Course requirements for this concentration include: one introductory and two or more advanced courses and/or tutorials in at least three social science disciplines. This would mean a minimum of nine courses or tutorials in the social sciences.

The anthropology program at New College seeks to impart a broad perspective on past and present peoples and cultures around the world through study of the methods and materials of the discipline. Through required course work, students develop a solid knowledge of the scope and objectives of cultural anthropology and archaeology, and of at least one other subdiscipline (biological anthropology and/or linguistics). They also acquire in-depth critical knowledge of the theory and methods of anthropology. Students are encouraged to participate in fieldwork, and develop their research skills and a critical perspective through the completion of a senior research project, conducted under the supervision of a faculty member in the program.

Students and faculty have cooperated in projects ranging from archaeological digs in Central America and the Middle East to active planning for the homeless in Sarasota, from critiques of sexism in human evolutionary models to studies of the creolization process in Black English Vernacular. Theory and practice go hand-in-hand as students develop their understanding of the world and share this with fieldworkers, academics, and planners outside the New College community.

Anthropology is a quintessentially interdisciplinary field of study. A concentration in anthropology begins with work in the four major subfields of the discipline: cultural anthropology, archaeology, biological anthropology, and linguistics. As students proceed, their work in specialized theoretical and area courses is complemented by work in languages, other social sciences, natural sciences, and humanities; combined areas of study range from anthropology and literature to anthropology and biology.

Intermediate/advanced courses and tutorials are offered in the history of anthropological theory, method and theory in archaeology, myth and ritual, ecological anthropology, urban anthropology, historical archaeology, human origins, primate behavior, anthropology and literature, and ethnographic methods.

Area courses focus on Old World, Middle Eastern, Mesoamerican, and Andean prehistory; and on contemporary cultures of the United States, the Middle East, and Middle America. Students wishing to focus on the prehistory and ethnography of other regions of the world may do so through tutorials.

Facilities. The Hal C. Ball Anthropology Laboratory and Seminar room houses a 2,000-volume library on Mesoamerican anthropology. It also contains a collection of anthropology texts and manuals, a series of hominid and primate skulls, a slide collection, an oral history archive, audio-visual and photographic equipment, and a computer workstation for student use.

Internships and Fieldwork Opportunities. Anthropology majors are strongly encouraged to do fieldwork and internships. Many use these experiences to gather data for their senior theses.

Museology Internships. Museology internships are available in conjunction with the local museums. These internships take place as semester-long tutorials, or as January or summer Independent Study Projects.

Fieldwork. The anthropology faculty provide students with advice on locating field schools and anthropological projects worldwide, or assist them in planning their own fieldwork. Past students have participated in archaeological projects in many parts of the United States, Mexico, Central America, Peru, Europe, Israel, Kenya, and India. Others have conducted cultural research in various parts of the United States, Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, Ecuador, Spain, Ireland, and India. The program has also sponsored several field projects in cultural anthropology and archaeology in the Sarasota area.

Funding for Fieldwork. The anthropology program has limited funding for student travel and research through the Anthropology Endowment Fund and the Bertram H. White Awards. Additional sources of funding for student research are available through the New College Foundation and the New College Alumnae/i Association. Students planning fieldwork in Israel may also apply to the Jewish Federation of Sarasota/Manatee Counties, among other sources.

Training for Research. Anthropology majors are required to take courses on the History of Anthropological Theory, and Method and Theory in Archaeology. In addition, students specializing in socio-cultural anthropology must take a field methods course, Ethnography: Theory and Practice. Students specializing in archaeology generally begin their fieldwork by attending a field school somewhere in the United States. Two popular programs are the summer programs run by the University of South Florida and the University of Arizona.

In addition to the above course work, anthropology majors are required to have training in a foreign language, and a course in statistics is recommended for those planning to attend graduate school.

Anthropology students apply their research training in the preparation of the senior project and thesis, which calls for an integration of data (often gathered in the field) with relevant bodies of anthropological theory. Most theses are equivalent to M.A. theses, and often yield publishable results.

Minimal requirements for a full Area of Concentration in anthropology:

1. Cultural Anthropology:
   Cultural Anthropology (or equivalent introductory course)
   History of Anthropological Theory
   One upper level area or thematic course
   For cultural subfield majors: Ethnography: Theory and Practice and one or more additional courses and/or tutorials in cultural anthropology or related subjects approved by advisor.
    
2. Archaeology:
   Survey of Archaeology (or equivalent introductory course)
   Method and Theory in Archaeology
   One upper level area or thematic course
   For archaeology subfield majors: one or more additional courses and/or tutorials in Archaeology or related subjects approved by advisor.
    
3. Physical Anthropology and Linguistics:
   All majors are required to take an introductory course in at least one of these subfields. Students planning to attend graduate school are strongly advised to take introductory courses in both fields. Students wishing to major in these subfields should work out a plan of study with their advisor.
4. Foreign Language Competence:
   Intermediate level competence, or two years of college-level instruction.
5. Senior Project/Thesis:
   Thesis Tutorial and demonstration of knowledge of methodology employed in senior project.
6. Fieldwork is also strongly recommended for majors planning to attend graduate school.

• Introduction to Economic Analysis
• Introductory Macroeconomics
• Intermediate Microeconomic Theory
• Intermediate Macroeconomics
• Mathematical Tools for Economists (or equivalent calculus course)
• Statistics (or equivalent)

• What Is To Be Done? The Question of Transforming the Russian Economy

• Alternatives to the Income Tax: A Tax on Consumption

• An Economic and Legal Analysis of Copyright Protection for the Computer User Interface

• Economics of a Successful Monopoly: DeBeers Diamond Consolidated Mines Ltd.

• The Effects of EEC's Agricultural Policies on Lesser Developed Countries

• Selecting An Intermediate Target for Monetary Policy

• Collective Rationality and Social Change

• Economic Examination of Illicit Markets for Cocaine and Marijuana

• Sea Level Rise in Southwest Florida: An Economic Benefit-Cost Analysis of Policy Alternatives

• Empire of the Mouse: A Microeconomic Analysis of Disney's Adaptive Pricing and Marketing Strategies

• Sustainable Management of Renewable Resources: A Matter of Intergenerational Equity

• Foundations of Bounded Rationality: Heuristics and Algorithms

• Cooperation in an Investment-Opportunity Prisoner's Dilemma: Framing or Gender?

History offers an effective focus for a good liberal arts education, for it underpins the other disciplines by clarifying a large portion of the human record.  Its study sharpens both one's analytical powers and one's verbal skills.  Some New College students pursue history at the graduate level; others consider it a base for the study of law; still other history graduates become politicians, diplomats, or corporate executives.

In addition:  1)  It is recommended that the student develop a thematic specialty following some broad strand such as intellectual, social/cultural, or diplomatic history through the major periods, a specialty that will ordinarily provide additional background for the thesis.  2)  Knowledge of one major foreign language is strongly encouraged, as is at least a semester of study in Europe for those with a senior thesis on a European topic.  It is strongly recommended that students planning graduate work in history take two foreign languages.

Representative senior theses in history:

• The Rise of Radio News Correspondent

• Hitler:  A Nietzschean Hero?

• Early Jewish Apocalypticism

• Erasmus as Educator

• A Costly Place in a Scorching Sun: The German Colonial Empire in Africa

• “That Skin Which Gives Perpetual Protection”:  Working Class Whiteness in Tampa, Florida, 1919-1931

Labs in Developmental, Cognitive, Social, and Clinical Psychology; Animal Behavior; and Sensation and Perception

Requirements:  For an Area of Concentration in psychology, eight specific courses are required (listed below).  In addition, at least two advanced-level courses in psychology and the Psychology Senior Seminar are required to complete the Area of Concentration.

1. Introductory Psychology:  A general overview, providing students with background in the diverse areas available for study in the field.  The course is a prerequisite for most other psychology courses.
    

2. Statistics:  provides the knowledge necessary to understand the experimental literature in psychology.
    

3. Research Methods: develops the skills necessary to design, execute, and report empirical research.

 Four of the five following courses must be taken:

8. A laboratory course:  Labs are taught in Abnormal, Cognitive, Development, and Social Psychology; Animal Behavior; and Sensation and Perception.  Laboratories in the Natural Sciences Division are offered in conjunction with Neurobiology, Neuroanatomy, and Brain, Behavior, and Evolution.

+ Psychology Senior Seminar: normally completed as part of the student’s final two contracts.

Joint Disciplinary Area of Concentration in Psychology:  The requirements for the "slash" AOC in psych are 7 classes, including one modular "mini" lab

    1.     Introductory Psychology
    2.     Statistics
    3.     Research Methods
    4-6.  Three of the five following courses must be taken:
                Abnormal, Developmental, Social, Cognitive, Biological Psychology
    7.     ONE advanced-level Psychology course or tutorial (must be full term or
            equivalent activity)

+ A "mini" laboratory course:  One mod of a designated "mini" lab (e.g., can be met with the advanced elective if so designated; Animal Language Research and Language Development often carry this designation; see professors for possibilities)

In order to provide some breadth and perspective, psychology students are encouraged to take courses in other disciplines that will complement their programs.  Recommended courses include those from the general areas of philosophy, mathematics, computer science, biology, physics, anthropology, sociology, political science, and religion.

Recent senior thesis titles:

• Gender Effects in Face-to-Face Computer-Mediated Communication

• Attractiveness Bias in Children's Perceptions of Adults

• Serial Position Learning in Honeybees

• Recovery From Rape-Related Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

• Synchrony Between a Mother-Calf Pair of Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops truncatus)

• Rhythm Discrimination in the Bottlenose Dolphin

• The Strong and the Silent: Young Men and Emotional Intimacy |

• Basic Husbandry Training of Two West Indian Manatees (Trichechus manatus latirostris)

• Exploring the Influence of Language on Pitch Perception: The Tritone Paradox in Spanish-Speaking, English-Speaking and Bilingual Populations

The discipline of sociology encompasses a broad terrain of sub-fields and specialties exploring various aspects of the social world.  At the center is an interest in developing a systematic and theoretically informed understanding of the patterns, tendencies, and possibilities that characterize contemporary social life.  Although we are often unaware of its influences on us, the social world structures our opportunities, shapes our aspirations, and provides the stage for our actions.  As individuals, we are both sustained and constrained by the web of social relations in which our lives are embedded.  Even our perceptions are affected by the way we are situated in the social world, and by our participation in the construction of social reality.

We don't live in "society" in the abstract, of course, but in a particular society with particular characteristics and a specific history.  What kind of society do we live in?  What are its distinctive characteristics and problems?  Where is it headed?  Sociological analyses illuminate the effects of social interactions, structures, institutions, and processes on the character and quality of our lives.  As part of a liberal arts education, sociology offers theories and research relevant to our ability both to make sense of our circumstances as individuals in contemporary society, and to act efficaciously and constructively in shaping the modern world.

At New College, courses in sociology draw on a range of theoretical perspectives and research traditions.  Key themes and topics include: the causes and consequences of particular distributions of power, wealth, and prestige; the significance of class, ethnic, and gender differences in modern societies; social organization at the level of small groups, complex organizations, and whole societies; the sociology of development; the organization of work; cultural production and consumption in both popular and elite arts; the processes of face-to-face social interaction; socialization and social construction; the social production of the urban environment.

A student majoring in sociology is required to acquire competence in content knowledge, written and oral communication skills and critical thinking skills.  These are gained by mastering the fundamental tools of the discipline: theory, research methods, and statistical analysis.  These tools equip students to pursue interests in more specialized topics.  Students are also required to take courses in both microsociology (social interaction in small groups, socialization and the family, etc.), and macrosociology (large-scale social change, organizations, etc.).  Independent study projects, group research projects, and off-campus contracts provide important opportunities to gain direct experience of social issues explored in courses and tutorials.  Students are encouraged to do field research, particularly in the local community.

One might expect to find the following sociology courses on a regular basis: Introductory Sociology, Sociological Research Methods, Social Theory, Race and Ethnicity, Popular Culture and Mass Media, Urban Sociology, Work Organization and Its Alternatives, Social Influence, and Social Psychology.  To some extent, courses, tutorials, and independent projects will change in accordance with current student and faculty interests.  Recent group projects include the Sarasota Area Project, an on-going research group focusing on the relationship between social life and the built environment locally, and, at the community's invitation, an oral history of a small African American community in the southern part of Sarasota County.

Representative senior theses in sociology:

• The Deskilling of Labor in the Boat Building Industry

• The Social Organization of a Ballet Company

• Symbolic Interactionism and the Sociology of Knowledge

• The Social Construction of Gender 

• The Effect of Playground Design on Children's Play

• The Juvenile Justice System in Gulfville

• Democracy at a Discount: A Case Study of the Public Interest Research Groups and the Fund for Public Interest Research.

• Urban Homesteaders or 'Self-Styled Anarchists'?:  Competing Interpretations of Squatting in New York City.

• Urban Homesteaders or 'Self-Styled Anarchists'?:  Competing Interpretations of Squatting in New York City.