Rice University Anthropology Department records

Although the anthropology department was established at Rice University in 1961, its revitalization and redirection began in 1980. Because of its focus on high-quality, specialized, and creative work within the discipline during this decade, the anthropology department became well-known for both its identity and reputation. Such distinction became evident at the American Anthropological Association meeting in 1984, at which knowledge of Rice's accomplishments were widespread, and in the spring of 1986 when publishers bid vigorously for two volumes produced by Rice's anthropology department. At this time the anthropology department was on par with the small but specialized departments at Duke, Princeton, John Hopkins and Virginia, and the department's candidates were actively pursued by the large graduate departments of Harvard, Michigan, Chicago, and Stanford.

Traditionally the anthropology department was organized around a cultural anthropology core with archaeology and biological anthropology as additional tracks that supported the core. Since then, the social-cultural anthropology program has expanded and focuses on the application of anthropological methods and styles of research to the study of complex societies. Archaeology has become its own prominent track with emphases on the emergence of complex societies and urbanism, settlement studies, origins of food production, the Late Stone Age and Iron Age in Africa, and historical archaeology. Today the department of anthropology's doctoral program offers advanced training in these fields. In addition, students interested in medical anthropology have access to resources of the Texas Medical Center. The national prestige of the anthropology department at Rice continues to flourish.