WKU News

Jan 25th, 2023

Students share their experiences of the Folk Studies Winter Term Study Away course Public Folklore Policy and Practice in Washington, D.C.

Nov 29th, 2022

The Kentucky Folklife Program is accepting nominations for the 2023 Homer Ledford Award, through February 1. This award honors outstanding Kentucky luthiers in memory of master luthier, musician, and educator Homer Ledford.

Aug 24th, 2022

The Folk Studies program at WKU is celebrating with a series of five speakers marking five decades of folklore graduate studies at WKU.

Jun 7th, 2022

Folk Studies graduate Taylor Dooley Burden has received a prestigious Archie Green Fellowship, awarded by the American Folklife Center (AFC) of the Library of Congress, to support her project “The Occupational Lives of Religious Workers in Kentuckiana.

Mar 22nd, 2022

Dr. Ashley Stinnett, assistant professor of anthropology in the Department of Folk Studies and Anthropology, has assumed leadership of the Society for Visual Anthropology, expanding her long-time involvement with the organization.

Feb 11th, 2022

Kentucky Folklife, the Digital Magazine from the Kentucky Folklife Program, has just released it's 4th Spring 2022 Issue!

Feb 11th, 2022

Dr. Jean-Luc Houle is collaborating with scholars of the Max Planck Institute in Germany to study the initial dispersals of domesticated livestock across Central and Inner Asia beginning about 5,000 years ago.

Jan 13th, 2022

The Kentucky Folklife Program, part of the Department of Folk Studies and Anthropology at WKU, received a $15,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to support the continuation and expansion of the Kentucky Folklife Network.

Oct 24th, 2021

WKU Folk Studies students, faculty, and staff attended the American Folklore Society 2021 Annual Meeting, presenting research and projects, connecting with alumni, and celebrating the awarding of a prestigious honor to alumnus Teresa Hollingsworth.

Sep 1st, 2021

Folk Studies MA student Caitlyn Sheets has received an In These Mountains Graduate Student Fellowship, with funding provided by the regional arts organization South Arts

Aug 20th, 2021

The Kentucky Folklife Program (KFP) is proud to release its third consecutive volume of the online publication.

May 13th, 2021

The Department of Folk Studies and Anthropology is very proud to congratulate Dr. Tim Frandy, assistant professor of folk studies, for his selection as recipient of the 2021 Potter College Faculty Award for Excellence in Research and Creative Activity!

Apr 26th, 2021

On Friday, April 16, the WKU Graduate School honored the Outstanding Graduate Student Awardees from each college, including Folk Studies MA student Georgia Ellie Dassler who was chosen as the Potter College of Arts and Letters Outstanding Graduate Student

Apr 5th, 2021

On April 8th at 5:30pm, the Potter College Alumni Speaker Series will host alumnus Dr. Jon Kay for a virtual keynote talk titled, "Folklore, Art, and Aging: The Power of Creative Practice in Later Life."

Mar 4th, 2021

Folk Studies graduate student Ellie Dassler was recently featured in the WKU News for her research associated with the capstone project she is completing as part of her program.

Feb 18th, 2021

On March 5and 6, the Kentucky Folklife Program, part of the Department of Folk Studies and Anthropology at WKU, will host the first virtual Kentucky Folklife Network Gathering.

Feb 9th, 2021

The Kentucky Folklife Program, in the Department of Folk Studies and Anthropology at WKU, has been awarded $20,000 by the National Endowment for the Arts to further its Kentucky Folklife Network magazine project.

Nov 30th, 2020

Two members of WKU’s Kentucky Archaeological Survey, Dr. David Pollack, KAS Director, and Dr. Justin N. Carlson, KAS Project Director, are co-editors of a new book on Ohio Valley archaeology.

Nov 9th, 2020

On Friday November 6th, the Kentucky Historical Society awarded WKU Folk Studies MA alumnus Tommy Hines ('86) with the Frank R. Levstik Award for Professional Service.

Nov 3rd, 2020

WKU Folk Studies MA alumnus Andrea Kitta (?03) is a 2020 recipient of the American Folklore Society?s Chicago Folklore Prize for her 2019 book The Kiss of Death: Contamination, Contagion, and Folklore (Utah State University Press).