Graduate degrees in Old World Prehistoric Archaeology are awarded in the Anthropology Department. Students must satisfy the requirements of the UConn Graduate School. We attempt to incorporate all of these requirements here, but students should also consult the Graduate catalogue, and the Graduate School website.
The Graduate Application Process
The First Year of Graduate Study
Students should apply for admission with a specific faculty member in mind to serve as their Permanent Academic Advisor. They will also select two additional faculty members to serve on their Advisory Committees, one of whom must be a member of the graduate faculty and hold a PhD in Anthropology. The second associate advisor may be a member of the Department of Anthropology or another department relevant to the student’s research interest. In some cases the second associate advisor may be a professor from another institution. Students, in consultation with their major advisor, should communicate the composition of their advisory committee to the Department of Anthropology’s Graduate Committee by March of their first year. Students should make the best possible use of the expertise of the advisory committee, develop cordial relations with them, meet with them as frequently as possible, and keep them informed of developments in their academic lives.
All Old World Prehistoric Archaeology students are required to take two theory courses, Human Evolutionary Theory and Archaeological Theory, the Quantitative Methods course, and a “Skills” Course, such as Human Osteology, Archaeobotany, Zooarchaeology, or Lithic Technology. Students should endeavor to complete these courses as soon as possible in their careers, in addition to one course in Cultural & Historic Anthropology or the Ecology, Culture, and Cognition to be determined in consultation with their advisors. PhD candidates are required to have a competent reading knowledge of at least one foreign language, or to have at least six credits of course work in a related or supporting field. Other coursework is tailored to fit the student’s individual needs and interests. Courses must be selected in consultation with the major advisor and need not be confined to the offerings of the Department of Anthropology. Students are encouraged to gain fieldwork experience during the summer following their first year.
The Second Year of Graduate Study
In the second year, students should plan to complete their coursework and to identify a topic for their PhD dissertation research. Students are encouraged to do exploratory work in preparation for their dissertation research during the summer following their second year. Normally students take the Master’s exam in the spring term of their second year, and, upon passing it, are awarded the MA degree in May of their second year.
The Plans of Study chart the coursework that the student completes in preparation for the MA and PhD degrees. Plan of study forms may be downloaded from the Graduate School website (http://www.grad.uconn.edu) . Students should obtain copies of the form and use them as road maps in their course planning. Final versions of the plans of study are submitted prior to the MA and PhD exams. The MA plan of study should be submitted to the major advisor by the fourth week of the fall semester of the second year.
Students must complete 24 credits of course work and pass the MA exam in order to earn the MA. The MA exam is designed to test your knowledge of the key issues that dominate the field of Old World prehistoric archaeology. The topics to be covered in the exam and a reading list of relevant literature are made available at the end of the fall semester. Students normally enroll in ANTH 397 in the spring semester of their second year in order to prepare for the MA exam, which will normally be taken in April. The exam covers three topics and is administered in a classroom setting over a total period of six hours.
The Third Year of Graduate Study
In the third year, students are expected to complete any remaining coursework, to take the PhD exam, and to begin to focus upon their dissertation research project. The Graduate School requires that a PhD plan of study be submitted before the student has completed 12 units of coursework for the Ph.D. Students in Old World Prehistoric Archaeology submit the PhD plan of study, signed by all members of the PhD advisory committee, by December 1 of their third year of PhD work for approval by the Department of Anthropology’s Graduate Committee and by UConn’s Graduate Council’s Executive Committee. The PhD plan of study should include 20 to 24 credits of course work above and beyond the course work completed for the M.A., excluding language study, and consisting largely of courses at the 300 level or above. An additional minimum of15 credits of GRAD 495 (Dissertation Research) must be included in the plan of study. The PhD plan of study must also include details regarding the foreign language or related area and the means by which the requirement is to be satisfied, either by coursework (language or related area) or by examination (language).
Once the PhD plan of study has been approved by the UConn Graduate Council’s Executive Committee, the student is allowed to take the PhD exam. Old World Prehistoric Archaeology students normally select five fields of expertise that will prepare them for their PhD dissertation research. These fields of expertise are to be negotiated with the advisory committee, but usually include one or more theoretical foci, a methodological or skills focus, and one or more temporal or geographical regions. The student prepares bibliographies or ‘field statements’ on each topic, and submits them to their advisory committee for comment. The advisory committee, based primarily on these bibliographies, then prepares questions to test the student’s knowledge in the five areas of expertise. The precise format and date of the PhD exam is to be determined by the student’s committee, but normally five topics are addressed in writing in a classroom setting, usually in several different sittings, with a total time limit of fifteen hours. An optional oral exam, which must be attended by all members of the advisory committee, may augment the written exam, and will normally not exceed three hours. The advisory committee and two additional faculty members evaluate exams.
Graduate School regulations stipulate that the PhD exam be passed within a maximum of five years of beginning the program, or within four years if the student held an MA in Anthropology upon entering the program. Extensions are considered but by no means automatic, and require approval of the student’s major advisor and the Dean of the Graduate School.
The PhD Dissertation Proposal describes the research project that will form the basis of the dissertation. It is written in close consultation with the advisory committee, and is subject to approval by the advisory committee, two outside reviewers, the Department head, and the Graduate School. It also forms the basis of proposals for external funding, and is presented to the Old World Prehistoric Archaeologists or to the Department of Anthropology as a colloquium or seminar. Students normally present their preliminary findings and research plans at meetings of regional and national professional organizations such as the Society for American Archaeology or the Paleoanthropology Society, and to submit proposals to several agencies to fund their dissertation research.
The PhD exam must be passed before presentation of the dissertation proposal. Once the advisory committee approves the proposal it is submitted to the head of the department, who appoints reviewers from outside the advisory committee for evaluation. The head, having received the examiners’ reports, then recommends approval or disapproval to the Executive Committee of the Graduate Faculty Council. The dissertation proposal approval form may be obtained from the Graduate School website. A copy of the signed approval form and the dissertation proposal must be submitted to the Graduate School; a second copy is supplied to the student’s major advisor; a third is kept on file with the Department of Anthropology. Upon approval of the plan of study, the passing of the PhD exam, and approval of the dissertation proposal by the Executive Committee, the student is advanced to candidacy for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
Fourth Year and Beyond
By the fourth year students will be well along in their PhD dissertation research. By definition, fieldwork in Old World Archaeology normally takes place abroad, and students are expected to raise external funds to support it. Some students carry out their research in close collaboration with their major advisor; others pursue more independent projects. In either case students are advised to remain in close communication with their advisory committee. Final data analysis and write-up are normally carried out at UConn. Upon return from the field, the student may request one year of funding that usually requires some teaching duties. Students are also encouraged to apply for support during the write-up of the thesis from the UConn Humanities Institute (http://web.uconn.edu/uchi/home.php), and from external sources.
The Graduate School stipulates that requirements for the PhD must be completed within eight years of entering the program, or seven years if the candidate already held the MA in Anthropology upon entering the program. Extensions are considered but by no means automatic, and require approval of the student’s major advisor and the Dean of the Graduate School.
Graduate Student Timeline & Checklist
Year One
Begin required coursework:
Archaeological Theory
Evolutionary Theory
“Skills” Course
Quantitative Methods
Foreign Language or Related Area
Historical & Transnational Anthropology or Evolution, Culture & Cognition
Communicate names of advisory committee members to Department Head.
Submit proposal for internal summer funding
Summer Field work
Year Two
Submit annual report
Complete required coursework:
Archaeological Theory
Evolutionary Theory
“Skills” Course
Quantitative Methods
Foreign Language or Related Area
Historical & Transnational Anthropology or Evolution, Culture & Cognition
Submit MA Plan of study
MA exam
Submit proposal for internal summer funding
Summer exploratory field research
Year Three
Submit annual report
Complete any coursework
Composition of advisory committee (December 1)
PhD Plan of study (by December 1)
Bibliographies for PhD exam
PhD exam
Present PhD proposal in seminar
Submit PhD proposal to advisory committee
Grant proposals
Preparation for dissertation research