City University of New York

The CUNY graduate faculty is itself a consortium system, with each faculty member based at one of four 4-year colleges or the medical school. The CUNY Ph.D. Program in Anthropology is based at the CUNY Graduate Center, on Fifth Avenue at 34th street. In addition to seven physical anthropologists (Delson, Laitman, Oates, Plummer, Stefan, Stinson, and Swedell), there are 20+ cultural anthropologists, 9 archeologists and 3 linguistic anthropologists on the anthropology graduate faculty. Laitman is also a core faculty member of the Biomedical Sciences Ph.D. program. Four additional physical anthropologists (R. Delgado, K. Pechenkina, A. Rosenberger and M. Steiper) have recently joined the staffs of several CUNY colleges; they are now NYCEP core faculty and are expected to become CUNY graduate faculty members soon. Three other CUNY NYCEP faculty members (Rockwell, Terranova and Wahlert) are based in the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Subprogram of the Biological Sciences Ph.D. program (Delson and Oates are members of that subprogram as well, and Delson is also affiliated with the Earth and Environmental Sciences program). Of about 150 CUNY Anthropology graduate students, 27 are physical anthropologists. CUNY doctoral faculty are engaged in research in such diverse areas as systematics and paleontology (from primate evolution to lifeways of Pleistocene humans); primate ecology, behavior and conservation (with active field programs in several countries); and human adaptation, osteology and forensic anthropoogy.

The CUNY graduate program requirements for the Ph.D. include 60 credits of course work, with most courses earning 3 credits. Students take a 6-hour comprehensive written examination (the First Exam) in all areas of physical anthropology, generally after three terms in the program. The three NYCEP core courses provide basic preparation for this exam, which is also dependent upon advanced courses taken by each student. Required courses include statistics, a foreign language, and a course in each of the other three subdisciplines of anthropology; the latter may be waived on the basis of prior course preparation. Usually during the third year, the student prepares for an oral examination (the Second Exam) covering one broader and one narrower area of specialization within physical anthropology and a defense of the dissertation proposal.

CUNY facilities are distributed among the colleges and the Graduate Center. The 34th Street site has been recently renovated for university use; the building also houses the science and technology collection of the New York Public Library. The Graduate Center has extensive microcomputer facilities, and the Anthropology area includes a Physical Anthropology teaching and research room.

Hunter College, with three NYCEP faculty members (Delgado, Oates, and Steiper), is one of the central foci for CUNY students. A new GIS installation is being developed which will link with new NYCEP facilities at WCS and Columbia. In addition, Steiper is developing an anthropological genetics research laboratory, and Delgado is establishing a primate communication lab for acoustic analyses of non-human primate vocalizations and human language.

Delson, Stefan and Swartz are based at Lehman College, where Stefan has an osteology lab and forensics reference collection and Swartz a primate cognition facility. A portable laser surface scanner based at Lehman will complement the fixed facilities at AMNH and Brooklyn. Delson teaches graduate courses mainly at AMNH, where he also undertakes his research, as one of several NYCEP Research Associates. His office/lab houses an extensive collection of fossil primate casts and literature available for student use. Through him, NYCEP students obtain access to the many AMNH facilities discussed on the AMNH page, such as the library, research space, and computers.

Queens College is the base for Pechenkina, Plummer, Stinson, and Swedell. Its biological anthropology facilities include extensive osteological teaching and reference collections. In addition to several computer workstations for NYCEP student use, a GIS facility and a vocalization analysis system are being developed.

Rosenberger is based at Brooklyn College, where he is installing a fixed laser surface scanner designed for imaging small specimens and developing a forensic osteology lab.

Rockwell and Wahlert, based at City College (Biology) and Baruch College (Natural Science), respectively, are also AMNH Research Associates and normally meet students there.

Finally, Terranova is in the Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Sciences (the CUNY Medical School), located at City College, while Laitman directs the Center for Anatomy and Functional Morphology at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine (mainly associated with NYU).

Links:

CUNY Graduate Center Home Page
CUNY Graduate Program Department of Anthropology
Baruch College Department of Natural Sciences
Brooklyn College Department of Anthropology and Archaeology
City College Department of Biology
Hunter College Department of Anthropology
Lehman College Department of Anthropology
Queens College Department of Anthropology
Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Sciences