Keegan Cook Finberg

Keegan Cook Finberg is an Assistant Professor of English at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), with affiliate appointments in Gender, Women's, + Sexuality Studies and Language, Literacy & Culture. She teaches courses in modern and contemporary American literature, aesthetic and cultural theory, and poetry within the Department of English, located in the Performing Arts and Humanities Building.

Dr. Finberg earned her Ph.D. and M.A. in Literature from the University of California, Santa Cruz. Prior to joining UMBC, she taught literature, gender studies, creative writing, and academic writing at UC Santa Cruz, Vanderbilt University, and the University of Southern Indiana.

Her research spans poetry and poetics, transatlantic modernism, feminist studies, critical theory, and U.S. literature from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. She examines intersections between literary form and social transformation, particularly how poetry has evolved in relation to changing social welfare structures. Her work incorporates critical perspectives on race, gender, and urban space, with particular attention to contemporary digital environments and gentrification processes.

Finberg's scholarly output demonstrates a consistent focus on how poetic forms engage with social change, particularly examining the relationship between artistic expression and the transformation of the American welfare state. Her publications bridge academic literary criticism with public intellectual engagement, appearing in both scholarly journals and prominent literary venues.

• University of California Chancellor's Dissertation-Year Fellowship

Dr. Finberg maintains an active presence in both academic and creative writing communities, having published scholarly essays in Textual Practice and Canada and Beyond, while her public scholarship appears in Jacket2, The Rumpus, and The Believer. As a practicing poet, she contributes creative work that complements her academic research, creating a distinctive interdisciplinary approach to contemporary literary studies.