Portia Maultsby, who has been at IU Bloomington since 1971, is the Laura Boulten Professor of Folklore and Ethnomusicology. She received her Ph.D. in ethnomusicology and her master's degree in musicology from the University of Wisconsin in Madison and a bachelor's degree in piano, theory, and composition from Mount St. Scholastica College in Atchison, Kansas.
Her research interests include popular music, the music industry, African American music and musical aesthetics and transnationalism. She is also director of the Archives of African American Music and Culture.
Maultsby received an award in 2011 from the National Association for the Study and Performance of African American Music, and serves as an advisory board member for the Institute for Popular Music at the New York-based University of Rochester. She has served as researcher or advisor for various video and radio documentaries for the National Afro-American Museum, PBS, Radio Smithsonian and NPR, among others. She also founded and conducted the Indiana University Soul Revue, a touring student ensemble.