She also holds an appointment in the Program in Medieval Studies. She received her PhD from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in the History of Art in 2000. Her dissertation and subsequent research investigates the intersection of medieval literature and art in Northern Europe in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries and addresses such issues as artistic practices, visual storytelling, medieval literary culture, and patronage. She has published a number of essays and given many presentations at scholarly conferences on the topic. Prof. Carns is a devout Catholic and member of the St. John’s Catholic Chapel community at the University of Illinois.