Folk Studies student Rachel Hopkin, a familiar voice to WKU Public Radio listeners, received the John D. Minton Award for outstanding graduate student Friday. She was also named the outstanding graduate student in Potter College of Arts & Letters. Part of her graduate work included the production of radio features about tradition culture in our region.
Before coming to WKU, Hopkin worked for the British Broadcasting Company and as an independent radio producer in Argentina.
At WKU, she has produced radio documentaries on folk life, successfully nominated the Hardcastle Store in rural Warren County to the National Register of Historic Places, worked as a researcher for projects in Allen County and the Great Smoky Mountains, received a grant to study banjo player George Gibson, worked with Dr. Erika Brady to implement a course in Folklore and Radio Production, and received the Sally Kress Tompkins Fellowship from the Society of Architectural Historians and the Historic American Buildings Survey.
“Rachel is meticulous in her work and a natural born folklorist,” John D. Minton Jr., chief justice of the Kentucky Supreme Court, said in presenting the award named for his late father. (Dr. John D. Minton, WKU’s first graduate dean, served as vice president for Administrative Affairs and as WKU’s fifth president.)
Congratulations, Rachel! Many of the folklife features she produced for us are archived on our website.
More about the graduate commencement ceremony from WKU News.