The program includes two tracks: Evolutionary Anthropology and Critical Interventions in Theory and Ethnography (CITE), a cultural anthropology program.

Requirements for the Ph.D. program include 48 approved course credits and 24 research credits. Within the 48 credits, all students in Evolutionary Anthropology must take16:070:502 Proseminar in Anthropology, 01:960:401 Basic Statistics for Research (or an equivalent), and either 16:070:508 Evolutionary Theory and Processes or 16:070:560 Natural Selection and Social Theory. Students in CITE must take 16:070:505 History of Anthropological Theory, 16:070:506 Research Design and Methods in Social/Cultural Anthropology, and 16:070:514 Language as Social Action. CITE students interested in critical environmental studies are also advised to take 16:070:543 Ecological Anthropology, 16:070:544 Environmental Anthropology in a Changing World, and 16:070:526 Urban Ethnography. Such students are also strongly encouraged to meet the requirements of the interdisciplinary Certificate Program in Human Dimensions of Environmental Change.

All second-year students are required to present a scholarly paper at a daylong retreat. Ph.D. students also are required to prepare three "field statements," textual summaries with extensive bibliographies that are state-of-the-art literature reviews and analyses in three areas of research broader than, but related to, their dissertation topic. After completing their 48 credits of coursework and their field statements, students prepare a dissertation research proposal on which they must pass an oral-proposal defense. When the dissertation is completed, it is evaluated in an oral-dissertation defense.

Students who enter the Ph.D. program may earn an M.A. along the way by applying for one after completion of at least 30 credits and completion of the three field statements. Students who enter the master's program are expected to take the same required courses listed above for the Ph.D. program. They may either complete a written comprehensive exam after 30 credits, or write a 6-credit master's thesis (with an oral exam) after 24 credits of coursework. Students who enter the master's program may then apply to enter the Ph.D. program.

Students are urged to complete their Ph.D. within five years. While there is no formal fieldwork requirement, most students find fieldwork necessary for a doctoral degree. There is no specific language requirement, but students are expected to acquire any languages necessary for successful completion of their field and/or library research. There is no residency requirement.

Selected courses may be taken in other programs, such as geological sciences, history, political science, women's and gender studies, psychology, sociology, urban planning, ecology, nutrition, geography, and computer science.