The Department of Anthropology at the University of Chicago has a long and proud tradition of scholarly excellence and leadership in the discipline. This is, perhaps, an even more exciting time than usual because we have just made substantial additions of excellent young anthropologists to our faculty. We are intent on maintaining the traditional foci of the Department while developing emerging centers of theoretical interest in the discipline and beyond. Some of the areas that are currently enjoying particular attention by faculty and students in archaeology as well as linguistic and sociocultural anthropology include: semiotic approaches to culture, postcoloniality, human rights and indigenous rights, globalization, critiques of neoliberalism, the politics of gender and sexuality, the analysis of place and space, and the anthropological study of science. Each of these research areas is enhanced by the Department's longstanding commitment to training students in the history and foundations of social and cultural theory. The excellence of our graduate students has always been one of the most important aspects of our program, since so much is learned in free-ranging discussions with fellow students and in our small, hands-on research seminars and workshops.