KFP’s Nicole Musgrave Graduates

For the past two years, Nicole Musgrave has served as KFP’s graduate assistant here at our home at Western Kentucky University. In that short time, she’s accomplished a great deal for KFP, including building the mobile companion to our exhibit, A Culture Carried: Bosnians in Bowling Green, taking the lead in the planning of events for the Kentucky Rural-Urban Exchange, and even spear-headed our social media presence, which has grown significantly over the years. Nicole has truly helped to grow the Kentucky Folklife Program.

This past weekend, Nicole graduated with a Master of Arts in Folk Studies alongside her cohort of classmates in the Class of 2018.

From left to right: Chloe Brown, Nicole Musgrave, Susanna Pyatt, Cara Forke, Anne Rappaport, Emily Rodriguez, and Jess Krawec. Courtesy of the WKU Folk Studies Facebook page.

We’re so proud of this graduating class. The graduates of the Class of 2018 have all contributed to our work in significant ways. Chloe Brown served as a summer graduate assistant for the Kentucky Folklife Program. Emily Rodriguez built a portion of our “Art of the Home” exhibit in A Culture Carried: Bosnians in Bowling Green. Anne Rappaport served as the narrative stage host for several of our foodways programs over the last two years. Susanna Pyatt, Cara Forke, and Jess Krawec each volunteered for key KFP events and programs and helped us when we needed it most. These graduates are headed for bright futures!

Left to Right: KFP’s Virginia Siegel, Nicole Musgrave, and Brent Bjorkman.

We’re especially proud of Nicole. In addition to passing her comprehensive exams with distinction, Nicole received the Potter College of Arts and Letters Outstanding Student award. To top that off, Nicole also received Western Kentucky University’s John D. Minton Award as the outstanding graduate student for our entire university (Read more at WKU News). Following graduation, Nicole is headed to Eastern Kentucky where she will serve as an AmeriCorps VISTA service member with Hindman Settlement School.

We’re also proud to share that we’ve been recommended for funding for an NEA grant for this coming year to build a statewide Kentucky Folklife Network. Once the awards have been finalized, Nicole will continue her work with the Kentucky Folklife Program to help in the early stages of this project.

Congrats Nicole! We’re so proud of you!

Make sure to keep an eye on the WKU Folk Studies Facebook page for more images from our commencement weekend!