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). For further information see his curriculum vitae.

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.

Hannah Lenon serves as Administrative Assistant for both the Center for Studies in Oral Tradition and the Center for eResearch. Her interests include interstitial fiction and transformative works.

Justin Arft, Editorial Assistant, is a PhD candidate in Classical Studies and formerly earned his MA in Religious Studies at the University of Missouri with an emphasis in Gospel literature and questions of history and authorship in that tradition. His teaching and research interests are currently in Homer, the ancient Greek Epic Cycle, oral poetics, and studies in classical reception.

Anqi Du, Editorial Assistant, is a senior Broadcast Journalism student at the University of Missouri. She came to the U.S. from China in 2009. Her work includes translating Oral Tradition journal articles into Chinese and coordinating between the Center for Studies in Oral Tradition and Chinese Oral Tradition academies. Her interest area is cross-cultural communication.

Morgan Grey, Editorial Assistant, is a PhD candidate in the Department of Classical Studies at the University of Missouri. She is currently working on her dissertation on Ovid. Her research interests include Latin poetry and the reception on Classical literature.

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.

Sarah Zurhellen, Editorial Assistant, received a B.A. in English and a B.S. in Communications from Appalachian State University in 2001 and went on to earn an M.A. in English from Appalachian State University in 2003. She is currently working on a Ph.D. in Post-1945 American and World Fictions and New Media. Her research interests include the intersections of modern crises and utopian desires with contemporary American and World fiction and the logic of the commons and the network as metaphors of connectivity.

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.