He holds a professorship in Popular Culture at Bowling Green State University and is Director of the Bowling Green Center for Culture Studies. His work has primarily focused on ritual, celebrations, and holidays as well as occupational culture and popular music. He has been a featured expert on a television special produced by the History Channel, about Halloween.

Along with Paul Wagoner, Santino produced Miles of Smiles, Years of Struggle a film, winner of four regional Emmy Awards on African American Pulman car unionisation.

From 1996 to 2000 Santino was the editor of the Journal of American Folklore. Over 2002-3 Santino was the President of the American Folklore Society.

He was born in Boston, Massachusetts on August 1, 1947.and received a bachelor's degree in English at Boston College. He then studied Folklore at the University of Pennsylvania, where he gained his Ph. D. in 1978. His thesis was entitled "The outlaw emotions : workers' narratives from three contemporary occupations" .He has nine published books listed in WorldCat