A native of Pisa, Italy, Dr. Palmer received her bachelor's degree and doctorate at the University of Pisa in 1956 and did additional graduate studies in the United States before coming to the University of Delaware in 1964. She became a full professor in 1988, and was actively teaching at the time of her death. She was a member of the core faculty in the University Honors Program and an affiliated faculty member in the Women's Studies Program.
Dr. Palmer was a two-time winner of the University of Delaware Lindbach Teaching Award and received special grants and awards in teaching. The courses she taught most regularly were Contemporary Moral Problems, Ancient Philosophy, Modern Philosophy and graduate-level courses in Plato and Kant. Many of her students went on to graduate school in philosophy.
Dr. Palmer published many articles, notes, review articles and reviews and participated extensively in international conferences. She published a translation from the Latin of The First Book on Metaphysics of Gian Battista Vico (Cornell University Press, 1988) and co-edited two other books on philosophy.
Dr. Palmer was very active in University governance, serving on many important committees in the College of Arts and Sciences and in the University Faculty Senate, as well as various college and University-wide administrative committees.