Kathleen Kamerick was recognized with the 2008 President and Provost Award for Teaching Excellence, a university-wide award that recognizes faculty members who have demonstrated a sustained level of teaching excellence.

She has taught in the Department of History since 1996. She regularly teaches the large general education survey course in Western Civilization, and has developed colloquia and other courses focused on medieval and early modern European history, history of the book, and women’s history. In the large survey courses, where many students are not expected to go on to study the subject in greater depth, Kamerick gives students practice in writing well and in analyzing primary and secondary sources -- skills that will serve them well in any field of study.

Her research focuses on the religious culture of northern Europe in the late Middle Ages, particularly the beliefs and practices of ordinary people. Her book, Popular Piety and Art in the Late Middle Ages (Palgrave/St. Martin’s Press, 2002), examines the patronage of religious art and popular responses to that art. Her current research explores magic, superstition, and religious beliefs in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries..

Kathleen has also worked on the history of late medieval manuscript books and early printed books, both of which formed a significant part of the material religious culture of the time. She is an affiliate of the UI’s Center for the Book and currently serves on its advisory board.