Invited Papers (Selected)

“Putting Theory to Work: Cultural Interpretation and the Public,” Folklore Institute, Indiana University, 1998

"Developing a Cultural Impact Statement for the Route 23 Traffic Relief Environmental Impact Statement, Lancaster County, PA: Lessons and Implications," presented at The Nature of Culture: Concepts of Community in the Environmental Review Process: A Symposium, Delhi, NY, 1993

"Ethnographic Approaches to the Presentation of Folk Arts," University of Haifa, 1991.

"Cultural Reconstructions of the 'Other': Recollections of Yemenites Jews and Muslims," First International Congress for Research on Yemenite Jews, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, 1990.

"Charting a Course Back (and Forward) to Applied Folklore," American Folklore Society, 1989.

"American Jewish Folk Art: An Ethnographic Perspective," Annual Shlomo M. Hochberg Lecture, Hebrew Union College Skirball Museum, Los Angeles, 1986.

"Creativity and Personal Vision in American Jewish Folk Arts," Symposium Series, Jewish Popular Culture: Media and Messages, Sponsored by the National Foundation for Jewish Culture, Detroit, 1986.

"Yemenite Jewish Dance and Culture: Popular Myths and Indigenous Activities in the Israeli Context," Jews and Judaism in Dance: Reflections and Celebrations, National Foundation for Jewish Culture and 92nd Street Y, New York, 1986.

"Repertoire, Changing Values, and Social Meaning in the Dance Tradition of an Israeli Yemenite Village," Living Tradition: Jewish Creativity and Cultural Survival, YIVO Institute for Jewish Research and the Center for Jewish Studies of the CUNY Graduate Center, May 1984.

“Promoting Inclusiveness: Mobilizing Community Assets to Build Social Equity,” Pennsylvania Planning Association Annual Conference, 2000

“Privatization of Cultural Conservation: Alternatives for the Changing Political Environment,” Society for Applied Anthropology, Baltimore, 1996.

"The Pennsylvania Heritage Parks Program: Planning and Managing Cultural Conservation and Tourism Development," American Folklore Society, 1991

"Bringing Culture to the Bureaucracy: Anthropological Paradigms at Work in State Government," Society for Applied Anthropology, 1991

"Cross Cultural Competency as a Pre Medical Requirement," Northeast Regional Meeting of the Association of American Medical Colleges, 1991

"The Hidden Dimension of Health Education: Implications of Pennsylvania's Cultural Diversity," First Annual Pennsylvania Health Educator's Institute, 1991

"Living Traditions: Bridging the Gap Between Museums and Communities," American Association of Museums, 1988.

Conferences Organized

Region of Diversity: Respecting Differences and Finding Common Ground (Institute for Cultural Partnerships), 1999

"Refugee Arts and Community Stability" (PA Heritage Affairs Commission), Philadelphia, PA, 1995.

Program Committee, Pennsylvania Heritage Parks Program Conference: Program Chair, 1992; Program Committee, 1993-96.

Consultant and Program Participant, Cultural Conservation Institute, Library of Congress, 1990

Program Chairman, Governor's Conference on Ethnicity, 1990.

Program Chairman, Conference on Cultural Conservation, Pennsylvania State University and Pennsylvania Heritage Affairs Commission, 1987.

Program Chairman, Eastern U.S. Regional Conference on Public Folklife Programming, Pennsylvania Heritage Affairs Commission, 1984.

Program Chairman, Conference on Ethnic Folklife and Oral History in South Central Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Heritage Affairs Commission, 1982.