Why Choose Us?

Top Reasons to Choose Anthropology at UB

Photo of graduate student with Maya pyramid.

We are committed to fostering an active and supportive academic community.

The Department of Anthropology encourages students at the undergraduate and graduate levels to be active participants in their education. Most undergraduate courses in the major are taught by faculty in smaller-sized classes, allowing students to make meaningful connections and develop collaborations with faculty to enhance their learning experience. Graduate students benefit from supportive faculty mentorship as they develop intellectually and professionally as researchers and teachers.

Explore your interests through interdisciplinary study.

The department embraces scholarship incorporating and intersecting with other disciplines in the social sciences, humanities and medical sciences. Several Anthropology faculty have established working partnerships across the university allowing cross-disciplinary scholarship and academic exchanges. In turn, students are exposed to diverse theoretical and methodical perspectives to approach and cultivate their own work in the discipline. 

Our faculty and students conduct prominent research.

The research conducted by faculty and graduate students is widely recognized through articles published in major disciplinary journals, invited lectures at top-tier universities in the United States and abroad, and prestigious fellowships and grants awarded.

We are a discipline that is globally engaged.

There is no better way for students to obtain a comprehensive understanding of human diversity than by developing a global lens. Coursework provides opportunities for students to study human evolutionary processes, cultural and social changes and conduct comparative studies of people from wide-ranging geographic and historic places. Students interested in developing their interests outside the classroom often participate in international field schools and study abroad experiences to further their understanding of the human condition in different contexts. In turn, national and international scholars frequently come to campus to present guest lectures and partake in conferences to expose students to a multitude of world views.