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New Mexico State University
Department of Anthropology
College of Arts & Sciences
NMSU Archaeology students in the field

Anthropology is the study of humankind, a multidisciplinary endeavor involving the social sciences, the humanities, and the natural sciences. Anthropologists study the human species and the human condition in all its diversity. Anthropologists ask questions such as: Who are we? Where did we come from? How did we get here? Why are we different from each other? What do all humans share in common? And, how can we better understand each other?

Anthropology students might study, for example, our distant human ancestors from the African plains, historic military forts in the Mesilla Valley, Native American languages, prehistoric and modern cultures of the American Southwest and Mesoamerica, or contemporary issues in applied anthropology.


Undergraduates at NMSU can earn a:

  • major in Anthropology
  • supplementary major in Sustainable Development
  • minor in Anthropology, Religious Studies, Native American Studies, or Sustainable Development

Graduate students at NMSU can earn a:

  • Master's in Anthropology
  • graduate minor in Food Studies, Archaeology , or Native American Studies                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

Contact Information

Please contact our department head, Dr. Miriam Chaiken, at (575) 646-2826 or at mchaiken@nmsu.edu for more information about the anthropology program

Other contacts:    
Department Secretary: bburrell@nmsu.edu  
Undergraduate Advisor: mchaiken@nmsu.edu  
Graduate Advisor:  gradadv@nmsu.edu