Members of the 2017 Executive Board met at the Annual Meeting in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Executive Board
Executive Board members are elected. Every year, two seats are filled by a vote of the general membership, and one seat is filled by a vote of the Executive Board. AFS members also vote to select a member of the Nominating Committee each year. In alternating years, members vote for a new President.
The slate of candidates is assembled by the Nominating Committee, and reviewed by AFS members before voting begins. AFS members may petition to add additional candidates to the ballot.
President (2024 – 2025)
Amy E. Skillman
Amy Skillman is the Academic Director of the MA in Cultural Sustainability at Goucher College. Throughout her career, she has worked in non-profit organizations, higher education institutions, and government agencies to design programs that sustain artistic traditions while striving for cultural equity.
Immediate Past President (2022-2023)
Marilyn White
Marilyn is a retired professor of anthropology at Kean University, where she taught 1985-2011. Her research centers on African American and family folklore, stratification, and jokes. She has conducted long-term research in Little Cayman.
Queen Nur is an award-winning International Storyteller, Independent Folklorist and Teaching Artist. For 29 years she has enthralled thousands in over 36 states, West Africa, and Canada.
Part of the Sámi American community, Tim Frandy is a public folklorist and an Assistant Professor of Folk Studies at Western Kentucky University, whose work centers on Indigenous communities, decolonization, education, and environments
Rossina Zamora Liu is Assistant Professor in Urban Education and division coordinator of Education Policy and Leadership at the University of Maryland. Her research focuses on interrogating systems of white supremacy and anti-blackness in education, counter-storytelling, and cross-racial solidarity and coalition building.
Meltem Türköz's career has included teaching, work in the public sector and journalism. She has a longstanding interest in peace education, and in arts-based community engagement.
Jerrilyn M. McGregory is a professor in folklore in the Department of English, Florida State University. Her career began working for the Philadelphia Folklore Project (PFP) during graduate school at the University of Pennsylvania, where she obtained a PhD in Folklore and Folklife.
Junious L. Brickhouse is an internationally established, award-winning urban dance educator, choreographer, community leader, and cultural preservationist dedicated to the authentic preservation of urban dance culture and community. Junious has spent over twenty years in dance cyphers and on stages around the world.
Ann K. Ferrell is currently Associate Professor of Folk Studies at Western Kentucky University. Her experience includes undergraduate and graduate teaching, publicly engaged folklore research and programming such as festivals and exhibits, and serving as the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of American Folklore (2016-2020).
Dr. Maribel Alvarez (University of Arizona and Southwest Folk Alliance) has been elected by the AFS Executive Board to serve as a member of the Board from 2023-2025. She brings extensive fundraising, advocacy, and leadership experience in both public and academic settings through her humanities program-building work that connects the University of Arizona and Southwest Folklife Alliance.
Betty J. Belanus holds an MA and PhD in folklore from Indiana University and a BA in American studies from Smith College. She was a founding member of the AFS Folklore and Education Section, and a board member of the Local Learning Network for twelve years.
Ziying You is Associate Professor and Department Chair of Chinese Studies at the College of Wooster, and the Senior Convener of the Transnational Asia/Pacific Section of the American Folklore Society.
Jessica serves as the Executive Director of the American Folklore Society. Her research interests include museum studies and ethnic minority performances and heritage tourism in Guangxi Province in southwestern China.
See our past presidents and board members.