Ann Marie Rasmussen came to Duke University in 1988 from the "Deutsches Seminar" of the University of Berne in Switzerland, where she taught as an assistant professor for 2-1/2 years. She held a variety of leadership positions at Duke, including chairing the German department from 1/1/06 to 1/1/08 and chairing the Executive Committee of the Graduate Faculty from 2010-2013. From 2002 until 2009, she envisioned, initiated, and implemented the Carolina-Duke Graduate Program in German Studies, which was successfully launched with its first entering class in August 2009. Her research treats medieval literature and culture from the twelfth century to the Reformation. In her publications she combines gender studies with a variety of other approaches, including manuscript studies, the anthropology of gift-giving, visuality studies, and, most recently, material culture. She has published four books and over thirty articles. She is currently completing an interdisciplinary study of medieval badges and designing her next project, a digital humanities geo-referencing project on the late medieval saints' cult known as The Holy Kinship.

In January 2015 Rasmussen became Professor and Diefenbacker Memorial Chair in German Literary Studies at the University of Waterloo.