The Anthropology Department will begin accepting applications for a new Ph.D. program in the fall, expanding the discipline’s scope as other universities’ anthropology departments face cutbacks.

Richard Grinker, a professor of anthropology and international affairs who will develop the doctorate program, said threats to programs at other colleges makes the addition of a Ph.D. program at GW “even more important.”

The doctorate program’s launch comes not long after Howard University downgraded its anthropology program to a track within sociology in February due to faculty limitations. During the same month, the University of Glasgow in Scotland proposed to reduce funding by more than $30 million over three years for anthropology and other courses.

When Grinker arrived at GW in 1992, he said the faculty wasn’t large enough to support this type of program. But now with 38 full-time faculty members spanning sociocultural, linguistic and biological anthropology and archaeology, the department, he said, needed to expand. Grinker said the program “makes sense” given the strength of the discipline at GW.

The department boasts a widely published faculty, partnerships with the Smithsonian Institution and its own academic journal, Anthropological Quarterly.

Though a joint Ph.D. program in hominid paleobiology already exists, this new degree program will showcase the potential of anthropological study and research at GW, Grinker said.

Grinker is spearheading a national search for potential Ph.D. applicants. For now, the professor and editor of Anthropological Quarterly will serve as the head of the program, but may be replaced by anthropology professor Joel Kuipers after he returns from a yearlong sabbatical in Indonesia.

Kuipers could not be reached for comment.

Before most advertisements for the program were distributed, Grinker said he was pleased to already receive several inquiries for applications.

“Somehow the word is spreading,” he said.

The inaugural class will enter GW in the fall of 2012. The search for students will be competitive, as Grinker plans for the admitted students to be completely funded through research grants and fellowships.

Alexander Dent, a professor of sociocultural and linguistic anthropology who works closely with Grinker as associate editor of the department’s quarterly journal, said the program would allow students to specialize more than they would at other programs in the D.C. area.

“Given our location in D.C., we’re very well positioned for the study of governance, policy and heritage,” Dent said.