Anthropology - Master's

Admission requirements include:

1. A completed application
2. Transcripts from all undergraduate institutions attended
3. (3) letters of recommendation
4. A Statement of Purpose (SOP): An essay of 2-3 pages that discusses the following::
   1. What topics or questions interest you and how those are related to anthropology?
   2. How your background and experiences have prepared you for graduate school?
   3. Why the USM Anthropology program is well-designed to help you achieve your goals for graduate school?
      • Additional notes on the SOP: Your statement lets us lets us get to know you beyond grades and previous coursework. This is your opportunity to tell us a bit more about yourself, your research interests, what your professional and personal goals are, and importantly, how our program will help you attain them. Most students spend more time on their Statement of Purpose than anything else in the application despite its short length. Don’t be afraid to ask your professors, classmates, family or friends for feedback, and give yourself plenty of time and space for writing this critical component of your graduate application. A great Statement of Purpose is one that is focused, well-written, and makes it clear that USM is a good fit for you—and that you’re a good fit for us!
5. CV or Resume
6. A Writing Sample: An academic paper on a topic in anthropology of interest to you; it should be about 10 pages in length, written in English, and use a standard citation style.
   • • Additional notes on the Writing Sample:  The writing sample helps us to evaluate your ability to demonstrate your research skills and present your findings, as you will be asked to do in your graduate career.  The sample should be academic in nature (usually something you have written for a class as an undergraduate), and show that you can write clearly and professionally.  Ideally the paper should display how you can synthesize ideas and concepts concerning a research question and then critically evaluate them.
7. We encourage applicants to schedule a virtual meeting with the graduate coordinator and other faculty to discuss your experience and goals for graduate school.  This is a great way to make sure that USM is a good fit for you.
   
   

Application Deadline

March 15 for fall applicants

Our program has four laboratories where students can gain hands-on experience as they work closely with faculty members. We also have a well-equipped bioarchaeology and forensic anthropology lab which curates a large colonial Maya population from western Belize. Our archaeological facility is home to a variety of research collections from Mississippi and the greater Southeast. The biological anthropology lab is also equipped for hormonal analysis, blood chemistry analysis and preparation of tissues for biomarker analysis.

Dittman, Jenna – Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) at the University of Southern Mississippi: A Qualitative Study in Conversation with Graduate Students

Logan, Savannah – Inside The Walls of the Asylum: Exploring the Lives of Individuals in the Mississippi State Asylum (1855-1935)

Plants, Rebecca - An Analysis of Wall Vault Burials from Cypress Grove Cemetery, New Orleans

Robbins, Jessi – Doin’ Time: Entertainment and Exploitation at Decommissioned Prison Museums in the United States

Bowen, Andrew – Remembering, Forgetting, and Artifact Deposition in Late Prehistoric Florida

Downey, Charles – Vaccines at the Intersection of Religion and Politics (dual with Public Health)

Noland, Miranda – Fight at the Museum: An Ethnographic Study Investigating Staff and Volunteers at WWII Museums and Memorials

Patterson, Andrew – A Study of the Ceramics at the Ebert Canebrake Site (1MC25)

Peacock, Clelie Cottle – On an Unshakeable Foundation: An Archaeological Investigation of the Postemancipation Black Community of Bass Street, the Church They Built, and the Lasting Identity They Formed in Nashville, Tennessee

Klein, Joanna – Cultural Behaviors and Their Influence on the Proximal Femur: Comparisons of Postural Behavior, Occupation and Subsistence Between a Pre-Contact and Historic Sample

Veiverberg, Fernanda – Brazilian Camming: The Monetization of Intimacy in Online Sex Work

Carnahan, Kristi – Teaching Old Calipers New Tricks: Using Craniometrics for Ancestry Admixture Estimation Via Fuzzy Math

Coffey, Sarah – Bon Appetit: Faunal Subsistence at Fort Tombecbe (1SU7)

Losen, Maeve – Emotions in Work and War: Comparisons of Emotional-Cultures of New Deal CCC Enrollees and WWII U.S. Army Enlistees, 1933-1945 (dual degree with History)

Scott, Lauren – A Bioarchaeological Investigation of the Courtney-Anderson Cemetery

LeJeune, Casey – An Evaluation of Activity in a Colonial Maya Cemetery Using Femoral Cross-Sectional Analysis

Lewis, Jeffrey T, Jr – Mass Analysis and Raw Material Sourcing as Metrics of Poverty Point’s Socio-Political Organization

Mercier, Peter – The Shortcomings of Maize: Using Tipu to Assess Maize Consumption and Its Impact on Stature and Limb Proportions Among the Maya

Rouse, Carson – Analyzing the Consistency of Scoring Porotic Hyperostosis from 3D Scans

Thomas, Jaime – Subadult Cortical Bone Analysis As an Indicator of Childhood Health Status Among the Tipu Maya

Bianchi, Sydnie – Nutrition at Tipu: A Comparative Analysis of Juvenile Health in Maya Populations

Geiger, Jonathan – Hate Speech, Habitus, and Identity Signaling on 4chan’s Politically Incorrect Board

Hair, Amy – An Assessment of the Use of Photogrammetry in Cranial Metric and Non-Metric Studies

Kawa, Daniella – “Making the World a Better Place to Live In”: Hattiesburg Women’s Literacy Organizations and the Formation of a Progressive Southern City, 1884-1945

Tierney, Maureen – Creative Expression Through the Gift of God: The Intertwining of Creativity and Religion of the Poor Clares in New Orleans, Louisiana