Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology

Elise Anderson, Ethnomusicology Ph.D. ’19, was an invited participant on an AsiaNow roundtable titled, “The Future of Ethnic Autonomy in Xinjiang” at the annual meeting of the Association for Asian Studies, held in Denver from March 21-24, 2019. The roundtable was supported by the Ford foundation who provided a floor to speak on fields of politics, urban planning, anthropology, journalism, and rights advocacy. Elise’s experience conducting research on Uyghur music in Chinese Central Asia enabled her to provide a viable perspective on troubling human rights abuses being commited by the state against members of ethnic minority communities.

Kara Rogers Thomas, Folklore Ph.D. ’04, was promoted to Full Professor at Frostburg State University.

Matthew Hale, Folklore Ph.D. ’18, accepted a Tenure Track Assistant Professorship at the Department of Communication at Austin Peay State University last year. Hale was also awarded a Peter Rollins Travel Grant for Early-Career Faculty from the Popular Culture Association in 2019.

Janice Frisch, Folklore Ph.D. ’13, started her own business, Tangible Culture, LLC, building on the research and work she conducted while at IU. Her dissertation, quilt history, is now the subject of her lectures, and the focus of her masters thesis, custom memory t-shirt quilts, is the heart of her business. Frisch is also the editor of Uncoverings, the research Journal of the American Quilt Study Group.

Julián Antonio Carrillo, Folklore M.A. ’14, began working at Alliance for California Traditional Arts as a Program Manager based in their Northern California office at the Presidio in San Francisco in fall, 2018.

Jeffrey Tolbert, Folklore Ph.D. ’16, joined the American Studies Program at Penn State Harrisburg as Assistant Professor of American Studies in the fall of 2018.

Nathan Gibson, M.A. ’12, Ph.D. Graduate student, and Ethnic American Music Curator (University of Wisconsin) released his latest recording project this May. Nate Gibson & the Stars of Starday was released by Bear Family Records, with 24 country, bluegrass, gospel, and rockabilly duets with Starday recording artists from the 1950s and ’60s, as well as a 50 page booklet about the album. Backing Gibson and the Starday Stars are Marty Stuart, members of his Fabulous Superlatives band, and many more talented musicians including department alums Mike Lee and Timon Kaple.

Zilia Balkansky-Sellés, Folklore Ph.D. ’18, has worked at the Indiana University Bloomington Groups Scholars Program since October 2015.

Raynetta Wiggins, Ethnomusicology Ph.D. ‘18, started a position as the Manager of Choir Curriculum and Performance with a nonprofit in Washington, DC called Washington Performing Arts in the fall of 2018.

Lisa Gilman, Folklore Ph.D. ’01, began a new job as an Assistant Professor of Folklore at George Mason University in the fall of 2018.

Lijun Zhang, Folklore Ph.D. ’14, will begin her new job as Assistant Professor of Folklore at George Mason University in Fall 2019.

Rebekah Moore, Ethnousicology Ph.D. ’15, has accepted a position as Tenure Track faculty at Northeastern University starting fall, 2019.

Langston Wilkins, Ethnomusicology Ph.D. ’16, started a position as Director at the Center for Washington Cultural Traditions in Feb. 2019. Wilkins also gave a Benjamin Botkin lecture this April at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress.

Dr. Tyron Cooper, Ethnomusicology Ph.D. ’13, Director of Indiana University Archives of African American and African Diaspora Studies, and Adjunct professor at the Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology, was nominated for two Emmy Awards in the category of “Musical Composition/ Arrangement”. The works up for the award are his music compositions in PBS documentaries Eva A-7063 and The Music Makers of Gennett Records.

Daniel Peretti, Folklore Ph.D. ’09, began his new job as Assistant Professor of Folklore at Memorial University in Newfoundland, Canada, Fall 2018.

Suzanne Godby Ingalsbe, Folklore Ph.D. ’17, has worked at the Institute for Advanced Study at Indiana University Bloomington since 2015 as the Associate Director.

Juan Sebastián Rojas, Ethnomusicology Ph.D. ’18, teaches at the El Bosque University in Bogatá, Colombia.

Annette B. Fromm, Folklore Ph.D. ’92, joined Dr. Roger Janelli, Dr. Dawnhee Yim, and Dr. Deming An at the 2019 meeting of the editorial board of the International Journal of Intangible Heritage. She was also newly appointed as Associate Editor of Sephardic Horizons, an international online journal.

Hsin-Wen Hsu, Ethnomusicology Ph.D. ’14, began teaching as an Assistant Profesor of Ethnomusicology at the Graduate Institute of Ethnomusiology, National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) in August, 2018. In 2017, Hsin-Wen won WZU’s Teaching Excellence Award. He also received a two-year research grant from the Ministry of Science and Technology in 2017, and a oneyear research grant from NTNU in 2018.

Kate Schramm, Folklore Ph.D. ’16, was appointed Director of the Conneticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program at the Conneticut Historical Society in the fall of 2018.

Suzanne Barber, Folklore Ph.D. ’18, accepted a position at Union College in the fall of 2018.

James Leary, Folklore Ph.D. ’78 and Professor Emeritus of Folklore and Scandanavian Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison, had his album Alpine Dreaming: The Helvetia Records Story, 1920-1924 nomnated for a Best Album Notes Grammy. Leary’s nominated album is a double CD and illustrated booklet issued on Archephone Records, and featuring all 36 recordings produced by a Swiss immigrant record label based in Monroe, Wisconsin.

Elinor Levy, Folklore Ph.D. ’03, is the folk arts program manager at Arts Mid-Hudson. The program was just awarded $5,000 for Humanities New York and $2,000 from the Fairgame grant (NY) for 3-month program (July- September) Mixed Status, a multi-media, multi-site series of exhibitions and programs facilitating exploration of the social spaces of marginalized status in American culture.