Although I sometimes teach general survey courses for Western Civ, I focus most of my historical research on fourteenth-century Siena, Italy, in Tuscany and about an hour’s bus ride from Florence. I originally applied to graduate school with the intention of studying thirteenth-century socio-political history in England, but I fell hard-and-fast in love with Italy. This probably has something to do with my family’s Mediterranean heritage and my admiration of people who basically charge the same price for wine as water on the lunch menu.
Landscape of Siena, including the duomo in the background
I recently finished my PhD in medieval-Renaissance Europe. My dissertation examined the cultural role Roman antiquity (both pagan and Christian antiquity) played in informing politics, religion, and civic identity in fourteenth-century Siena. Blood was sweat, meals were put off, sleep was non-existent. It’s a pretty rad diploma though.
Waking hours are currently devoted to finishing my first journal article, on 14th c. and 15th c. Siena, the memorializing of history (invented and real), and memory.
As an assistant professor, I regularly teach Western Civilization courses: HIST 101 (Western Civ before 1500) and HIST 102 (Western Civ since 1500). I also teach an upper-level four-semester sequence on early modern Europe, including topics close to my field of study, like the early Renaissance and Women in European history. Most recently, I have designed a graduate seminar on popular movements and experiences of the early modern period, including the general population’s role in war, intellectual experiences, women, Africans in early modern Europe, and religious experience.
I am also heavily invested in researching local history of my area, for which I have a few publications.
