The Oral Tradition Staff

John Miles Foley directs the Center for Studies in Oral Tradition and the Center for eResearch at the University of Missouri, where he serves as W. H. Byler Chair in the Humanities and Curators Professor of Classical Studies and English. Among his recent books are How to Read an Oral Poem (2002), an edition and translation of The Wedding of Mustajbey's Son Bećirbey as Performed by Halil Bajgorić (2004), and A Companion to Ancient Epic (2005). His curriculum vitae is available here.

Mark Jarvis, IT Manager for the Center for Studies in Oral Tradition and the Center for eResearch, is responsible for coordinating the two centers' various technical projects, both Web-based and otherwise. His interests include user interface design, digital video production, 3D graphics and animation, and non-linear storytelling.

Kathy Andresen serves as Administrative Assistant for both the Center for Studies in Oral Tradition and the Center for eResearch. She is in charge of formatting issues of Oral Tradition for publication on the eOT site.

Holly Hobbs, Managing Editor of Oral Tradition, received her undergraduate degree in Gender Studies and African Studies from the University of Wisconsin and went on to earn an M.A. in Ethnomusicology from Indiana University in 2003. Hobbs is currently working toward a Ph.D. in Folklore and Oral Tradition at the University of Missouri, where she is researching music as a resource for community development in the west of Ireland.

Peter Ramey, Editorial Assistant, is a graduate student in Folklore, Oral Tradition, and Medieval Literature at the University of Missouri. He has completed an M.A. thesis examining the origins and new directions of studies in Oral Tradition and is working on medieval literature and oral poetics for his doctoral dissertation. His research interests include hip-hop, Old English poetry, classical and medieval lyric, and the interface between literary and oral arts.

Dan Friesen, who serves the Center as an editorial intern, is an undergraduate student at the University of Missouri-Columbia. He is pursuing a degree in Interdisciplinary Studies with an emphasis in logic and ancient Greek.

John Zemke, Associate Editor of Oral Tradition, began his study of verbal arts with his training in medieval Spanish literature under Samuel G. Armistead. He teaches courses on Hispanic Oral Traditions, History of the Spanish Language, and medieval Spanish Literature at the University of Missouri. His 2004 book entitled Mose ben Barukh Almosnino. Regimiento de la vida y Tratado de los suenyos (Salonika, 1564) reflects interest in restoring Spanish language documents in Hebrew characters to the historical record.