Student Bios

The Graduate Center's History students are diverse group, studying topics ranging from early modern food preparation to masculinity in eighteenth century India. Read a bit about their scholarly work below.

Current and past dissertation topics are also available online.

Rebecca Amato

Major Field: U.S. History Minor Field: History of Gender and Sexuality Degrees Conferred: B.S., Radio-TV-Film, Northwestern University; M.A. Cinema and Cultural Studies, New York University Status in Program: ABD Dissertation Title: Destination, Lower East Side: Slumming and the Making of Modern New York, 1880-1914

Damien Pierre Amblard

Major Field: American History (Intellectual History focus) Minor Field: Transnational History (Europe-US) Degrees Conferred: Maitrise en Histoire, Université de Toulouse, France, 2005; Licence (BA), History and Geography, Université de Toulouse, France, 2003. Status in Program: First-year student Selected Publications:"Henry Ford Must Choose," Le "fascisme" américain et le fordisme. Paris: Berg International Editeurs, 2007. My current field of study is the history of the Antimasonic movement in early-nineteenth-century America, with a particular emphasis on the ideological aspects of the phenomenon. I also intend to discuss the importance of European ideas in the development of Antimasonry in the United States. I previously worked on the history of fascism, and especially on American fascism, while I was a student in France. I also was fortunate to teach for 3 years in México where I had a most rewarding and enriching experience.

Zachary Berman

Major Field: Modern Middle East Minor Field: Modern Europe Degrees Conferred: BA in Religious Studies from UC Berkeley Status in Program: ABD Dissertation Title: Zubayr Pasha and Developments in the Nineteenth Century Nile Valley Slave Trade My research focuses on changes in the slave trade between Sudan and Egypt during the beginning of British control over Egypt, and particularly on the life of Zubayr Pasha, the most well-known participant in that trade.

Michael Brenes

Major Field: American History Minor Field: African American History Degrees Conferred: B.A., Hunter College, History and Special Honors Status in Program: Third Year Student My research interests include Post-1945 American political culture, the history of U.S. foreign relations, and social movements. I am particularly intrigued with how grassroots conservatives mobilized to oppose the U.S. government's efforts to achieve détente with the Soviet Union beginning with the Eisenhower administration and up to the inauguration of Ronald Reagan. I am also interested in how conservative critiques of détente affected the decisions of U.S. policy makers in shaping domestic and foreign policy during the Cold War.

Geoff G. Burrows

Major Field: U.S. History Minor Field: Film Studies (intended) Degrees Conferred: B.A. UC Berkeley (1995), M.A. Hunter College (2008) Status in Program: 2nd Year I am interested in U.S.—Mexican relations in the 1920s and 30s. I am specifically interested in exploring the changing role of State intervention in the cinematic representation of Mexico and Mexicans (including Mexican American citizens, Mexican immigrants and residents, and Mexican nationals). Federal intervention in this era ranged broadly from new immigration laws to economic policy to direct contacts between Washington, Wall Street, and Hollywood during both the Hoover and Roosevelt administrations.

Rachel Burstein

Major Field: American History Minor Field: African American History Status in Program: Third Year Student At present, my research focuses on the ways in which organized labor sought to influence public opinion during the Progressive Era. I am also interested in visual culture and the history of news media, particularly underground and minority-produced publications.

J. Brian Freeman

Major Field: Latin American History Minor Field: American History Degrees Conferred: B.A. University of Wisconsin-Madison Status in Program: Second Year My research focuses on post-revolutionary Mexico, the period of the so-called "Mexican Miracle" during which complex interactions between industrialization, urbanization, and transnationalism reshaped modern Mexico in profound ways. In particular I examine the rise of mass-tourism and the tensions surrounding cosmopolitan influences in the context of these changes.

David J. Gary

Major Field: American History Minor Field: Middle Eastern History Degrees Conferred: B.A. History, Gettysburg College (2000) Status in Program:Third Year My primary interest is in the 18th century, with an emphasis on the late colonial era and the early republic. Topics that appeal to me include the American Enlightenment, book history, the culture of gentility, as well as political and diplomatic history. I am currently working on a project examining the role of gentility in the Society of the Cincinnati. My planned dissertation will examine the intellectual and cultural influences of Rufus King, an early republic U.S. Senator and American Minister to Great Britain (1796-1803). A large part of my research will involve examining his 5,000 volume library. I am also part of the team cataloging the Henry Knox Papers at the Gilder Lehrman Collection.

Rachael B. Goldman

Major Field: Ancient History Minor Field: Renaissance History Degrees Conferred: Classics and Art History (Rutgers College - B.A. 1999); Classics (Rutgers University- M.A. 2004); American Arts and Arts Business (M.A. Sotheby's Arts Institute 2001). Status in Program: ABD Dissertation Title: Tinturae Romanorum: Cultural Constructions of Color-Terms in Roman Literature

Thomas Harbison

Major Field: American History Minor Field: Modern European History Degrees Conferred: M.S. Southern Connecticut State University; B.A. Duke University. Status in Program: ABD Dissertation Title: The Politics of Public Education in Harlem, 1917-1954. My research interests include educational, African-American, and urban history. Outside of my dissertation work, I serve as a Fellow for Instructional Technology at the Bernard L. Schwartz Communication Institute at Baruch College and as an Editorial Assistant at the Radical History Review.

David Heayn

Major Field: Ancient History Minor Field: Medieval European History Degrees Conferred: B.A. in History, Villanova University (2007); M.A. in History, Villanova University (2009) Status in Program: First-Year Student (Level I) Research Interests: I do Late Antiquity (Late Roman/ Early Byzantine/ Early Medieval) into the Early Islamic period in the Eastern Mediterranean, particularly the Levant region. My major field is then Ancient History and my Minor field is Medieval. I concentrate on socio-cultural and religious conflicts and syncretisms of transitional regions and periods.

Ben Hellwege

Major Field: American History Minor Field: Middle Eastern History Degrees Conferred: B.A. in History, The University of Chicago (2005) Status in Program: First-Year Student (Level I) Research Interests: Currently, my research interests include urban, political, and labor history. I am primarily interested in how political power can be used by both individuals and institutions, and in turn how the use of that power reflects the limits of democracy. Prior to commencing my studies at the Graduate Center I worked as a research analyst and as an editorial assistant.

David Houpt

Major Field: American History Minor Field: TBD Degrees Conferred: BA-The George Washington University, 2005; MA-George Mason University, 2009 Status in Program: First-Year Student (Level I) Selected Publication: "Securing A Legacy: The Publication of James Madison's Notes from the Constitutional Convention" The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography Winter 2010 Research Interests: My research interests are in the political culture of the Early American Republic. I am interested in Congress, elections, and the Enlightenment in America. My Master's thesis was entitled "Mysteries in Politiks: The Second Congressional Elections in the Districts of Worcester and Maine."

T. Scott Johnson

Major Field: Modern European History Minor Field: Intellectual History Degrees Conferred: BA, History, Magna cum laude in the Honors Program, 2007 from Denison University. Minor fields: English Literature and Philosophy. Status in Program: Second-Year Student (Level I) Research Interests: I am interested in modern and contemporary French intellectual history, mainly concerning philosophy and politics and instances where these themes converge on questions of violence and radical action. I am also broadly interested in the history of literature, philosophy, and the social sciences.

Jennifer Lynn Jordan

Major Field: Medieval European History Minor Field: Early Modern European History Degrees Conferred: B.A., NYU, Medieval and Renaissance Studies; M.A., NYU, Social Thought and the Humanities Status in Program: Second-Year Student (Level I) Research Interests: I am interested in family history, particularly the history of childhood. My other research interests include Italian medieval and early Renaissance history, popular medievalism, and hagiography.

Olga Koutseridi

Major Field: Ancient History Minor Field: Renaissance History Degrees Conferred: B.A. Ancient History and Classics from The Ohio State University Status in Program: First-Year Student (Level I) Research Interests: I am in the process of researching the Late Roman Republic and the extent of political power in the hands of Roman generals as well as the aims and interests behind the formation of the "First Triumvirate". My main focus of Research is in 5th century Athens, I am doing research towards my dissertation in answering the question as to why there are so few historical representations in Greek Art.

Lindsay Sarah Krasnoff

Major Field: Modern Europe Minor Field: History of the Body Degrees Conferred: MPhil History (Graduate Center), MA Journalism/French Studies (New York University), BA International Affairs (George Washington University) Status in Program: Dissertation Deposited Dissertation Title: State Sponsored Youth Sports Training in France, 1958-1992 Lindsay is a PhD student from Carlisle, Mass., who received her undergraduate degree in international affairs from The George Washington University and a master's degree in Journalism and French Studies from New York University. Her dissertation, "State Sponsored Youth Sports Training in France, 1958-1992," which focuses upon soccer and basketball, is an interdisciplinary study that examines the histories of the Cold War, decolonization, the 1960s, the youth movement and popular culture, globalization, television and advertising, the emergence of a multi-million dollar/euro professional sports business, race, and gender.

Carl Lindskoog

Major Field: American History Minor Field: Latin American History Degrees Conferred: M. Phil., History (Graduate Center, CUNY), M.A., History (Northern Illinois University), B.A., History (University of Iowa) Status in Program:ABD Dissertation Title: Haitian Workers and the Labor Movement in New York and South Florida, 1971-2001 My research sits at the intersection of labor, immigration and urban history in late-twentieth century America. My dissertation narrates the development of the Haitian communities in New York and South Florida from a labor history perspective and, in the process, highlights the importance of place in the historical experience of this group of immigrant workers. I am currently teaching courses on contemporary America (1945-present) and U.S. labor history at Queens College.

Gwynneth C. Malin

Major Field: American History Minor Field: Modern European History Degrees Conferred: B.A., History, Columbia University; M.A., History, New York University; Advanced Certificate in Archival Management, New York University. Status in Program: ABD Dissertation Title: How Water Became Public My research interests include social reform and comparative urban history, especially the intersection between local government, natural resources, and infrastructure/public works in 19th century New York.

John T. Massey

Major Field: Early Modern Europe Minor Field: Medieval History Degrees Conferred: B.A. History, Mathematics (Saint Peter's College) Status in Program: First-Year Student (Level I) Born and now living in Brooklyn, John Massey has just begun his first year at the Graduate Center. He is interested in the political theory of Machiavelli in Early Modern Italy. Other interests include war, diplomacy, and gender on the Italian peninsula in the same period. During his undergraduate studies, John wrote a senior research paper on the English Renaissance man John Dee and a thesis analyzing Machiavelli's character versus that of Castiglione's Courtier and using that as reason for the political failure of the former in his career.

Stan Mirvis

Major Field: Jewish History (early modern) Minor Field: Modern Europe Degrees Conferred: MA, Modern Jewish History (Bernard Revel Graduate School); BA, Psychology (Yeshiva University), AA, Jewish Studies (Isaac Breuer College) Status in Program:Level II Stan Mirvis studies Jewish social history of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. His first year research focused on secular curiosities in eighteenth century Hebrew travel literature, in particular the Ma'agal Tov of Ha'im Y. D. Azulai. For his second year research, Stan has investigated Jewish cultural life in the colonial Caribbean with a focus on Jamaica where he has conducted archival research. Additionally, Stan is the managing editor of the AJS Review and an assistant editor with the Center For Online Judaic Studies (COJS.org). He can be contacted at SMirvis@gc.cuny.edu

Joe Murphy

Major Field: American History Minor Field: European History Status in Program: Year 3 Research Interests: With a focus on the printed debates of the early American republic, I study the rhetorical styles that "middling" and elite writers used to claim intellectual authority. I try to show how competing interpretations of events in the press (such as the Genet Affair of 1793) relate to class interests, political ideologies, and divergent readings of the Constitution. In the course of my studies, I have become fascinated with the language the Founders used to justify and defend the Constitution, and how that language was borrowed, rejected, or transformed by middling and plebeian writers in the press. I have also written about competing newspaper accounts of early American Indian policy and plan to do something similiar regarding an aspect of slavery. In the future, too, I plan to bring a transatlantic perspective to my work, particularly with regard to the development of public opinion in late eighteenth-century France and England.

Paul D. Naish

Major Field: American History Minor Field: Latin American History Degrees Conferred: B.A., Yale College, 1982; M.A. in American Studies, Columbia University, 1999; M.A. in U.S. History, 2004 Status in Program: A.B.D. Dissertation Title: Looking at Latin America, Thinking About the United States: The Construction of U.S. Nationalism through Comparison with its Southern Neighbors, 1826-1861. In 2004 Paul entered the doctoral program at the Graduate Center with 18 years' experience developing theater education programs for New York City public schools. He intended to study post-World War II urban history and hoped to begin a career as a public historian. Four years later, he loves every minute of his work as an adjunct, teaching history and American Studies at Lehman College, and working on his dissertation, which examines how antebellum nationalists used comparisons with Latin America in the construction of a U.S. identity.

Daniel Newsome

Major Field: History of Science Minor Field: Early Modern European History Degrees Conferred: B.A. in physics from Bard College Other Education: Studied painting and drawing at the New York Studio School, 1986-89. Status in Program: ABD Dissertation Title: Quadrivial Pursuit: Case Studies in the Conceptual Foundation of the Mathematical Arts in the Late Middle Ages and Renaissance. Other interests include Medieval theories of perception, Early Modern Natural Philosophy, Early 20th-century atomic theories, as well as a variety of premodern crafts skills.

Brendan O'Malley

Major Field: American History (19th C) Minor Field: Urban History Degrees Conferred: B.A. with Departmental Honors in History, Vassar College, 1992; M. Phil. in U.S. History, Graduate Center, 2009 Selected Publications: Co-editor of _Home Fronts: A Wartime America Reader_ (New Press, 2008) with Michael S. Foley Status in Program: ABD Fellowships: Chancellor's Fellow, 2006-2009; Writing Fellow, 2009-Present Dissertation Title: Before Ellis Island: The Castle Garden Emigrant Depot, 1855-1890. Abstract: Today it is hard to imagine that anything of importance ever happened at the Castle Clinton site in Battery Park in Manhattan. In a city filled with spectacular architecture—vertiginous skyscrapers and soaring bridges—the humble reddish-brown sandstone fort barely registers. The crudely hewn walls, twenty feet high and eight feet thick, look almost a product of nature rather than one of human hands. Robert Moses nearly succeeded in leveling the structure in 1941 to make way for his never-built Battery-to-Brooklyn bridge. Looking upon the old fort, it seems incongruous that it was once the site where over eight million immigrants anxiously awaited entry into the United States between 1855 and 1890, in a space with “less volume than a Staples,” as one blogger recently put it. Most Americans have heard of Ellis Island. They learn about it in school, by watching movies like The Godfather II, or even by visiting the museum on Ellis Island itself that opened with great fanfare in 1990. Many Americans whose ancestors came from Europe to the United States in the nineteenth century assume their predecessors arrived via that storied facility. But the federal immigration station on Ellis Island did not open its doors until 1892. If anyone’s ancestors emigrated from Europe to the United States in the latter half of the nineteenth century, odds are that they passed through the Castle Garden Emigrant Landing Depot at the tip of Manhattan. A central aim of this dissertation is to recover and restore the critical place that the Castle Garden Emigrant Depot has in the history of immigration to the United States.

Adriana Pérez

Major Field: Latin American History Minor Field: Women's Studies Status in Program: ABD Dissertation Title: Bandits, Spies, Mercenaries or Traitors? The Spy Company and the Mexican American War, 1846-1847. My dissertation, broadly speaking, deals with popular political participation, outlawry and nationhood in early and mid nineteenth century Mexico. My dissertation advisor is Prof. Alfonso W. Quiroz.

Anna Pervukhin

Major Field: Medieval EuropeanHistory Minor Field: Early Modern European History Status in Program: Level I Research Interests : My scholarship concentrates on English legal history and canon law.

Paul Polgar

Major Field: American History Minor Field: African American History Degrees Conferred: MA (2007) George Mason University, History; BS Boston University (2004), Print Journalism Status in Program: ABD My research interests lie in the early American republic with a specific concentration in slavery, politics, and antislavery movements. My current research explores the changing conceptions of race and antislavery reform in the early national North--from American Independence to the emergence of the second party system. My Masters thesis examined the first public debate over slavery and race at the federal level in 1790. I have also written on the politically partisan motives behind black disenfranchisement at the New York Constitutional Convention of 1821 and African American protest to the film The Birth of a Nation. In addition, I currently teach the first half of the U.S. survey at Queens College, and I continue editorial work on the Public Opinion Project--a digital collection of public opinion pieces penned on the issues facing the First Federal Congress (1789-1791) and published in the nation's newspapers. earlyamericanopinion.org

Tracy E. Robey

Major Field: Early Modern Europe Minor Field: Race and Slavery Degrees Conferred: B.A., 2004, Grand Valley State University Status in Program: ABD Dissertation Title: "The Black Medici: Politics, Illegitimacy, Race, Sex, and Death in Renaissance Florence" Raised in the aptly-named town of Clio, Michigan, Tracy Robey specializes in Renaissance Italy and plans to write her dissertation on the life and times of Duke Alessandro de' Medici of Florence (r. 1530-7). Tracy's other scholarly interests include the history of prejudice and racism from ancient times to the present, "damnation of memory" punishments in Rome and Renaissance Italy, and early modern agriculture and food history. Tracy is advised by Professor Margaret King.

Brian Smollett

Major Field: Jewish History Minor Field: Modern European History Degrees Conferred: M.A., The Jewish Theological Seminary of America (Interdisciplinary Jewish Studies); M.A., Binghamton University (Modern History); B.A., Binghamton University (Philosophy and Judaic Studies) Status in Program:First-Year My primary interests are the history of Jewish nationalism and the tension between Enlightenment thought and the particularism of nationalist and religious traditions. I have explored these themes through my recent research on the life and thought of Hans Kohn.

Cheryl Szetela

Major Field: Modern European History Minor Field: Early European History Status in Program: ABD Dissertation Topic: The interaction of 19th century colonial policy & "gentlemanly capitalists" w/ Colonial Emigration Companies, British Stock Market/Business Practices & Indigenous/non-indigenous colonial populations. Currently- P/T Associate Professor at Quinnipiac University in CT.

Amy Van Natter

Major Field: United States History Minor Field: African History Degrees Conferred: BA in Sociology, Wayne State University, May 1997; MA in History, Wayne State University, September 2002 Status in Program:Advanced to Candidacy October 2005 Dissertation Title: The Mary Carver Affair: United States Foreign Policy and the African Squadron, 1841-1845 https://wfs.gc.cuny.edu/AVanNatter/www/AmyVanNatter.htm

Clare Wilson

Major Field: Medieval European History Minor Field: Global History Degrees Conferred: B.S., Emerson College, Mass Communications; M.A., Marquette University, History: Medieval Europe Status in Program: Second-Year Student (Level I) Research Interests: I am interested in the troubadours and contextualizing their compositions. My other research interests include medieval notions of identity, cross-culturalism, and medieval organum/polyphony.

Eytan A Zadoff

Major Field: Medieval EuropeanHistory Minor Field: Jewish History Advisor: Thomas Head Research Interests : I am primarily interested in the development of medieval natural law theories and their use as tools in the judicial process as well as the evolution of medieval communities of law and the interplay between law and society. More generally, my interests focus on Jewish law, comparative Jewish- Canon law, medieval Jewish history and the history of the medieval church.

Ellen Zitani

Major Field: Modern European History (Italian focus) Minor Field: Global Queer History Degrees Conferred: M.A. Southern Connecticut State University (Women's Studies); B.A., Smith College (Women's Studies) Status in Program:Advanced to Candidacy Ellen Zitani is a doctoral candidate in the Department of History. She has passed her Italian, Spanish, Written and Oral exams. Her written exam was in the field of Modern European History. Her oral exam was in the fields of Modern European History, Modern Italian History, and Global Queer History. Ellen's dissertation will focus on the conceptions of same-sex desire and gender identity in turn-of-the-century Italy.

Ran Zwigenberg

Major Field: Modern East Asia/Japan Minor Field: Modern Europe Degrees Conferred: Hunter College CUNY (B.A) Status in Program:Second year My primary research is on the changing and contested place of Hiroshima, its memorial sites and the bomb's survivors in postwar Japanese society. I am particularly interested in studying these issues through a comparative framework which includes the experiences of Israelis and Germans in relation to the Shoa. Other interests and prior research include Japanese intellectual history, in particular Japanese Marxism and the Kyoto school, and the Japanese colonial empire, particularly Manchuria.