Now on its own, the Department of Anthropology is getting high marks from faculty and students.
Before this year, students could major in anthropology, but the major was part of a joint Department of Sociology and Anthropology. The two departments are now separate and each has a chairperson.
"Both the sociology and anthropology professors thought it was high time we separate departments," Anthropology Chair Rosalind Shaw said.
At department meetings before the split, Shaw said, professors had to wait while faculty from the other major discussed proposals irrelevant to their department's goals.
"It enables us to make much more direct representation of our needs to the administration," Shaw said. As chair of the new department, she can now attend meetings with other department chairs. Previously no anthropology professor was necessarily represented.
The departments "had been combined many years ago, somewhat arbitrarily, as an economy, since both were small," Dean of Academic Affairs Kevin Dunn said. "It certainly seems as though the ambitions have grown as they focus on their own agendas. That energy will certainly benefit students in both departments."
According to the 2004-2005 Fact Book, published by Institutional Research, there were 11 graduating seniors majoring in anthropology in 2004, the last year available. There were 23 in sociology.
Junior anthropology major Sebastian Chaskel said the split is good for students. "If it means professors having more time to devote to anthropology, that's great," he said. "I haven't noticed changes yet but I think it's very exciting."
Shaw also said the change will bolster the reputation of the major. "Having our own department does give more legitimacy," she said.
Both Shaw and Chaskel said they take pride in the major's focus on public anthropology.
In his Public Anthropology class, Chaskel recorded the oral history of Latinos in Somerville. "I got to take peoples' stories, put them in a little book and give it back to them," he said.
Shaw said public anthropology gives students a unique chance to connect with the community in which they live.
"Most students live in Somerville, but don't know much about it," Chaskel said. "Students aren't just studying the community but working with it."
President of the Tufts Anthropology Collective senior Molly Whittington said the department lets undergraduates perform and present research. Last winter, the department accepted student input during the interview process for a new professor.
"The department is really good about involving students," she said.
