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 (2024–25)
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.
President-Elect (2025, to serve as President 2026–27)
Jason Baird Jackson
An AFS member since 1994, Jason Baird Jackson (he/him) is Ruth N. Halls Professor of Folklore and Anthropology at Indiana University. Within AFS, he helped plan annual meetings in Tulsa (2020/2022) and Bloomington (2011) and has served as chair or member of numerous committees and working groups. A previous member of the Executive Board (2010–12), he was the founding convener for the Folklore and Museums section and he is active in the Transitional Asia/Pacific Section.
Jerrilyn M. McGregory was 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 of Comparative Literature and Intercultural Studies at the University of Georgia, and the Senior Convener of the Transnational Asia/Pacific Section of the American Folklore Society.
Kiran Singh Sirah (Independent) is an award-winning Storytelling Industry leader, Folklorist, Arts & Culture Strategist, Creative Thought Leader, and Past President of the International Storytelling Center.
Rachel González-Martin (she/her) is a career folklorist and associate professor of Mexican American and Latina/o Studies at the University of Texas where she currently serves as the department’s inaugural undergraduate advisor.
Lisa Rathje is Executive Director of Local Learning: The National Network for Folk Arts in Education and co-edits the peer-reviewed, multimedia Journal of Folklore and Education. She also directs teacher and artist training institutes and advocates for the inclusion of culture in diverse learning spaces.
Anika Wilson (she/her) is Associate Professor and former chair of the Department African and African Diaspora Studies at UW-Milwaukee. She earned her doctorate in Folklore and Folklife Studies at the University of Pennsylvania and specializes in informal narratives (gossip, rumor, etc.).
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.