Anthropology

Number of Concentrators: 45.

1951 Commencement Honors: Cum, 3; Magna, 2; Summa, 0.

Whether scrutinizing skeletal remains in Peabody Museum or selecting his courses in the department, the Anthropology concentrator is unlikely to discover any guts.

Chairman Earnest A. Hooton, nevertheless, year after year prepares some of the nation's leading anthropologists and graduates a larger group who never turn professional, but are interested in the field as a "cultural avocation." About four-fifths of the concentrators fall into the latter category and are far from neglected. With fewer students in the field, it is possible for individuals to get more attention, although there is no formal tutorial program.

Those who enter the department next year will find several revisions. Some of the courses will replace lectures with intensive readings and bi-weekly seminars. The department will endeavor to make all of the courses a little less detailed and more palatable to the average student. Only honors candidates and students on the border-line will be required to take oral exams in future years All concentrators will be given divisionals generals, however.

Students seeking degrees with distinction must also write thesis and take eight courses in the field. Only six are required for other students, and, in each case, two may be selected from a wide range of related subjects in the Social Relations, Biology, or Geology Departments.

Formerly divided into three sub-fields, the department will have but two in the future, Physical and Cultural Anthropology Regardless of the one the student picks, Anthropology 1 and 10 are mandatory: Physical Anthropologists must in addition take 102, reputedly the roughest course in a rough department. Cultural Anthropology is broken down into two other areas, Archaeology and Material Culture, and Ethnography, Ethnology, and Social Anthropology.

The popular Anthropology 1 and 10 courses are strongly recommended to non-concentrators for upper level General Education and distributional requirements. The 1a survey, formerly given by a whole battery of lecturers, will be better integrated next fall, when Hooton takes over by himself.

Short on Professors

Paucity of professors presents the biggest problem to the Department. There are only two full-time instructors including the Chairman, the majority of the staff dividing their time between the Peabody Museum, the Social Relations Department, or research activities, often administrational. Consequently courses are offered in alternating years only, and the concentrator faces the difficult task of adjusting his schedule accordingly.

Although the average man accepts his status as a human being and leaves well enough alone, the more curious, conscientious, and courageous delve into Anthropology and find it extremely rewarding.

Applied Sciences

Number of Concentrators: 56.

1951 Commencement Honors: cum, 5; magna, 2; summa, 1.