Each spring, the USU Folklore Program honors an individual who has made significant contributions to Folklore Studies by inviting them to give the Fife Folklore Honor Lecture.

The Fife Honor Lecture is named in memory of Utah State University folklorists Austin and Alta Fife, who were some of the first scholars to be interested in Utah's traditional and vernacular culture. The Fife Honor Lecture has been a USU tradition for over thirty years. Recent speakers have includedNick Spitzer, Host of Public Radio International's “American Routes,Trudier Harris (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill),Carl Lindahl (Univ. of Houston), and Burt Feintuch (Univ. of New Hampshire)

FIFE FOLKLORE WORKSHOP

The Fife Folklore Workshop is offered during the first week of June.  The workshop is a short, intensive unit on a key folklore concept and features a visiting keynote faculty member.  It may be taken for undergraduate or graduate credit. Topics vary and students may take the workshop more than once.

Past topics have included "Folklore and Groups," "Folklore and Popular Culture," "Folklore and Creativity," and "Community." Speakers have included Christine Wicker, Author of Lily Dale: The True Story of the Town that Speaks to the Dead,Dr. Joanna Hearne (University of Missouri, Folklore & Film),Mario Montano (Latino Folklore, Foodways--Colorado College), and Nan McEntire (Scottish Balladry, Folksong--Indiana State University), among many others.