Curriculum

The Department has established strong freshman-sophomore course offerings to meet as well as possible the needs of students to transfer to a baccalaureate institution and to get students who are interested in a major or minor in either discipline off to a good start.  Our departmental curriculum is part of a strong, well-balanced liberal arts and pre-professional curriculum maintained by the UW Colleges to serve a wide variety of intellectual and career interests.  Since faculty are spread over 13 campuses, the amount of anthropology or sociology available on some of the smaller campuses is necessarily limited.  Nonetheless, most students should be able to fulfill most of their soc or anthro needs at most of the campuses during the two-year rotation of courses.  This might involve students taking one or more courses via Distance Education (online or compressed video) if an instructor on their campus lacks the time or expertise to offer a certain course that is available elsewhere in the institution.  

For students wishing to complete the Associate of Arts and Sciences Degree in the UW Colleges, whether or not they intend to transfer to another institution to complete a bachelor's degree, anthropology and sociology help students to fulfill many associate and bachelor degree requirements.  All of the sociology courses help fulfill the Social Science breadth requirements.  This is true of most but not all anthropology courses.  A couple of anthropology courses instead may be used towards meeting the Natural Science (physical anthropology) or even Fine Arts (American Indian art) breadth requirements.  Courses are also offered in both disciplines that meet the mandated Ethnic Studies breadth requirement.  One anthropology course (Archaeology field school) also fulfills the breadth requirement for Application and Performance.  However, anthropology and sociology are primarily social sciences and the courses mostly reflect that.