Welcome to our website!
Kentucky Folklife Festival 2005
Students come from all over the country (and the world) to study folklore at Western Kentucky University. Current students come from as far as Newfoundland and California and have degrees from institutions as diverse as Wake Forest, Case Western, Vanderbilt, University of Maryland, and, of course, Western Kentucky University.
Our MA program is unique in offering specialized tracks in public folklore and historic preservation within the Folk Studies program. A more traditional thesis option is also available. Some recent students have studied folklore elsewhere (at Indiana University, Utah State, UCLA, Memorial University, University of Wisconsin and elsewhere) while other students enter the program with little or no academic background in the discipline. We realize that not everyone has had the opportunity to study folklore as undergraduates and we do not have prerequisites for admission to the program.
Although you may be admitted to the program as late as early summer, we encourage you to get your application in by February or early March for full consideration for a graduate assistantship. Assistantships currently include a stipend of approximately $12,000 and a partial or full tuition waiver. Assistantships are awarded competitively based on academic performance and work experience.
We strongly encourage you to get in touch directly with the department head to talk about your interest in the program. I will be happy to chat with you on the phone or email to answer any of your questions. Better yet, plan a visit to Bowling Green to meet current faculty and students! And for more information check out our 2009 New Student Handbook.
Our website is currently under revision. Therefore if you have any trouble accessing information or navigating the site, please let me know. Feel free to wander through and let me know what else you need to know. We hope to hear from you soon!
Michael Ann Williams
Head, Folk Studies and Anthropology
270 745-5898