Student looks at human skull

Anthropology

Take a broad perspective on humankind.

When you take a broad perspective on humankind, you’ll always have something new to learn, often through first-hand fieldwork. Anthropology is concerned with people and cultures around the world, past and present, as well as our closest primate relatives. If you want to learn about the human condition and its many facets, like family, privilege, gender, race, power, language, ritual, and myth, then the intensely interdisciplinary field of anthropology may whet your intellectual curiosity.

Anthropology is a bridge across the humanities, social sciences, and STEM that will prepare you for global opportunities. You’ll be ready for graduate school or a career in business, public health, regional planning, social justice advocacy, journalism, museum work, sustainable development, and more.

Statement by the Faculty of the Department of Anthropology

  • Two students study primate skull

    Deep Exploration

    Discover our world, and our place within it.

    As a student of anthropology, you will explore peoples and cultures around the world, past and present, from perspectives offered by biological, cultural, linguistic, and archaeological anthropology. You will become familiar with and understand our common humanity, linguistic and cultural diversity, the organization of social life, societal change, verbal art, change, the evolution of our species, our place in the natural world, and our affinities with other species.

  • Students raise wooden arch

    Hands-on Education

    Explore many different vantage points.

    When you study humankind from a broad, anthropological perspective, you will always have something new to learn. These opportunities often come through first-hand fieldwork exploring the human condition and its many facets, like family, privilege, gender, race, power, language, ritual, conflict, and more. 

  • Students excavate historic rock

    Career Preparation

    Get a broad, liberal arts education.

    Anthropology is a bridge across the humanities, social sciences, and STEM that will prepare you for global opportunities, both domestically and abroad. You will be ready for graduate school or a career in business, public health, regional planning, social justice advocacy, journalism, museum work, sustainable development, nonprofit advocacy, and more.

Photo of Laura Ng

Faculty and Staff Research Series Presents a Research in Progress Talk with Laura Ng

Please join the Grinnell College Libraries at 4:15 p.m., Oct. 3, as we continue our faculty/Staff Research Series with Laura Ng, assistant professor of anthropology, for her Research in Progress talk, “Archaeological Landscapes of Chinese American Communities in the Southwestern Urban Frontier.”
flowers looking up towards sky

Grinnell Professors Awarded $20,000 AALAC Workshop Grant

Grinnell College Professors Leslie Gregg-Jolly (Biology) and Katya Gibel Mevorach (Anthropology and American studies), along with Phoebe Lostroh ’94 (Associate Professor, Molecular Biology) from Colorado College, have been awarded a prestigious workshop grant of $20,000 from the Alliance to Advance Liberal Arts Colleges (AALAC).
A child and an adult add their artistic touches to the glitter truck.
Campus & Community

Visions of Grinnell

With input from as many area residents as possible, the Build a Better Grinnell 2030 (BABG) project will produce a comprehensive assessment of needs and strengths, as determined by the people themselves.

Anthropology Career Outcomes

First Destinations

  • 49% Employment
  • 30% Graduate School
  • 6% Post-Graduate Service
  • 2% Fellowships
  • 2% Continuing Education
  • 11% Other

Employment

90%
Positions related to Career Goals

Positions Related to Career Goals

This graph illustrates the extent to which our graduates' first job is aligned with their career goals. It's one thing to find a job; it's an entirely different thing to land the job you want!

Employer

  • Casa Della Regina Carolina Project
  • Higher Education Consortium for Urban Affairs
  • Science Museum of Minnesota

Graduate Schools

100%
100% Accepted to 1st- or 2nd- choice programs

Graduate School Acceptance Info

Of those who applied to and were accepted to at least one program, this chart illustrates the percentage of admitted students who were accepted to either their first or second choice program and institution.

Institutions

  • University College London
  • University of California
  • University of Iowa
Explore More Graduate Outcomes

Department Chair

Jackson Montgomery Roper

Contact Information

Phone
641-269-3137
Fax
641-269-9203

Humanities and Social Studies Center
1226 Park Street
Grinnell, IA 50112
United States

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