After completing a BS in Biology at Syracuse University, Professor Finn obtained her MA, MPhil and Ph.D in Modern European History from Columbia University, New York.

Professor Finn was an Assistant and then an Associate Professor at the Department of History, Emory University (1989 - 2000). In 2000 she was appointed a Warwick Research Fellow and Lecturer in History before becoming a Reader in History, and, in 2005, the Professor of Modern British History, the post she currently holds.