John Francis McCourt (born 18 July 1965) is an Irish academic and professor of English literature who specializes in the works of James Joyce. He was appointed rector of the University of Macerata in 2022, becoming the first foreign rector of an Italian university.
McCourt was born in Dublin in 1965. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in English literature at University College Dublin in 1988, a Master of Arts in Anglo-Irish literature in 1989, and a doctorate in English literature in 1997.
Before completing his doctorate, McCourt served as an adjunct professor at Michigan State University in 1989 and taught English language at the British School of Trieste from 1991 to 1993. He worked with Franz Stanzel at the University of Graz in 1994 and became a professor of English language at the University of Udine from 1996 to 1998. He lectured at the University of Trieste from 1993 to 2005, where he was a research fellow for four years.
McCourt built his academic career in Italy, establishing himself as a scholar of English and Irish literature within the Italian university system. He became a professor of English literature at Roma Tre University in 2010, where he was director of the Research Centre for Irish and Scottish Studies. He was a visiting professor at the University of Pennsylvania in 2006 and Sorbonne University in 2016.
He joined the University of Macerata in 2017 and was appointed rector in 2022. His appointment at one of the oldest universities in Italy received media attention for being the first time that aa foreigner was appointed head of an Italian university. Michael Murphy, president of the European University Association, congratulated McCourt for breaking the perceived glass ceiling in Italian education.
McCourt has written on the relationship between Joyce and Italy, and on the broader cultural and literary connections between Ireland and the Italian peninsula. In 2020, McCourt became president of the International James Joyce Foundation. McCourt is a member of the Modern Language Association and the board of the International Yeats Summer School in Sligo, Ireland.