Graduate Students
I have enjoyed and benefited from working with graduate students in History and neighboring fields since I first began teaching in September 1967. Here are graduate students for whom I have served as major professor or committee member since 1990.
University of Pittsburgh
Major professor for:
Matt Drwenski, Matriculated at Pitt 2013. I serve as major professor. Specialization in World
History with interest in world-historical data, including historical silver flows and global
economic inequality.
Ahmet Izmirlioglu. Ph.D. 2015. I serve as major professor. Dissertation, "Clashes of Imperial
Authority: Commercial Tribunals in the Ottoman Provinces and Istanbul, 1847-1880."
Bennett Sherry, MA, University of Montana, 2012. Matriculated at Pitt 2013, ABD 2014.
I serve as major professor. Specialization in World History with interest in 20th-century
refugee populations and their governance under League of Nations and United Nations.
Madalina Veres. Ph.D. 2015. Specialization in European and World History. I serve as major
professor with co-director Pinar Emiralioglu. Dissertation, "Constructing Imperial Spaces:
Habsburg Cartography in the Age of Enlightenment."
Daniel Bisbee. Matriculated 2009, MA 2011 in Empires in World History. Now ABD in Pitt Graduate
School of Public and International Affairs.
PhD Committee member for:
Jack Bouchard, Atlantic History. MA, McGill University, 2013. Matriculated at Pitt 2013, ABD 2014.
Major professor Marcus Rediker. Dissertation project, "Maritime Commerce in the Far North
Atlantic 1450-1630."
Titas Chakraborty. Ph.D. 2016. Indian Ocean History. Major professor Marcus Rediker.
Dissertation, "Work and Society in the East India Company Settlements in Bengal,
1650 – 1757."
Isaac Curtis. ABD. 2009. Atlantic and Latin American History. Major professor Marcus Rediker.
Dissertation project, "The Common Sea: Masterless People and the Making of the Colonial
Caribbean, 1600-171330."
James Hommes. Ph.D. 2014. Japanese History. Major professor Richard Smethurst.
Dissertation, "Verbeck of Japan: Guido F. Verbeck as Missionary, oyatoi, and Hero."
Tamara Meisner. Ph.D. 2014 (Geology & Planetary Science). Major professor Daniel Bain.
Dissertation, "Geochemical and lithologic response of an upland watershed over the past 800
years to landscape changes in Saône-et-Loire, France."
Rachel Miller. Ph.D. 2016. Major professor Ann Sutherland Harris. Dissertation, "Patron Saint of a
World in Crisis: Early Modern Representations of St. Francis Xavier in Europe and Asia."
Christopher Myers. Ph.D. 2016, European History. Major professor Seymour Drescher.
Dissertation, "Steering The Seas of Reform:Education, Empirical Science, And Royal Naval
Medicine, 1815-1860."
Sardana Nikolaeva, Ph.D. 2013 (Education). Major professor John Weideman. Dissertation, ""Not
Tainted By The Past": Re-Constructions and Negotiations of Coloured Identities Among
Coloured University Students in Post-Apartheid South Africa."
Lars Peterson. Ph.D. 2014. Latin American History. Major professor George Reid Andrews.
Dissertation, "In the Shadow of Batlle: Workers, State Officials, and the Creation of the
Welfare State in Uruguay, 1900-1920."
Steven Pitt. Ph.D. 2015. Atlantic History. Major professor Marcus Rediker. Dissertation,
“City upon the Atlantic Tides: Merchants, Pirates, and the Seafaring Community of Boston.”
Yevan Terrien. ABD, Atlantic History. Major professor Marcus Rediker. Dissertation project,
"Forced migrants, displaced people, and refugees in Lower Louisiana (1710s-1810s)."
Kenyon Zimmer. Ph.D. 2010. U.S. History. Major Professor Marcus Rediker. Assistant Professor of
History, University of Texas – Arlington.
Northeastern University
Major professor for:
Joshua Weiner. PhD. 2009. Admitted 2000; MA thesis 2003. I served as major professor.
Advanced to candidacy in July 2003, with passage of comprehensive exams and approval of
dissertation topic: "'Discoveries are not to be called Conquests': Narrative, Empire, and the
Ambiguity of Conquest in Spain's American Empire." Now Instructor of History at American
River College.
Aiqun Hu. PhD 2007. Admitted 2000, matriculated 2001. I served as major professor. Advanced to
candidacy in November 2003, with passage of comprehensive exams and approval of
dissertation topic: "Social Insurance: Modern China in Global Context." I became her major
professor in June 2004. She is Assistant Professor of History at Arkansas State University.
Tiffany Trimmer. PhD 2007. Admitted 1998, completed MA degree 2000. I served as major
professor. Took leave in 2000, and returned to doctoral study in 2002. Advanced to candidacy
in July 2003, with passage of comprehensive exams and approval of dissertation topic: "'Hubs'
of Migration Traffic." Assistant Professor of History at University of Wisconsin La Crosse.
Stacy Tweedy. PhD. 2004. Admitted 2000; MA thesis May 2002. I served as major professor.
Advanced to candidacy in January 2003, with passage of comprehensive exams and approval
of dissertation topic: "Staging the Nation, Engaging the World: The Making of a Prism Place in
the African Diaspora. Sophiatown in Twentieth-Century South African Politics and Popular
Thought." Law degree (2007) Washington University of St. Louis. Now employed as an
educational consultant in Baltimore.
Whitney Howarth. PhD. 2004. Admitted 1997. I served as major professor. Advanced to
candidacy in June 1999, with passage of comprehensive exams and approval of dissertation
topic: "Communalism in South Asia in Global Context." Now Associate Professor of History at
Plymouth State University.
Deborah S. Johnston. PhD. 2003. Admitted 1997. I served as major professor. Advanced to
candidacy in October 2000, with passage of comprehensive exams and approval of
dissertation topic: "Reconceptualizing World History: A Curriculum for Secondary and College
Students." Now teacher of history at Lakeside School, Seattle.
Yinghong Cheng. PhD. 2001. Admitted 1994. I served as major professor. Advanced to candidacy
in June 1996, with passage of comprehensive exams and approval of dissertation topic:
"Western Intellectuals and Eastern 'New People' -- Western Left-Wing Intellectuals' Response
to the Emergence of the Communist 'New Man'." Now Associate Professor of History at
Delaware State University.
Jeffrey Sommers. PhD. 2001. Admitted 1996. I served as major professor. Advanced to candidacy
in June 1998, with passage of comprehensive exams and approval of dissertation topic: "'The
Business Point of View': Democracy and Hegemony in the World System, Capital's Public
Relations and Propaganda Agenda." Now Associate Professor of Africology at University of
Wisconsin – Milwaukee.
Eric L. Martin. PhD. 2001. Admitted 1996. I served as major professor. Advanced to candidacy in
August 1996, with passage of comprehensive exams and approval of dissertation topic:
"Twentieth-century Decolonization: a Connected Global Process." Now Associate Professor of
History at Lewis and Clark State University.
Pamela E. Brooks. PhD. 2000. Admitted 1994. I served as major professor. Advanced to
candidacy in August 1996, with passage of comprehensive exams and approval of dissertation
topic: "Boycotts, Buses, and Passes: Black Women's Resistance in Montgomery, Alabama and
Johannesburg, South Africa, 1946-1960." Now Associate Professor of African-American
Studies at Oberlin College
David Kalivas. PhD. 2000. Admitted 1996. I served as major professor. Advanced to candidacy in
August 1996, with passage of comprehensive exams and approval of dissertation topic: "Global
Perceptions, Eurasian Realities: The World of Owen Lattimore." Now Professor of History at
Middlesex Community College.
Desiree Evans. Admitted 1995. I served as major professor. Two years of course work, with focus
on Caribbean history. Took leave from the program.
Hector E. Melo. Admitted 1997. I served as major professor. Advanced to candidacy in October
1998, with passage of comprehensive exams and approval of dissertation topic: "Latin
American Migrations in the Twentieth Century: A Survey of Trends, Relationships, and
Development." Deceased in August 1999.
PhD Committee member for:
George Dehner (Wichita State University). PhD. 2004. Admitted 1998, major professor Anthony
Penna. Advanced to candidacy in May 2001, with passage of comprehensive exams and
approval of dissertation topic. Now Associate Professor of History at Wichita State University.
Jeremy Neill (Educational Testing Service). PhD. 2004. Admitted 1998, major professor Laura
Frader. Advanced to candidacy in May 2001, with passage of comprehensive exams and
approval of dissertation topic. Now a member of the professional staff at Educational Testing
Service.
Bin Yang (National University of Singapore). PhD. 2004. Admitted 1998, major professor Christina
Gilmartin. Advanced to candidacy in May 2001, with passage of comprehensive exams and
approval of dissertation topic. Winner of a Gutenberg-e award in 2005 for his dissertation.
Now Associate Professor of History at the National University of Singapore.
George Reklaitis (Brookdale Community College). PhD. 2003. Admitted 1998, major professor
Jeffrey Burds. Now Assistant Professor and Chair of History at Brookdale Community College.
Other Institutions
Nicole Magie (History, Michigan State University). Ph.D. 2014. Major professor Leslie Moch.
Dissertation, "Italians and Brazilians in a World on the Move: Caxias, Brazil, 1870 – 1910."
Assistant Professor of History at Olivet College.
Linda Black (Education, Texas A&M University). PhD. 2008. Admitted to doctoral program in
Education in 2002 for dissertation work on learning in world history classrooms; major
professor Lynn Burlbaw. Now Associate Professor of Education at Stephen F. Austin
University.
Armand Garcia (Washington State University). PhD. 2006. Admitted 2000, major professor John
Kicza. Now Assistant Professor at University of the West Indies, St. Augustine.
H. Parker James (Tufts University). Ph.D. 2001. Under the direction of Lynda N. Shaffer. He
served as Associate Director of the World History Center, 2002-2004.
John Bernhart (Temple University). Ph.D. awarded 2001 at pTemple University, under the
direction of Peter Gran.
Rosalie Haines (Bryn Mawr College). Ph.D. 1990 in Anthropology at Bryn Mawr College, under the
direction of Judith Shapiro.
Further, I have advised numerous M.A. students in History, several of whom have gone on to do
doctoral work at major universities. In years before 1994, at various times I have had primary
or secondary responsibility for supervising the work of doctoral students in History at Stanford
University, McGill University, and Columbia University.