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Letter from the chair

In the summer of 2024, I again took the reins of the department, returning to the role of Chair during my twenty-fourth year as a faculty member in my beloved department. It is with pride that I share with you some of our collective triumphs.

Once again, our faculty members were awarded major departmental, university, national, and international acclaim.

In June of 2025, Barbara Hillers was granted tenure at Indiana University!

Tyron Cooper won his sixth Emmy award in the Musical Composition and Arrangement category for the musical score in the PBS documentary, Major Taylor: Champion of the Race.

Jason Jackson was elected President of the American Folklore Society and reappointed as Ruth N. Halls Professor, a prestigious professorship intended to recognize “exceptional scholarship and leadership within the College.”

Ray Cashman was named Provost Professor by the Offices of the Provost and the Vice Provost for Faculty and Academic Affairs. This titled professorship “honors faculty who have achieved local, national, and international distinction in both teaching and research/creative activity.”

David McDonald was nominated for the Career Advocate Award, a new student-nominated award intended “to recognize faculty who have invested considerable time and effort into their students' career readiness and professional development.”

Brandon Barker and Solimar Otero were each awarded the Indiana University Trustees Teaching Award, for faculty who “have demonstrated that they were the campus’ best teachers during the previous calendar year.” Solimar was also recognized with the McCluskey Faculty Award given by the African American and African Diaspora Studies department, recognizing members of the faculty for outstanding contributions to teaching and mentoring within the department.

College Professor Emeritus Henry Glassie received the Indiana Landmarks’ 2024 Williamson Prize for outstanding leadership in historic preservation recognizing “his trailblazing work helping generations find value in humble historic buildings,” and in 2025, he was given an Honorary Doctorate from University College Dublin for a lifetime of outstanding fieldwork and contributions to Irish folklore studies.

This summer, I humbly accepted the College of Arts and Sciences Holland and Morley Award for Exemplary Teaching, recognizing “a career of distinguished service in the classroom.” The Morley Awards are the only teaching award given by the College of Arts and Sciences and it has been recently given twice to our department: Brandon Barker received the Morley Early Career Award for Outstanding Teaching in 2023.

Last academic year, we had two visiting Assistant Professors in the department, both excellent teachers and scholars. Dr. Dorian Jurić, an expert on heroic epics and sagas in Eastern Europe, spent a second year in the department, and he was joined by Dr. Max Jack, a scholar of social movements and the relationship between sound and politics. Max’s new book Insurgent Fandom: An Ethnography of Crowds and Unruly Sounds, just came out.

The 2025 Richard M. Dorson Lecture was delivered by Dr. Diarmuid Ó Giolláin, Professor Emeritus of Irish Language and Literature, and Fellow of the Keough-Naughton Institute for Irish Studies at Notre Dame University. Dr. Ó Giolláin specializes in cultural history, folklore studies – especially the history of ideas and of institutions - and popular religion. His first book — Locating Irish Folklore — won the 2000 Katherine Briggs Folklore Prize, and his last book — Exotic Dreams in the Science of the Volksgeist — won the 2023 Chicago Folklore Prize. While members of the Dorson family were unable to attend, Richard Dorson’s grandson, Ben, speculated that his late grandfather “would be watching the lecture from somewhere.”

Our graduate students have always received a disproportionate number of campus and College prizes; such is the quality of our MA and PhD students. Alumnus Janelle Azmy was given the 2023 Graduate School Distinguished Master’s Thesis Award. In addition to the various travel and research grants and awards, four of our PhD students received major fellowships from the University Graduate School: chloē fourte, Joseph Johnson, Lamont Pearley, and A’Yanna Solomon. Two of our PhD students received College of Arts and Sciences dissertation research and writing fellowships: Tadhg Ó Meachair and Ozgun Ozata. Three students received departmental summer fieldwork fellowships: Ben Storsved, Touhid Islam, and Olivia Phillips.

During the last academic year, we proudly conferred ten BA degrees and two certificates to Ara Bennett, Ally Davidson, Jasper Davis, Catherine O’Dell, Riley Osowick, Taylann Smith, Tess Walmsley, Rosemary Winchester, Erol Algan, Sarah Hensley, and Mateo Escobedo (certificate), and Gracie Morris (certificate).

We conferred four MA degrees — to Caio De Souza, Madison Cissell, chloē fourte, and Rebecca Haley.

Last year was a banner year for our doctorates, with 21 PhD degrees in Folklore and Ethnomusicology. From May 2024 to May 2025, nine PhD degrees were conferred on these new doctors: Ben Bridges, Doug Peach, Gloria Colom, Marisa Wieneke, Fionnán Mac Gabhann, Myc Wiatrowski, Dilara İnam Keskin, Caroline Tatem, and Shaun Williams.

An additional twelve doctoral defenses were held, with imminent degrees to these doctors: Jeremy Reed, Hilary Warner-Evans, Caroline VerMeulen, Micky Myers, Ezgi Benli Garcia Guerrero, Emily Bianchi, Jennie Williams, Lydia Campbell-Maher, Emmie Pappa-Eddy, Isaiah Green, Micah Ling, and Suyash Kumar Neupane.

Congratulations to all of our graduates! The future of folklore and ethnomusicology is in good hands!

Last year, we saw the return of “Sequin Fridays,” a concept I invented during my first stint as Chair. The business world has Casual Fridays. After a week of dreary corporate work, they wear casual clothes to the office on Fridays. We, on the other hand, engage in scholarly pursuits, spending our days thinking about art and culture and music, and so, many of us wore sequins and sparkles on Friday to celebrate the work we do. We continued to mentor, teach and learn; research and write. Through our various achievements, we all shimmered together here in the Midwest.

Yours,
Pravina Shukla
Provost Professor and Chair

Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology

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Letter from the chair

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Letter from the chair

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