Kathryn McKinley

Kathryn McKinley is a Professor of English at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), specializing in Medieval Literature with a focus on Chaucer, Ovid, and Boccaccio. She has secured prestigious grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Philosophical Society, and the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, and was appointed UMBC Presidential Teaching Professor for 2021-2024.

• Ph.D. in English, University of Delaware
• M.A. in Classics, University of Toronto
• B. Phil. in English/Classics, Pennsylvania State University

Her research explores the social vision and aesthetics of late medieval vernacularity, manuscript studies, and intertextual relationships between Dante, Boccaccio, and Chaucer. She founded UMBC’s interdepartmental minor in Medieval and Early Modern Studies (MEMS).

Key publications include Chaucer’s House of Fame and Its Boccaccian Intertexts (2016), Ovid in the Middle Ages (2011), and Reading the Ovidian Heroine (2001). These works analyze classical reception, vernacular poetics, and gender constructions in medieval and early modern periods.

• National Endowment for the Humanities Grant
• American Philosophical Society Grant
• Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center Grant
• UMBC Presidential Teaching Professor (2021-2024)

McKinley’s research bridges manuscript studies, intertextuality, and cross-cultural literary analysis, emphasizing the evolution of vernacular literature and its connections to classical traditions.