S/he will review a student’s work and advise within their expertise.

Degree Plan
By the end of the fourth semester, a student must prepare a degree plan for approval by his or her advisory committee. The degree plan lists the courses that the student will take to satisfy the course requirements of the PhD degree. The degree plan may be modified later by the student with the approval of his or her advisory committee. Please refer to the Office of Graduate and Professional Studies website for proper procedure.

All degree plans must include the following:
Residence: A PhD candidate must spend two academic years (one of these in continuous, full-time residence) in residence beyond the baccalaureate degree, or one year in residence beyond the masters degree.

Undergraduate Coursework
Advanced undergraduate courses (300 or 400-level) are permitted on the degree plan. The exact number of credit hours is contingent on advisory committee approval.
Other Course Exclusions: No more than 12 hours of ANTH 660 may be used. No credit hours of FREN 601 or GERM 603 may be used. No more than 3 hours of ENGL 697 may be used. No correspondence study may be used. No credit hours of extension course work may be used.

Transfer Credit
A grade of B or higher is required. A student must be in a degree-seeking status at Texas A&M or the institution where courses were taken when the courses were completed. Courses previously used for another degree are not acceptable for degree plan credit. Course work in which no formal grades or letter grades are given is not acceptable.

Total Hours
The degree plan must include 96 credit hours beyond the baccalaureate or 64 credit hours beyond the masters. International degrees will be assessed by Graduate Admissions. Some international MA programs do not translate as graduate level to Texas A&M and students who hold these will be required to follow a 96 hour degree plan.

Foreign Language Requirement
The PhD foreign language requirement at Texas A&M University is a departmental option, to be administered and monitored by the individual departments. In the Department of Anthropology, the foreign language requirement is at the discretion of the advisory committee. The committee may require that the student demonstrate research proficiency in one or two foreign languages that are relevant to that student’s dissertation research.

A student may demonstrate proficiency in a foreign language by completing two years of college coursework in a language, taking a summer language immersion program, or completing a language exam. The fulfillment of the language requirements generally consists of a translation of a two to four pages foreign language text. Dictionaries are allowed. To the extent possible, language exams are administered by faculty members in the department who are proficient in that language. The individual administering the test will determine an appropriate amount of time for the translation. Typically, the test is scheduled for one hour or less.

Language courses do not count towards the credit hours needed for completion of the degree, and therefore cannot be added to a student’s degree plan.

Time Limit
Students must complete all requirements within 10 years.

Continuous Enrollment
Students who have completed all formal course work on their degree plan must be registered each fall and spring semester until they graduate. Usually, a student will register for 1 credit hour of ANTH 691 Research each semester while finishing the thesis. Students who fail to register for a semester will be blocked from registration until they have undergone a favorable recommendation from a departmental review committee, the endorsement of the department head, and the approval of the Office of Graduate and Professional Studies.

Annual Evaluation
Each student will be evaluated by the faculty in that student’s area of study (nautical archaeology, physical anthropology, archaeology, and cultural anthropology/folklore) each spring semester. The purpose of the evaluation will be to gauge the student’s academic progress and provide guidance for the following year and if the student should continue in the PhD program. The evaluation will be sent out each year on the listserv and each student is responsible for filling one out and submitting it to their faculty advisor/committee chair. Any student that does not turn in an evaluation by the stated deadline will have a registration block placed on their account. A student that has inadequate progress for two or more years may be dismissed from the program. Students not continuing in the PhD program may have the opportunity to meet the requirements for the MA degree as described in the appropriate section of this document.

Dissertation Proposal
The research proposal is a description of the research which the student intends to undertake and which will be reported in a detailed, comprehensive fashion in the completed thesis or dissertation.
It offers the student an opportunity to convince the chair and other members of the advisory committee of his/her ability to pursue the projected topic to a successful conclusion. Filing the proposal is one of the requirements for the admission to candidacy for the doctoral degree.

The proposal must be approved by the entire advisory committee. Committee members and the department head sign the Proposal Title Page, found on the Proposal Approval Form. The proposal and signed title page are then submitted to OGAPS. The proposal must be approved by OGAPS at least 14 weeks prior to graduation. The proposal must be approved by OGAPS at least 15 working days prior to the final examination, the defense.

Preliminary Exam
A preliminary examination is required. It is to be given no later than the end of the first semester after completion of course work and no earlier than a date at which the student is within approximately six credit hours of completion of the formal course work on the degree program (with the exception of courses 681, 684, 690, 691 and 692). The student must have an overall and degree plan >3.0 GPR at the time of the examination and must have met the Foreign Language Requirement. Prior to scheduling the preliminary examination, the committee chair will review with the student the eligibility criteria using the Preliminary Examination Checklist. The schedule for the preliminary exam must be arranged with all committee members.

The preliminary examination for all PhD students will include both written and oral portions. Each member of the advisory committee is responsible for administering a written examination in his/her particular field. A member may choose to waive participation in this part of the examination. Two or more members may give a joint written exam. Each written exam must be completed and reported as satisfactory to the chair before the oral portion may be held. The exact format of the preliminary exam is determined by the student’s advisory committee.

Students in the Nautical Archaeology Program are required to take the written portion of their preliminary examination as closed book. Access to outside reference sources is not allowed. If a student’s committee wants to administer the exam otherwise, it is to be addressed and decided upon at a Nautical Archaeology Program faculty meeting. Students are required to be on campus for the oral portion of the preliminary exam.

If the preliminary examination is failed, there is no obligation for a re-examination. At their discretion, the advisory committee and OGAPS may allow one re-examination when adequate time has passed to allow the student to address inadequacies (normally six months).

The chair will report the results of the examination along with the checklist Preliminary Examination Checklist to OGAPS within 10 working days of the scheduled oral exam and at least 14 weeks prior to the date of the final examination, the dissertation defense.

All students must complete all requirements for the PhD within four years after completing their preliminary examination. Otherwise the student will be required to repeat the preliminary examination.

Candidacy
To be admitted to candidacy, the student must have met the residency requirement, completed all formal course work listed on the degree plan, passed the preliminary examination, have an overall and degree plan 3.0 GPR, and filed a dissertation proposal with the OGAPS which has been approved by the student’s advisory committee.

Dissertation Defense
A student must have been admitted to candidacy to take the final examination, the dissertation defense. The student must be registered at the time the final exam is administered. The dissertation must be in final form and ready for distribution to committee members. All members of the student’s advisory committee must have a copy of the dissertation before the defense can be scheduled. OGAPS must have approved the schedule of the final examination at least 10 working days prior to the exam, using the Request of Final Examination. The format of the dissertation must be acceptable to the Thesis Office. The dissertation must be approved by all members of the student’s advisory committee and must represent the candidate’s ability to conduct original, independent research which represents an advance in the field and to communicate the results of that research. The student shall present an oral presentation (open to the public), on the topic of the dissertation research. This presentation will generally be presented on the same day as the actual defense of the dissertation. A candidate for the PhD degree must defend the dissertation by deadline dates announced in the OGAPS Calendar.

Award of PhD Degree
The style and format of the dissertation must be approved by the library thesis clerk and the student must deposit two copies of the dissertation in the library before the degree can be awarded. The final copies of the dissertation must be deposited within one year of the dissertation defense. Visit Thesis and Dissertation Services for more information.

The semester a student intends to graduate, an application for graduation must be submitted electronically to the Office of the Registrar by the deadline given on the Academic Calendar. There is also a graduation fee that must paid. For more information about graduation, please visit Texas A&M’s Graduation Website.

A student who applied for graduation and will not graduate at the intended date must file a Graduation Cancellation Form with OGAPS.

Click here to review the Anthropology programs guidelines for PhD students.

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Guidelines for Students in the MS in Maritime Archaeology and Conservation Program

The Department of Anthropology guidelines for students in the MS in Maritime Archaeology and Conservation Program are here.

Starting in the Fall Semester of 2015, the Department of Anthropology’s Nautical Archaeology Program is now offering a new Master of Science in Archaeology and Conservation. The degree program is designed to prepare students for employment in maritime museums, cultural resource management firms, (including companies working with the offshore oil industry), and federal, state, or similar government agencies.

Students in the MS program will benefit from the research opportunities and internships available through Texas A&M University’s Center for Maritime Archaeology and Conservation (CMAC), and the university-affiliated Institute of Nautical Archaeology (INA). The program is open to a limited number of students, selected on a competitive basis.

The curriculum is designed to allow students to complete the MS in Maritime Archaeology and Conservation in a two-year framework. All students are required to write a thesis in order to complete the degree, a thesis-based graduate degree being essential for many employment opportunities, and is also a prerequisite for being listed on the Register of Professional Archaeologists (RPA).

In addition to the below courses, all MS students must have competence in at least one foreign language used in research. This language should be one with significant scientific literature of relevance to the student’s research areas (e.g. French, German, Spanish, and Russian) or be a language the student will use in his or her field research.

Required Courses:

ANTH 605 – Conservation of Archaeological Resources I
ANTH 608 – Skills in Maritime Archaeology
ANTH 611 – Introduction to Nautical Archaeology
ANTH 615 – History of Wooden Shipbuilding
ANTH 616 – Research and Reconstruction of Ships

Maritime Elective Courses:

ANTH 602 – Archaeological Methods and Theory
ANTH 603 – Seafaring Life and Maritime Communities
ANTH 606 – Conservation of Archaeological Resources II
ANTH 607 – Historical Archaeology
ANTH 610 – Outfitting and Sailing the Wooden Ship 1400-1900
ANTH 612 – Pre-Classical Seafaring
ANTH 613 – Classical Seafaring
ANTH 614 – Books and Treatises on Shipbuilding
ANTH 617 – Conservation III
ANTH 618 – Medieval Seafaring in the Mediterranean
ANTH 628 – New World Seafaring
ANTH 629 – Post Medieval Seafaring
ANTH 633 – Deep-Submergence Archaeology
ANTH 642 – Research Design in Anthropology
ANTH 644 – Classical Archaeology
ANTH 645 – Cultural Resource Management
ANTH 685 – Directed Studies
ANTH 689 – Special Topics

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Master of Arts (Thesis Option) – for PhD students only

Applicants new to Texas A&M may not apply to this program. This degree is only available to current Texas A&M graduate students who are seeking an MA before continuing through the PhD program.

Work leading to the degree of Master of Arts (MA) in Anthropology is designed to give prospective candidates a thorough and comprehensive knowledge of their professional field and training in their methods of research. In addition to the general anthropology MA degree, the department offers a nautical archaeology area of specialization through the Nautical Archaeology Program which involves specialized coursework in ship construction and recording, seafaring, and conservation methods.
The Department offers two MA degrees, the MA Thesis Option and the MA Non-Thesis Option. The Non-Thesis Option is available only to students in the Archaeology, Biological, and Cultural Programs.

Student’s Advisory Committee
Upon admission to the MA program, the student will be assigned a provisional advisor. The advisor will be a faculty member whose research is related to the topics of interest identified by the student in his or her application materials, but may or may not continue as advisory committee chair. Incoming students should consult with their advisor before registering for classes regarding any background preparation they may need in preparation for the core courses. By the end of the first year, the student should select an advisory committee chair and, in consultation with the chair, select the remainder of the advisory committee. The student’s advisory committee will consist of not fewer than three members of the graduate faculty representative of the student’s fields of study and research. Two of the members should be faculty in the department and one must be from outside the department. The duties of the committee include the responsibility for the proposed degree program, thesis research proposal, the thesis and its oral defense.

Degree Plan
A student must prepare a degree plan for approval by his or her advisory committee. The degree plan lists the courses that the student will take to satisfy the course requirements of the MA degree. This plan must be submitted to the Director of Graduate Studies before a student can register for the fourth semester. The degree plan may be modified later by the student with the approval of his or her Advisory Committee.

All degree plans must include the following:

Residence
An MA student must spend one semester in full-time residence beyond the baccalaureate degree.

Archaeology, Biological, and Cultural Programs – Core Courses

ANTH 601 – Biological Anthropology
ANTH 602 – Archaeological Methods and Theory
ANTH 604 – Cultural Methods and Theory

Students who have taken similar graduate level courses before entering Texas A&M may petition to bypass ANTH 601, ANTH 602, and ANTH 604. Petitions to bypass a course must be made in writing and must include a copy of the syllabus of the equivalent course. Faculty who teach the core course will review the petition and vote to accept or reject it.

Archaeology Program students must take ANTH 602, Archaeological Methods and Theory, at Texas A&M. There are no exceptions to this policy.

Anthropology Courses
All students must take at least 9 credit hours within anthropology. (This is in addition to the core courses and ANTH 691 Research.)

Quantitative Methods
ALL students must take STAT 651, Statistics in Research, or an equivalent course. Any course that is not STAT 651 or ANTH 642, for example a graduate-level statistics course taken at another university, must have prior departmental approval before being placed on a student’s degree plan.

Outside Electives
All students must take at least 6 credit hours outside the Department of Anthropology in subjects related to their research interests. These include such courses as history, geography, geology, ecology, second foreign languages, and other areas of technical or theoretical specialization approved by the student’s advisory committee. Courses required to satisfy the minimum foreign language requirement and STAT 651 cannot be used to meet this requirement.

Nautical Archaeology Program – Core Courses (16 Credit Hours)

ANTH 602 Archaeological Methods and Theory (or ANTH 604 Cultural Methods and Theory if ANTH 602 was taken elsewhere or as an undergrad)
ANTH 605 Conservation of Archaeological Resources I
ANTH 611 Nautical Archaeology
ANTH 615 History of Shipbuilding Technology
ANTH 616 Research and Reconstruction of Ships

Seminar Courses (12 credit hours)
Students take 12 hours in Nautical Archaeology seminars.

All Programs
Research Hours and Directed Studies
No more than 12 hours may be used in any combination of the following categories: (This includes 684, 685, 690, 691, and 695 in all departments.)
No more than 6 credit hours in the combination of 691 Research or 684 Internship may be used.
No more than 8 credit hours of 685 Directed Studies may be used.
No more than 3 hours of 690 Theory of Research may be used.
No more than 3 hours of 695 Frontiers in Research may be used.

Undergraduate Courses
No more than 9 hours of advanced undergraduate courses (300- or 400-level) may be used.

Other Course Exclusions
No more than 2 hours of 681 Seminar may be used on a degree plan.
No credit hours of FREN 601 or GERM 603 may be used.
No more than 3 hours of ENGL 697 may be used.
No correspondence study may be used.
No credit hours for continuing education courses may be used.
No credit hours of extension course work may be used.
A course taken S/U may not be used on the degree plan. Exceptions: 681, 684, 690, 691, 692, 693, and 695.

Transfer Credit
No more than 12 hours may be transferred from an accredited institution. A grade of B or higher is required. A student must be in a degree-seeking status at Texas A&M or the institution where courses were taken when the courses were completed. Courses previously used for another degree are not acceptable for degree plan credit.

Total Hours
The degree plan must include at least 30 credit hours.

Foreign Language Requirement
MA students are expected to have competence in at least one foreign language. Normally that competence is obtained as an undergraduate student with four semesters of language study. Students entering the program without previous language training will be expected to obtain it during their graduate studies. The student’s advisory committee will determine the best way to meet these expectations.

Time Limit
Students must complete all requirements within 7 years.

Continuous Enrollment
Students who have completed all formal course work on their degree plan must be registered each fall and spring semester until they graduate. Usually, a student will register for 1 credit hour of ANTH 691 Research each semester while finishing the thesis. Students who fail to register for a semester will be blocked from registration until they have undergone a favorable recommendation from a departmental review committee, the endorsement of the department head, and the approval of the Office of Graduate and Professional Studies.

Thesis Proposal
The research proposal is a description of the research which the student intends to undertake and which will be reported in a detailed, comprehensive fashion in the completed thesis or dissertation.
It offers the student an opportunity to convince the chair and other members of the advisory committee of his/her ability to pursue the projected topic to a successful conclusion. Filing the proposal is one of the requirements for graduation with a Master of Arts Thesis Option.

The proposal must be approved by the entire advisory committee. Committee members, the student, and the department head sign the Proposal Title Page, found on the Proposal Approval Form.

The proposal and signed title page are then submitted to OGAPS. The proposal must be approved by OGAPS at least 14 weeks prior to graduation. The proposal must be approved by OGAPS at least 15 working days prior to the final examination, the thesis defense.

Thesis Defense
OGAPS must approve the Request and Announcement of the Final Examination 10 business days before the exam takes place. All members of the student’s advisory committee must have a copy of the thesis before the defense can be scheduled. For students who qualify under the rules of the university, the oral thesis defense may be waived at the discretion of the committee. The format of the thesis must be acceptable to the Thesis Office. The thesis must be approved by all members of the student’s advisory committee and must represent the candidate’s ability to conduct independent research and communicate the results of that research.

Award of MA Degree
The semester a student intends to graduate, an application for graduation must be submitted electronically to the Office of the Registrar by the deadline given on the Academic Calendar. There is also a graduation fee that must paid.
A student must be registered in residence in the University for the semester in which the degree is to be conferred. The style and format of the thesis must be approved by the library thesis clerk and the student must deposit three copies of the thesis in the library before the degree can be awarded. The final copies of the thesis must be deposited within one year of the thesis defense. For more information about graduation, please visit Texas A&M’s Graduation Website.

A student who applied for graduation and will not graduate at the intended date must file a Graduation Cancellation Form with OGAPS.

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Master of Arts (Non-Thesis Option) – for PhD students only

Applicants new to Texas A&M may not apply to this program. This degree is only available to current Texas A&M graduate students who are seeking an MA before continuing through the PhD program.

Archaeology, Biological, Cultural Programs – Core Courses

ANTH 601 – Biological Anthropology
ANTH 602 – Archaeological Methods and Theory
ANTH 604 – Cultural Methods and Theory

Archaeology Program students must take ANTH 602 Archaeological Methods and Theory at Texas A&M. There are no exceptions to this policy.

Anthropology Courses
All students must take at least 9 credit hours within anthropology. (This is in addition to the core courses.)

Quantitative Methods
All students must take STAT 651 Statistics in Research or an equivalent course. Any course that is not STAT 651 or ANTH 642, for example a graduate-level statistics course taken at another university, must have prior departmental approval before being placed on a student’s degree plan.

Outside Electives
All students must take at least 6 credit hours outside the Department of Anthropology in subjects related to their research interests. These include such courses as history, geography, geology, ecology, second foreign languages, and other areas of technical or theoretical specialization approved by the student’s advisory committee. Courses required to satisfy the minimum foreign language requirement and STAT 651 cannot be used to meet this requirement.

Research Hours, Internships, and Directed Studies
No more than 9 hours may be used in any combination of the following categories: (This includes 685, 690, and 695 in all departments.) No more than 8 credit hours of 685 Directed Studies may be used. No more than 3 hours of 690 Theory of Research may be used. No more than 3 hours of 695 Frontiers in Research may be used. No credit hours of 691 Research may be used. No credit hours of 684 Internship may be used.

Advanced Undergraduate Courses
No more than 9 hours of advanced undergraduate courses (300- or 400-level) may be used.

Total Hours
The degree plan must include at least 36 credit hours.

Final Examination
A final comprehensive examination is required. Students may not be exempted from this exam. This exam may be either oral or written and is determined by the advisory committee. The exam may not be held prior to the mid-point of the semester or summer term in which remaining course work will be completed. A student shall be given only one opportunity to repeat the final exam and that must be before the end of the following regular semester (summer terms are excluded).

Time Limit
Students must complete all requirements within 7 years.

Continuous Enrollment
An MA-NTO student should graduate the same semester in which they complete their coursework on the degree plan. A terminal MA-NTO student (one who will not continue in the PhD track) is not required to register the semester they graduate if all degree plan coursework is complete. If a student needs to register for any reason after degree plan coursework is finished, they should register for ANTH 685 Directed Studies.

Award of MA Degree
The semester a student intends to graduate an application for graduation must be submitted electronically to the Office of the Registrar by the deadline given on the Academic Calendar. There is also a graduation fee that must paid. For more information about graduation, please visit Texas A&M’s Graduation Website.

A student who applied for graduation and will not graduate at the intended date must file a Graduation Cancellation Form with OGAPS.

Click here for a complete list of graduate anthropology course offerings.