Her doctoral dissertation, supervised by Dell Hymes, was "Sharing In the One: An Ethnography of Speaking in a Mystical Religious Community."
She taught for twenty-four years in Memorial University of Newfoundland's folklore department, and in 1991 was cross-appointed to their School of Medicine.
In 2006 she gave a presentation through The American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress as part of the Benjamin Botkin lecture series, "What's in a Name?
"[2] She held a three-year appointment to the Canadian Federal Committee for AIDS Priorities and Policy.
Speaking in an interview shortly before her appointment as the American Folklore Society’s president elect, Goldstein is quoted as stating, "I am a firm believer that folklore, in its various guises, has vital perspectives on critical social issues…" but she also added, "I have extensive experience…convincing others outside of our discipline of the significance of our disciplinary perspectives and [I] would like to explore ways that we can better present those perspectives…to make our relevance visible within the academy, with the public and with cultural policymakers".