Starnes was the President of King's from 1993 until 2003. He replaced Marion Golda Fry and was succeeded by William Barker.
Starnes is an authority on Saint Augustine and Thomas More. His published works include the book ''The New Republic: A Commentary on Book I of More's Utopia Showing Its Relation to Plato's Republic'' (Wilfrid Laurier University Press 1990), and ''Augustine's Conversion: A Guide to the Argument of Confessions, I-IX''. He contributed a paper on Virgil and Plato to a volume commemorating the philosopher James Doull, and in addition has published a number of articles in Dionysius and elsewhere.