Megan Behrent

Megan Behrent is an Associate Professor of English at City Tech, CUNY, specializing in twentieth and twenty-first century American literature with a focus on literature and social movements at the intersection of race, gender, sexuality, and class. Her scholarship bridges literary studies, feminist theory, and social justice activism, with particular emphasis on the intellectual legacies of Audre Lorde and Adrienne Rich.

Behrent's research centers on the intersection of poetry and political activism, most notably through her forthcoming book Poetry & Politics: Audre Lorde, Adrienne Rich, and the Women's Liberation Movement. Her work examines how these iconic feminist writers navigated differences in race, sexuality, and class while building solidarity, and how their poetry served as both political tool and personal lifeline. Her scholarship spans feminist literary history, Black feminism, queer theory, and critical pedagogy.

Her publications appear in prestigious journals including Arizona Quarterly, College Literature, Harvard Educational Review, SIGNS: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, and Workplace: a Journal of Academic Labor. She has also contributed to important collections such as Inside Our Schools (Harvard Education Press, 2017) and Education and Capitalism (Haymarket Books, 2012).

Behrent has received significant research support including a National Endowment of the Humanities faculty award (2020-2021), multiple PSC-CUNY Research grants, and a fellowship at the Center for Place, Culture, and Politics. These awards have enabled her archival work on feminist literary history and social movements.

She actively participates in the CUNY academic community through collaborations with Lost & Found: The CUNY Poetics Document Initiative and the Graduate Students' Council at the CUNY Graduate Center. Her scholarly presentations often focus on the contemporary relevance of feminist literary traditions and their applications to current social justice movements.