Rebekah Fitzsimmons

Rebekah Fitzsimmons is an Assistant Teaching Professor at the Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University. She previously held a Marion L. Brittain Postdoctoral Fellowship at Georgia Tech's School of Literature, Media, and Communication (2015–2019), serving as Assistant Director of the Writing and Communication Program (2018–2019).
She earned a PhD and MA in English Literature from the University of Florida and a BA in Creative Writing and English from Emory University (2006).

Research Interests: Specializes in children’s and young adult literature, focusing on the social/intellectual history of children’s literature in the U.S., markers of prestige/popularity (awards, bestseller lists), and their circulation of cultural/economic capital. Current projects include a book analyzing expertise in children’s literature and a Digital Humanities project on Caroline Hewins’ 1882 canonical book list, using data mining and stylometric analysis.

Teaching: Courses in children’s literature, American literature, composition (e.g., propaganda in YA dystopia, science rhetoric in children’s texts), and technical communication. Teaching portfolio available online.

Labs/Projects: Leads Digital Humanities work on canonical formation in children’s literature, leveraging computational methods to analyze historical texts.