Mission Statement

Housed in the Sociocultural Studies Department, Anthropology promotes student success, completion and transfer, and seeks to create lifelong learners who understand and appreciate the significance of culture as a major factor in the lives of humans.

Program Description

The Anthropology program creates a transfer pathway for students who plan to complete a four-year degree at a California State University. Upon completion of an AA-T degree in Anthropology, students will possess the requisite foundational knowledge as well as the practical skills necessary for subsequent completion of the baccalaureate degree. Upon successful completion of the Anthropology program, the student will be able to:

1. Identify and discuss major topics relevant to Physical Anthropology, including human and primate evolution and variation among hominids.
2. Define culture and apply the concept to a broad cross-cultural understanding of human behavior.
3. Examine past cultural systems through analysis of physical cultural remains.
4. Describe and analyze human linguistic systems and the influence of language on human perceptions of the world.

The AA-T degree in Anthropology is a recent development, listed for the first time in the 2014-2015 catalog. Already fifteen students have graduated from this program. Currently, there are fifty-six declared Anthropology majors.

The courses that comprise the AA-T degree are also for Butte and transfer General Education. With almost sixty sections offered each school year, Anthropology serves a significant number of students and meets an array of important General Education and transfer requirements. Most Anthropology courses are dedicated to understanding culture process. One course, ANTH 2 Physical Anthropology, focuses on physical/natural phenomena.

Currently, there is one full-time faculty in the discipline. There are ten associate faculty teaching in the discipline. In Spring 2016, eighty percent of courses offered in Anthropology are taught by associate faculty.

Accountability for Previously Funded Items

Student Learning/Administrative Unit Outcomes

A review of SLO "deep-dive" assessments undertaken in Fall 2014, and of SLO Brief Reflections submitted at the end of the Fall 2015 semester, reveals a few areas where instructors expressed a desire for improvement in student learning:
ANTH 2 - "Better demonstrate the concepts of the scientific process and methodology for understanding the natural world."
ANTH 4 - "Explain the importance of ethnographic method in the study of culture." 
ANTH 14 and 33 - "Most students do well on isolating factual items. Theory, on the other hand, requires thinking, assessing, and interpreting well beyond the facts and is abstract enough to cause students to struggle a bit."
The full group of Anthropology instructors will be presented with these findings at their Spring 2016 SLO Meeting (before the eigth week). Through discussion, appropriate next steps will be identified, and implemented in the Fall 2016 semester.

Standards/Goals for Student Achievement (OSLED Departments)

			College			Program
Indicator	Source	2013-2014 Performance	Standard	Five Year Goal	Fall 2014 Performance	Standard	Five Year Goal
Course Success
-          Overall	PDR	71.1%	70%	73%
-          Transfer/GE	PDR	71.5%		73%	63.3%	60%	68%
-          CTE	PDR	75%		77%
-          Basic Skills	PDR	51.7%		55%
-          Distance Ed (all)	PDR	62.5%		64%
Persistence (Focused).  Note:  The Persistence (Focused) that is included in the PDR is a different indicator than the three-primary term persistence indicator, from the state Student Success Scorecard, that is used to measure institutional persistence.  The Focused Persistence indicator measures the percentage of students that took a second course in a discipline within one year. There is no relationship between the college and program standards in this area.	PDR	72.6%    (Three-Term) Scorecard	67% (Three-Term) Scorecard	75% (Three-Term) Scorecard	21.4%	18%	25%
Degrees	PDR	1,455		1,600	5	3	11
Certificates	PDR	366		475
Developmental Strand Completion
-          English	State	42%	35%	45%
-          Math	State	30.7%	25%	33%
-          ESL	State	25%		28%
Licensure Pass Rates
-          Registered Nursing	SC
-          Licensed Vocational Nursing	SC
-          Respiratory Therapy	SC
-          Paramedic	SC
-          Cosmetology	SC
-          Welding	SC
Job Placement Rates	PIV

                                              The Anthroplogy Department is in compliance with the standard. Anthropology faculty reviewed the Student Achievement Standards data at the January 2016 Institute Night meeting. Two theories that emerged to explain the program's lower than average course success rate were: 1) the lack of course prerequisites since the discipline relies heavily on student skills in reading and critical thinking and, 2) a perceived overabundance of challenged students in courses who drive success rates down (homelessness, emotionally disturbed, low skills, low homework completion were all specifically mentioned). Before any meaningful attempt can be made to improve course success rates, more information is needed on the root causes of Anthropology's lower rate. During the 2016-2017 academic year, the major goal of the program in this area is to identify, and/or rule out, contributing factors. Several Anthropology instructors have expressed an interest in, and ideas for, outreach to declared or prospective majors. With so many students identifying Anthropology as their major in the absence of very visible promotion and stewardship of the program, the group is optimistic that with more effort in this area, the number of degrees in the discipline will increase significantly. In addition to the AA-T, one suggestion voiced to potentially improve success rates and student persistence is to offer some sort of a certificate which students could use to find immediate employment, akin to the new GIS certificate in the Geography program.

Standards/Goals for Student Achievement (All Other Departments)

Strategic Direction

Current efforts in the Anthropology program are classroom centered. Committed to excellence in the teaching of rich and rigorous course content, discipline faculty play a key role in supporting the college to meet this Strategic Direction:

Ensuring that programs provide students with intellectual and analytical skills to effectively contribute to society. (1.c.3)

To support these classroom efforts, in conjunction with GEOG, HIST, and POS faculty, instructors in Anthropology participated in the first two Sociocultural Studies Department Forums. The first forum was held in Spring 2015, and included presentations on Reading Strategies, Helping International Students Succeed, and Tried-and-Test Teaching Ideas. Held in Fall 2015, the second forum included presentations on Helping Student Athletes Succeed, No/Low Cost Textbooks, and Tried-and-Tested Teaching Ideas. Forum topics are "just-in-time" -- meant to help instructors with recent and/or ongoing teaching challenges. The next forum is scheduled for Fall 2016. The SCS Department Forum supports the college mission to meet this Strategic Direction:

Providing just-in-time and scheduled Professional Development opportunities. (2.b.1)

Program Review

Anthropology completed its most recent Program Review in July 2015. The Validation Team provided twelve Recommendations. Due the recency of the last Program Review, there has been limited progress on meeting the Recommendations. Below is an abbreviated version of the Recommendations, with comments.

Hire two additional full-time faculty members in the discipline (one as a replacement hire). One hire should be a Cultural Anthropologist, the other a Physical Anthropologist. *** The program is currently in the middle of the hiring process for one position. Because we are hiring one and not two anthropologists, we are seeking a candidate with the academic training to teach both cultural and physical Anthropology courses.
Ensure compliance with associate faculty evaluation timelines. *** The area dean has offered a stipend payment of $150 per evaluation to full-time faculty who assist the department chair in completing associate faculty evaluations as scheduled. With this additional resource, we expect to be compliant by the end of Spring 2016.
Enhance comprehensive SLO/PLO/GELO analysis and reporting by increasing associate faculty participation. *** Still to be addressed.
Engage in collaborative activities with faculty in other social science and relevant science disciplines. *** Still to be addressed. While important, right now this is a lower priority for the program.
Maintain breadth of course offerings, especially ANTH 14 and 33 (at risk due to Mike Findlay's retirement). *** Currently, we are still able to offer these two courses because Mike Findlay has made himself available as an associate faculty. However, the prospect for continuing to offer these two courses long-term is uncertain.
Encourage Administration to approve/adopt the policies and procedures of Archaeology collections. *** Still to be addressed.
Enhance the relationship with Chico State. *** Still to be addressed.
Provide opportunities for student learning experiences outside of the classroom (field trips, Chico State events, student club activities, etc.) *** Still to be addressed.
Lower pedagogical caps in Anthropology courses to encourage the sue of more student-centered instructions. *** Still to be addressed. This would be ideal, but likely would be exceedingly difficult if not impossible to achieve. Right now, this is a lower priority for the program.
Increase the program budget for travel and conference, and media and databases. *** Still to be addressed. Right now, this is a lower priority for the program.
Advocate with Professional Development to change the policy that currently limits to 50% (75% with dean approval) the FLEX hours awarded for Individual Activity Contracts. *** Still to be addressed. Right now, this is a lower priority for the program.
Explore the viability of a multidisciplinary Certificate in Museum Studies. *** Still to be addressed.

Department Goals

Anthropology has identified the following goals for the 2016-2017 academic year:

Enhance comprehensive SLO/PLO/GELO analysis and reporting by increasing associate faculty participation.
Identify root causes of Anthropology's lower than average course success rate or, at least rule out possible causes. This will help us to identify remedies and make progress toward our five-year goal.
Develop and sustain a well-defined program to guide and support students who have declared or who are considering a major in Anthropology.

Future Development Strategies

Requested Non-Financial Resources

Current Financial Resources