Katherine Borland has been a proud member of AFS since 1988. Currently, she is Professor Emerita of the Comparative Studies Department at the Ohio State University, where she directed the Center for Folklore Studies from 2014-2023 with a one-year hiatus (2017-2018) when she served as the Fulbright Bicentennial Chair of American Studies at the University of Helsinki. She has been twice awarded the prestigious Ronald and Deborah Ratner Award for Distinguished Teaching in the Humanities. She has published on a variety of folklore topics in US and international folklore journals as well as contributed essays to important recent collections in folklore scholarship. In 2021, she was honored to offer a plenary lecture at SIEF’s 15th Congress, and in 2026, equally honored to offer the Fife Lecture at Utah State University. Her current research interests include improvisation and the moving, aging body.
Katey has held a variety of leadership positions throughout her career, beginning with her 1994-1998 position as founding Executive Director of a college access program in Delaware; Honors Director (2006-2011) and then Assistant Dean (2007-2011) of a regional campus of Ohio State; and, since 2023, board member of the AAUP-OSU Chapter, serving as chapter President in 2025. She served on the AFS board (2015-2018), co-chaired the Curriculum Opportunities Committee (2019-2022), convened the International Issues Committee (2016), and co-convened the Women’s Section (2011-2013) and the Latino, Latinoamericano y Caribeño Section (2003-2006). As a leader, she foregrounds mutual respect, careful deliberation and decisive action.
