Applied Anthropology tries to understand and provide solutions to the big problems of our times, and recognizes that many of them are rooted in social relations. As an Anthropology major in the Applied Anthropology track, you’ll learn how to study humanity using the methods and theories that govern research in this field. Your advisor will work with you to focus your courses on a topic, for example, in environmental, economic, psychological, medical, educational, or food/nutritional anthropology, in which you can build expertise and pursue research. Students have recently focused their work on immigration issues, the challenges of refugees, and new mothers in Africa, among many other topics. The free electives in this major offer flexibility, allowing you to use them to add a double major or minor. Students are required to choose an internship from among the wide variety of options available and to explore opportunities for research.

The B.A. degree in the Applied Anthropology track will prepare you for a professional career or for continuing your education with graduate school. Cultural and linguistic anthropologists find employment in government research, community-based organizations, nongovernmental organizations, or health-related fields or administrative jobs as social analysts or as program officers. Biological anthropologists find employment in museums, as consultants for law enforcement in victim identification, and in medical and epidemiological research. In today's job market, there is an increasing demand for employees with cross-cultural skills and an ability to use anthropological methods like ethnography in the research and development of locally relevant products and marketing.