Dr. Joni Hand received her Ph. D. from the City University of New York Graduate Center in 2010. She also has a M.A. in painting from Hunter College in New York, and a B.A. in Graphic Design from Kent State University. Hand’s research focuses on illuminated manuscripts from Northern Europe, and female patronage in the late-Medieval period. Her book, Women, Manuscripts, and Identity in Northern Europe, 1350-1550, will be published in February of 2013. She has spoken at numerous conferences including the 46th Annual International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI in 2011, Scholars, Explorers, and Priests: How the Renaissance Gave Us the Modern World at the Godwin-Ternbach Museum, Queens College, NY in 2011, and the New York City Inter-University Consortium Annual Medieval Studies Colloquium, Fordham University, NY in 2008.