Mearah Quinn-Brauner received a BA in English from Oberlin College and an MA and PhD in English from University of Pennsylvania. Her teaching and research interests include the history of English as a discipline, 19th and 20th century American literature, African American studies, and film. Her dissertation, "Recovering the Conflicts: Memoirs of the Late-Twentieth Century American Literary Academy," focuses on recent memoirs by academic literary critics as they illuminate conflicts within English as a discipline.