Resume

Selected Experience

Independent Radio Producer and Folklorist

• Regularly publishes in peer-reviewed journals such as Western Folklore, Performance Research, Digest and the Tennessee Folklore Society Bulletin.
• Book and Sound Reviewer for the Journal of American Folklore.
• Peer Reviewer for the Harlot Online Journal.
• Instructor in “Ethnographic Practice and Ethnographic Writing” in the OSU Department of English.
• Co-Developer and -Instructor of unique graduate level course on “Folklore and Radio Production” at Western Kentucky University (WKU).
• Guest Instructor at Texas Folklife’s annual “Stories from Deep in the Heart” summer workshop since 2014.
• Regularly presents at conferences, including the American Folklore Society’s annual conference.
• Producer of multiple long-form radio documentaries about music and traditional culture, including Country Down Under – about the popularity of American style country music amongst Australia’s Aboriginal people – for the BBC; three series of Musical Migrants – portraits of individuals who relocated for love of music – also for the BBC; features about chamamé (an Argentine folk music) and early Kentucky women musicians for the Australian Broadcasting Company; and a series about Irish music/migration for Dublin’s Newstalk network.
• Established partnership between the OSU Center for Folklore Studies and NPR affiliate to produce Folk Ohio – a series of radio features about Ohio’s traditional culture. Subjects included carousel craftspeople and pastry chefs. In addition, produced series about traditional culture for public radio stations in Kentucky and Nevada.
• Reported on cultural matters and human rights issues for BBC, NPR, Australian Broadcasting Company, Radio Netherlands and the Canadian Broadcasting Company.
• As the 2012 Sally Kress Tompkins fellow, documented physical appearance, history, and use of buildings in Nashville (TN) that played key role in the development of that city’s music industry. Reports are now in the Historic American Building Survey and part of the permanent collection at the Library of Congress.
• Worked on multiple oral history projects in remote and historic communities, including within the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the Allen County [Kentucky] Oral History and Folklife project.
• Obtained placement of 19^th century Kentucky country store on National Register of Historic places.
• Founder and Organizer of the Columbus Folklorists’ Circle 2015-present. This is a discussion group which meets regularly to discuss trends in folklore scholarship and review folkloric performances.
• President of the OSU Folklore Student Association 2016-17.

Program Coordinator 2012 – 2014

Nevada Humanities, Las Vegas NV

• Overhauled content, organization, function, and marketing of the speakers bureau, bringing in broad range of new presenters and presentations to better reflect, and appeal to, the diverse population and changing face of modern Nevada.
• Developed new strategic partnerships, including with City of Las Vegas in an ongoing initiative to present public events designed to build appreciation of historic preservation and built environment, and with Reno Public Radio for a series entitled “Nevada’s Hidden Stories”.
• Collaborated with culturally diverse groups, ensuring their greater recognition when planning humanities-based programming, resulting in increased participation.
• Successfully obtained grants, including from Nevada Arts Council to establish a working relationship with a Mexican master embroiderer and stage a series of well-attended workshops teaching crafts to children in ethnically diverse community.
• Ensured recognition of Ofelia Perez, Mexican Matachin dance tradition bearer, and Gary and Sheldeen Haleamau, Hawaiian artists, for the 2013 and 2014 Nevada Heritage Awards respectively.
• Created multimedia content for the Nevada Humanities website; supervised and contributed to newly launched blog and other social media; maintained presence in national Humanities magazine.

BBC Radio Producer 2002-2005

BBC Music Department, Cardiff, Wales

• Made documentaries about music and related arts for Radio 4, the BBC’s main national intelligent speech network; Radio 3, its national network devoted to music and culture; and the BBC World Service.
• Produced live broadcasts of major musical events; set up concert series from ground up; ensured successful presentation of unique music performances from around the UK.

BBC Researcher/Broadcast Assistant 1999-2002

BBC Radio 3, London, England

• Researched fast-paced, weekly magazine program, producing a steady stream of fresh ideas, reacting quickly to breaking news, and creating original program items with minimal turnaround.
• Co-produced the acclaimed New China season, traveling to China to ensure realistic and accurate recordings.

Selected Publications

• Poetics and Pâtisserie: Multilayered Performances of Croissants. 2017. Performance Research 22/3: 122-128.
• The Way of the Croissant: Traditional Perspectives on a Traditional Pastry. 2017. Digest: A Journal of Foodways and Culture 5/2.  [Available at http://digest.champlain.edu/article5_2_1.html].
• The Critical Conservationist: George Gibson and Patterns of Vernacular Resistance. 2017. Western Folklore, 76/1:5-40.
• The Bottle Artist, 2011. Tennessee Folklore Society Bulletin, Volume LXVII/1&2:35-59.
• Review of Lost Sound. Book by Jeff Porter. Journal of American Folklore [in press].
• Review of Ola Belle Reed and Southern Mountain Music on the Mason-Dixon Line. 2017. 2 CDs and book by Henry Glassie, Clifford R. Murphy, and Douglas Dowling Peach. Journal of American Folklore 130/516:248-250.
• Historic American Buildings Surveys, 2012, Library of Congress:
  • HABS No. TN-263 Jesse French Piano & Organ Company Building
  • HABS No. TN-264 Ernest Tubb Record Shop
  • HABS No. TN-265 Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge
  • HABS No. TN-266 Sho-Bud Steel Guitar Company
  • HABS No. TN-267 United Record Pressing Plant
  • HABS No. TN-268 Quonset Hut
  • HABS No. TN-269 RCA Victor Studio B

Selected Awards and Activities

• Sue Samuelson Award for Foodways Scholarship, 2016.
• The Ohio State University Fellowship and Folklore Fellowship to study for Ph.D in Folklore 2014-2019 (projected).
• National Interest Green Card Waiver, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Awarded for “exceptional ability” and a body of work as folklorist and radio producer deemed to be “in the national interest”, 2013.
• Sally Kress Tompkins fellowship, Society of Architectural Historians and HABS, 2012.
• John D. Minton Award for Outstanding Contributions to Western Kentucky University (WKU), 2012.
• Potter College of Arts and Letters Outstanding Graduate Student Award, WKU, 2012.
• Folk Studies Outstanding Graduate Student Award, WKU, 2012.
• Alexander Onassis Bursary, BBC World Service, 2002.
• Grace Wylie Prize for Thesis, Trinity College of Music, London, 1999.
• Regular presenter at professional and academic conferences including that of the American Folklore Society; Vernacular Architecture Forum; and Folklorists in the South.

Education and Training

• Masters of Arts in Folk Studies, Historic Preservation track, 4.0, Western Kentucky University, 2012
• Bachelor of Music, First Class Honors, Trinity College of Music, London, 1999
• Certificate in Radio Writing and Presentation, Birkbeck College, University of London, 1999
• Diploma in Music, Kodaly Institute, Kecskemet Hungary, 1995
• BBC Courses in: Journalism, Radio Feature Making, Digital Editing, Interviewing, Radio Research, Writing for Radio and Using Portable Recording Equipment, 1999 – 2005