Prof. Mark Bender, DEALL, holds Kenneth Goldstein Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Folklore Society, Oct., 2025. Credit: Courtesy of Mark Bender
Growing up in small towns across Ohio, a career spent delving into East Asian studies was far from a young Mark Bender’s goals.?
When he started his undergraduate degree at Ohio State in the ‘70s, Bender said a single course on East Asian art unveiled an unconsidered realm for him. Now a professor in the Department of East Asian Languages and Literature at Ohio State, Bender’s achievements in mentoring graduate students helped earn him the Kenneth Goldstein Award for Lifetime Academic Leadership from the American Folklore Society.
The award “recognizes outstanding abilities and achievement by a living scholar in academic leadership relating to folklore,” according to the American Folklore Society website.
When he first got the email notifying him of the award, Bender said he at first thought he hadn’t paid his membership dues. When he opened a follow up email, he said he was caught “flat-footed” by the honor.
“I was totally surprised,” Bender said. “And I still don’t understand why it was awarded to me.”
How he won was no mystery to Ziying You, a former graduate student of Bender’s and associate professor of Comparative Literature and Intercultural Studies at the University of Georgia. She helped lead a letter writing campaign to nominate him for the award.
“Professor Bender has been a brilliant role model for all of his students. He’s a brilliant teacher, scholar, researcher, mentor,” You said. “He cultivated a generation of amazing scholars.”
Bender advised You during her Ph.D. candidacy in East Asian Languages and Literature at Ohio State. Currently serving on the American Folklore Society board, You has published four books and is currently advising her own students.
“I’m trying to imitate Professor Bender’s style in teaching, in mentoring students in doing research,” You said. “He really tried to teach us how to stay current.”
Obtaining a bachelor’s degree, a master’s and a Ph.D. in East Asian languages and literature from Ohio State, Bender spent many years in southern China. He said he moved abroad for a year to a university in Wuhan and spent the rest of his time at Guangxi University in Nanning, China, Bender said.
Bender was later chair of the Department of East Asian Languages and Literature at the university for 12 years and has contributed significant research in many fields, specifically ethnic minority literature in China according to his online bio.
Bender said his proudest achievement is the graduate students he produces.
?“They’re all at the cutting edge of folklore studies right now,” Bender said.
You said Bender is currently contributing a chapter surrounding Asian folklore studies to an upcoming project in collaboration with her and other scholars in the field.
Bender said that though his award is for a lifetime of achievement, that doesn’t mean he’s about to stop teaching and mentoring.
“I’m not planning on retiring anytime soon,” Bender said. “So I’m hoping that this is just an acknowledgment of stuff so far.”
