Advising

The Anthropology Department emphasizes personalized advising and mentoring tailored to different stages in student’s progress in the concentration and academic and career goals.

  • Undergraduate Office
  • Faculty Advising
  • Writing Tutor
  • Peer Concentration Advisors

The Director of Undergraduate Studies has overall responsibility for the academic progress of undergraduates and, along with the Assistant Director of Undergraduate Studies, is available for general academic and administrative advising. In 2023-24, they are respectively Prof. Gabriella Coleman and Dr. Damina Khaira.

The Undergraduate Program Coordinator provides day-to-day advising to current and prospective students and assists students with:

  • Declaring a concentration or secondary
  • Reviewing College and departmental requirements
  • Information on course offerings
  • Funding and internship opportunities
  • General administrative matters (Add/Drop; graduation issues)
  • Connecting to other campus offices
  • Honors program and thesis writing
  • Study abroad

The Undergraduate Program Office is located on the first floor in the Tozzer Anthropology Building, 21 Divinity Avenue.

Faculty Advising

Given the high ratio of faculty to students and emphasis on seminars and a strong tutorial system, students have many opportunities to work and develop research skills with faculty. Starting in the fall of junior year concentrators often begin to work more closely with individual faculty, senior graduate students, and Peabody Museum staff on research projects in their tutorials, sometimes culminating in a senior honors thesis. Choice of a faculty adviser depends largely upon the academic and research interests of the student.

Peer Concentration Advisors

Peer Concentration Advisors are Anthropology concentrators available to talk to you about navigating your way through the concentration, from whether to concentrate (or pursue a secondary field) in Anthropology to what courses to take.

Departmental Writing Fellow

The DWF is available to assist concentrators and students enrolled in Anthropology courses who would like help with their academic writing, including coursework (response papers, essays, research papers) and grant/internship proposals. The DWF also holds periodic writing workshops and works closely with students in the Junior and Senior Tutorials on the conventions of anthropological writing in the formulation of their research projects. 

Anthrowrites

AnthroWrites is a joint venture of the Department of Anthropology, the Harvard College Writing Program, and the Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning. The site is designed to assist Anthropology concentrators with their transition to the study of Social Anthropology and Archaeology, and to acquaint them with the norms, expectations, of their department specifically in regard to writing.