Anthropology
What Will I Learn?
As a student studying Anthropology at Heartland Community College, you will study human beings, from their common origins as hominids to their vast capacity for cultural diversity, stressing the culturally conditioned behaviors that are unique to their adaptive mechanisms. The holistic approach and the comparative method are used to reveal deep underlying cultural universals and to observe the many diverse ways of implementing these universals in different societies, both ancient and modern. Study will also cover culture of groups in settings that vary from non-industrial societies to modern urban centers.
Anthropology teaches a variety of skills that can be useful outside the college setting such as attention to details, careful record keeping, analytical reading, critical thinking, social ease in strange situations, and strong skill in oral and written expressions. It provides a good complement to business courses, foreign language student, technical training, fine arts, etc.
What Is The Occupational Outlook?
Anthropologists and archaeologists will see the majority of their employment growth in the management, scientific, and technical consulting services industry. Anthropologists who work as consultants often apply anthropological knowledge and methods to problems ranging from economic development issues to forensics. Anthropologists may travel to remote areas, live among the people they study, learn their languages, and stay for long periods at the site of their investigations. They may work under rugged conditions, and their work may involve strenuous physical exertion.
In 2006 in the State of Illinois, median annual wage earnings for anthropologists and archaeologists were $76,486. 1
What Are My Options?
The Associates Degree with emphasis in Anthropology is designed for students planning to complete the first two years of study leading to a baccalaureate degree and major in anthropology at a four-year college or university.
- Department of Employment Security, State of Illinois, Wage Data 2007, on the Internet at http://lmi.ides.state.il.us/PDFs/statewidewage_pub.pdf (visited June 21, 2007)
