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Graduate Program
We are very pleased that you are interested in our Anthropology Graduate Program. We have an exciting program which is based on two decades of offering a nationally recognized MA Degree. We have over 35 graduate students currently enrolled and have graduates in positions across the nation: in government agencies, with private contract companies, in teaching positions at small or community colleges, and in Ph.D. programs with good financial support.
We are a research-oriented department associated with several museums, the Blackwater Locality #1 Paleo-Indian Site (a National Register site), and the Agency for Conservation Archaeology (ACA). We offer a Master of Arts degree which requires all students to complete a thesis, maintain a cumulative grade point average of 3.0, and pass candidancy exams before submission of the thesis prospectus. It requires 36 hours which includes some required classes, and elective classes, as well as comprehensive exams, and successful completion of defense of the thesis. If you do not have an undergraduate degree in anthropology, you may be required to take some leveling courses. (Please check the graduate catalog and the Graduate School web site for details and other admission requirements.)
Our MA program offers a general anthropology background. A strong emphasis on archaeology is available. We have had students complete theses in the four areas of anthropology, but most students specialize in archaeology or ethnology. Most of our faculty and staff have experience in archaeology, but several also do research in both cultural and physical anthropology. Most of our classes are small and there are many opportunities for direct contact and work with instructors. We also have a fine library, a student microcomputer lab, departmental computers, computer mapping instruments, Scanning Electron Microscope, and other labs and teaching aids.
Our graduate students have opportunities to receive credit while working on research projects, in the museums and laboratories, and with ACA. We offer several graduate assistantships which provide experience in the classrooms, on research projects, at museums and also at the Blackwater Draw site. Work study positions, work fellowships, scholarships and other positions are also available. Individuals with archaeological field experience may also find work with ACA. The application for assistantship must be returned the semester before you plan to enter the program.
The Graduate School offers several fellowships which are available to certain classes of students. These are good fellowships and you are encouraged to check with the Graduate School about qualifications and to complete the applications if you are eligible.
Eastern has an attractive, relatively new campus, well-landscaped to create an inviting and refreshing "oasis" on the Southern High Plains. We have approximately 3600 students with both on and off-campus housing available. Albuquerque and Santa Fe (and the mountains for skiing) are approximately 4 hours away by car and Amarillo and Lubbock, Texas, are 2-3 hours. New Mexico is a natural laboratory for anthropologists with its diverse cultures and its prehistoric sites, and we make use of these resources through field trips and research projects.
Portales is a relatively small town. The people are friendly and considerate. There is very little crime and the cost of living is relatively low (i.e., off-campus furnished two-bedroom houses average $250.00 a month). The climate is characterized by relatively mild winters (it will snow, but melts in a few days), sunny breezy springs, and warm-hot summers with occasional thunderstorms. You can get by without an automobile if you choose, for virtually everything in town is within 20 minutes walking time and it is flat, which makes for easy walking or biking.
