The mission of the Anthropology Program at Utah State University is to prepare students for careers requiring skills and knowledge from a synthesis of the liberal arts and natural sciences. Graduates in anthropology are broadly thinking individuals exhibiting intellectual depth, effective reading and writing skills and the ability to solve problems spanning the humanities, natural sciences and the cultural diversity characteristic of the modern world.
Anthropology is the integrated study of humans in all their aspects.
It offers a broad framework for understanding humans as individuals and as members of widely varying societies through courses dealing with the biological evolution of humans, prehistoric culture change and present diversity of culture and humans types. Two parallel goals of the discipline are to explore and develop an appreciation for human diversity and the shared legacy of our common humanity. Major requirements are designed to encourage broad exploration across anthropology, and students who major in anthropology at Utah State examine a wide range of peoples and cultures, both past and present. They examine lifeways as different as the foragers of Ice Age Europe, tribal horticulturists of lush interior Amazonia and the diverse ethnic neighborhoods of modern U.S. cities. They explore both the biological and cultural basis of human behavior and examine how it is manifested in individuals and groups.