Anthropology provides insight into the biological and cultural evolutionary background and offers a holistic view of how the economic, social, political, and religious systems relate to one another. It helps us reflect on social systems, on the interrelationships between individuals and societies, and on the reasons for the development of thoughts and feelings that can promote connection or conflict across social and cultural groups. 

The department's resources include well-equipped laboratories for archaeology, biological anthropology, and linguistic anthropology. 

The department maintains its own collections of Midwest prehistoric and historic fauna materials and has a documented human skeleton collection originally developed by Stanford University Medical School. It also has access to the Iowa Archaeological Collection through the Office of the State Archeologist, which is located on the Iowa campus. 

The BA program provides a comprehensive overview of anthropology’s four subfields and a cross-cultural perspective on human experience. Students are encouraged to gain hands-on experience by participating in field schools, assisting faculty with research, and taking independent study courses of interest in addition to the basic requirements for the major.