Exceptional students currently enrolled in an undergraduate degree program at the University of Alabama at Birmingham may apply for an accelerated path to the completion of an accompanying master’s degree in the Anthropology of Peace and Human Rights (APHR). A successful graduate of the Accelerated Bachelor's/Master's Program (ABM) will earn both a bachelor's degree and a master's degree in in an accelerated time period compared to the independent completion of the two degrees. This is an option for all Bachelor’s degrees at UAB. Participants in this program are not required to major in Anthropology.
Accelerated Bachelor's/Master's students become eligible to apply for a competitive Graduate Teaching Assistant position once they complete their undergraduate degree and begin their first and final year of the master's program.
How It Works
To accelerate progress through a master's degree in the Anthropology of Peace and Human Rights, up to 12 credit hours may be counted towards both the completion of the undergraduate degree and the graduate degree.
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Admissions
The Accelerated Bachelor’s/ Master’s Program is for exceptional students. The accepted student will have:
- A 3.5 UAB GPA
- A minimum of 60 credit hours (at least 36 of these credit hours must have been taken at UAB)
- Completed or be enrolled in a minimum of two non-core Anthropology courses
- Completed or be enrolled in the following introductory courses (they also satisfy BlazerCore requirements):
- ANTH 104 Introduction to Peace Studies (Core area: Reasoning),
- Three of the four:
- ANTH 101 Introduction to Cultural Anthropology (Core area: Humans and their Societies)
- ANTH 102 Introduction to Biological Anthropology (Core Area: Scientific Inquiry)
- ANTH 106 Introducing Archaeology (Core Area: History and Meaning)
- ANTH 120 Language & Culture (Core area: Humans and their Societies)
Before applying to the ABM, the student must meet with their Anthropology undergraduate advisor, the Anthropology graduate advisor, and with a financial aid officer.
Students will submit an ABM application through the UAB Graduate School’s online portal. Students must submit their completed ABM shared credit form, two letters of reference, and a personal statement. The UAB Graduate School will assist the student with acquiring their official transcripts. All applications will be reviewed by an ABM committee, to be chaired by the graduate program director. Acceptance and rejection decisions will be made by this committee.
Upon acceptance into the ABM program, the student will meet with the Graduate School to create a tentative personalized plan of study, building on the student’s transcripts, research interests, and future career goals. The student will meet with their undergraduate advisor and the graduate program director or graduate advisor to finalize this personalized plan of study. The plan may be revised over time with the approval of the graduate program director, and the graduate and undergraduate advisors. The plan must be adhered to while in the APHR ABM program to guarantee students’ continued participation in the APHR ABM.
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Maintaining ABM status
To maintain status in the Bachelor’s/APHR ABM, the student must:
- Maintain a cumulative GPA of 3.25 or higher in all graduate and undergraduate coursework
- Earn at least a B (or higher) in all ANTH courses
If a student fails to meet these requirements, they will be withdrawn from the ABM program. If a student is withdrawn or chooses to withdraw from the ABM program before completion, they can retain credit for the courses taken and use those credits toward their Bachelor’s degree but they will not earn an APHR MA degree.
Once the undergraduate has completed all course requirements for graduation, their undergraduate degree will be awarded. Once the student graduates from a bachelor’s degree program, they enter the Anthropology of Peace and Human Rights MA program as a regular graduate student and must maintain the requirements of that program. Tuition is then charged at the graduate rate.
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Coursework
Through the APHR ABM, students can take courses that count simultaneously toward their undergraduate and graduate programs. An APHR ABM student is approved to take up to 12 hours of 500 or 600-level graduate courses that will count towards both the Bachelor’s and graduate degrees. Unless there are extenuating circumstances, students should plan to take ANTH 504, 505, and 509 as part of the ABM, since they are required entry-level courses for the APHR MA degree. Additional courses will be decided in the personalized plan of study in consultation with the graduate program director.
The Anthropology Department offers two tracks. Plan I – 36 hours with Thesis or Plan II – 36 hours (non-thesis option). While full-time non-thesis students will be able to complete their degrees in five years, full-time ABM students who wish to write a thesis (Plan I students) may take longer than five years to complete their degrees.
Expected ABM classes
ANTH 504
Foundations in Anthropology
ANTH 505
Anthropology of Peace and Human Rights
ANTH 509
Methods in Peace & Human Rights Research Practice
For Anthropology majors: ANTH 504 Foundations in Anthropology or ANTH 505 Peace & Human Rights may be substituted for the undergraduate requirement for a Theory class. ANTH 509 Methods in Peace & Human Rights Research & Practice may be substituted for the undergraduate requirement for a Methods class.
ABM students in APHR can use any 500/600 level Anthropology courses towards their departmental elective hours for the B.A. in Anthropology. Graduate research credits cannot be shared with a student's undergraduate degree.
Many graduate courses are cross-listed with 400-level undergraduate courses. Because of this, students are not permitted to enroll in the graduate-level version of a course if they already completed the 400-level version.