Carolyn Cavanaugh Toft earned her bachelor's in psychology with honors from Duke University. She completed her masters and doctorate in Clinical Psychology from Arizona State University, where her research interests were in eating disorders and childhood obesity. She completed her predoctoral internship in Clinical Psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Medical School. She is a licensed psychologist who has worked in different clinical settings and supervised doctoral students in the Clinical Psychology program. She has taught upper- and lower-division classes in the Department of Psychology for more than 20 years. Additionally, she heads up the Early Start program for incoming psychology students.