Born in New York City, Foley attended Harvard University from 1965-69, graduating Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude; she earned her Ph.D. with Honors from the University of Chicago in 1976 [REF].
Foley has been the recipient of awards for both teaching and scholar-activism at Rutgers University-Newark, as well of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities[REF] and the American Council of Learned Societies [REF].