THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT ASHEVILLE

                                                               FACULTY SENATE

Senate Document Number     7008S

Date of Senate Approval     04/24/08

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Statement of Faculty Senate Action:

APC Document 62:                               Change requirements for Concentration in Anthropology

Effective Date: Fall 2008

1.         Delete:  On page 233, under Concentration in Anthropology, item I:

1. Required courses in the major—36 hours including: ANTH 100, 225, 336, 455, 465; SOC 310, 420; 15 additional hours in Anthropology or Sociology, at least 9 of which must be in Anthropology. Nine of the 15 hours must be at the 300-400 level.

Add:           On page 233, in place of deleted entry:

1. Required courses in the major—36 hours including ANTH 100, 225, 455, 465, SOC 420; one course from ANTH 336 or SOC 337. 18 additional hours in Anthropology or Sociology, at least 12 of which must be in Anthropology. Twelve of the 18 hours must be at the 300-400 level.

Impact:
The deletion of SOC 310 will not reduce the total number of required credit hours in the major (still at 36). Instead of taking 310, students will take an additional departmental elective. 

Rationale:
SOC 310 is the department’s second theory course. SOC 225 is a substantial theory course, and requiring both contributes to redundancy. In addition, dropping SOC 310 as a required course will allow the students with a strong Anthropological interest to benefit from taking an additional Anthropology elective instead of a Sociology requirement.

1. Delete: On page 233, under Concentration in Anthropology, item III.

1. Other department requirements—A grade of C or better in SOC 455 and 465 satisfies the senior demonstration of competency, oral competency, and computer competency requirements.

            Add:     On page 233, in place of deleted entry:

1. Other department requirement—Completing ANTH 455 with a grade of C or better satisfies the senior demonstration of competency, oral competency, and computer competency requirements.

Impact:
Students will now demonstrate senior competency in ANTH 455. Under the old curriculum, students began their project in 455 and finished it in 465.

Rationale:
This change streamlines the curriculum. Students frequently struggled to finish their projects in 465 because the two-course sequence contributed to procrastination and the impression that they had more time than they actually did. Moreover, in the past, 465 brought together Sociology and Anthropology students, and the department’s experience is that Sociology and Anthropology students often proceed and work at a different pace. Undoubtedly, this difference is in part a reflection of different methodologies, ethnographic in the case of Anthropology and, often, quantitative in the case of Sociology. This difference makes it difficult for faculty who taught 465 to “bring it together”, not just in terms of making sure that students finish their projects, but also in assuring that 465 functions as a truly capstone course that affords students a bigger picture of what their project contributes to, rather than being a course in which they are so preoccupied in finishing their project that they literally have little or no time to see the world in sociological or anthropological perspective.