Anthropology is the study of humans, both past and present. Anthropologists seek answers to several fundamental questions, such as: how did our kind evolve? what shapes our lives as creative and social animals? and, what can be done to improve how we live? These simple questions raise thousands of more detailed questions about the dynamic relationships between the world we live in, our own biology, our social relationships, and the ways we communicate.

The subject is so complex that anthropologists divide the work among four sub-fields: archaeology, biological anthropology, cultural anthropology, and linguistic anthropology.

The Department of Anthropology at Boise State University offers a wide range of exciting courses in each of these subfields. By taking anthropology courses students broaden their familiarity with diverse ways of human life, both in the past and in the present.

The department offers both an undergraduate and a graduate degree program.

The anthropology faculty at Boise State are active scholars, committed to adherence to the highest standards of scholarly inquiry and to furthering anthropological knowledge through first-rate research and teaching. They are the recipients of numerous awards and grants, are widely published, and act as public intellectuals, engaging questions of pressing concern in the public sphere.