Margaret P. Karns is Professor Emerita of Political Science at the University of Dayton, former director of the International Studies Program, and the founding director of the University of Dayton's Center for International Programs from 1983 to 1995. She specializes in international politics, foreign policy analysis, and international organizations, including the United Nations, with a particular emphasis on U.S. foreign policy and multilateral institutions. With Professor Karen Mingst of the University of Kentucky she has published three books: International Organizations: The Politics and Processes of Global Governance (2nd edn., 2010), The United States and Multilateral Institutions: Patterns of Instrumentality and Influence (1990) and The United Nations in the Post-Cold War Era (3rd edn., 2006) as well as numerous articles on UN peacekeeping, global governance, and the future of the UN system.

During 1995-96, Professor Karns was Visiting Professor of International Relations at the John Hopkins University-Nanjing University Center for Chinese and American Studies in Nanjing, China. She returned to Asia in 1998 to teach a training course on "Multilateral Diplomacy and the United Nations System" for mid-career Vietnamese officials at The Institute of International Relations in Hanoi and again in May 2006 to lecture and serve as a consultant to the International Studies program at National University of Vietnam in Hanoi. In April 2007, she co-taught a workshop for thirty Vietnamese faculty in international relations on "International Relations since the Cold War's End" with Professor Karen Mingst. She is a past Vice President of International Studies Association, a national member of the New York-based Council on Foreign Relations, and long-time board member and past President of the Dayton Council on World Affairs.