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FOLKLORE PROGRAM
Graduate Admissions

WHY STUDY FOLKLORE AT USU?

*National Reputation: The graduate program in Folklore offers an MA degree and is nationally recognized.

*Student-Centered Faculty: Accomplished faculty include Jay Anderson, Lisa Gabbert, Jan Roush, Steve Siporin, Jeannie B. Thomas, and Barre Toelken (emeritus).

*Famous Folklorists: The annual Fife Conference brings in visiting, famous folklore scholars who work with students. For photos of some of these famous folklorists, visit the Folklore Program's Photo Archive.

*Flexibility: The program is flexible; students can choose between an emphasis on public folklore or academic folklore. A variety of courses are offered including Fieldwork, Ethnicity, Foodways, Legend and Belief, Folklore and Film, Native American Studies, Regional Folklore, Legend and the Supernatural, Public Folklore, Folk Narrative, Folklore Theory, and more.

*Folkore Archives: USU is the home of The Fife Folkore Archives, a nationally recognized archive and repository for the papers of the American Folklore Society, as well as other significant collections such as the G. Malcolm Laws Ballad Collection or the Wayland D. Hand Collection of American Popular Belief and Superstition.

*Funding: Scholarships and graduate instructorships are available through the Folklore Program's home department, the English Department.

*Internships: USU students often complete internships at regional and national organizations including The National Council for the Traditional Arts, the Western Folklife Center, the Montana Arts Council, The Buffalo Bill Historical Center, and the Harrison Museum of Art.

*Employment: Students have a good record of placement both in the public sector and in academic positions.

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Folklore is allied with American Studies, and the MA degree is in American Studies, but Folklore students can have an international focus in their work. The academic folklore emphasis prepares students for teaching and researching. The public folklore emphasis prepares them for jobs in government, arts administration, and museum management. Both of these emphases allow for interdisciplinary, interdepartmental work in English, history, anthropology, sociology, geography, as well as other fields which may be germane to the student’s particular focus.

Jeannie Thomas and Barre Toelken with USU graduate students at the
Utah Folklore Society Meeting 2000.

USU is also the home to the Mountain West Center for Regional Studies and Utah State University Press, which publishes a number of folklore books and texts. The Mountain West Center hosts a Song Symposium, which focuses on traditional and ethnic music. Graduate students in folklore at USU have opportunities to work with these resources, as well as to participate in ongoing fieldwork projects.

FOLKLORE PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS

The Folklore Program requires 30 credits and a thesis for the Master of Arts degree or the Master of Science degree. For more information about the thesis, visit Graduate Program on the English Department webpage. All students must take English 6700, Folklore Theory and Methods, during their first semester. The following courses are also available:

6610 Seminar in the American West
6620 Native American Studies
6630 Film and Pop Cultures
6710 Regional Folklore
6720 Folklore Fieldwork
6730 Public Folklore
6740 Folklore Narrative
6760 Cultural and Historical Museums
6770 Seminar: Folklore and Folklife (this course is repeatable; topic varies, e.g., Foodways, Legend & the Supernatural)

Public Folklore Program

Students selecting the Public Folklore Program follow the same requirements as students in the Folklore Program, with the following exceptions. All students in the Public Folklore Program are required to take the following courses:

6700 Folklore Theory and Methods
6720 Folklore Fieldwork
6730 Public Folklore
6900 Graduate Internship

In addition to these required courses, Public Folklore students must take 12 or more credits of course work and 6 credits of thesis (Plan A option) or 15 credits of course work and 3 credits of thesis (Plan B option). These additional courses can come from the other folklore offerings or from other departments that offer graduate-level courses in areas that public folklorists might need, such as: photography, radio broadcasting, video and film-making, multimedia, writing for the public, grant and proposal writing, administration, budgeting , policy-making and museum skills.