PhDs in History, 1990-Present

Keep in touch! If you have any updates or corrections for this database, please email history@bu.edu. Consider filling out our Alumni Profile Form to let us know what you’re up to and what you’ve learned.

 

Name Dissertation Title Major Advisor Graduation Year Current Position
Rachel Weiser “Like Mother, Like Daughter: Three Generations of Socialist Women in the German Democratic Republic, 1949-1989” Professor Jonathan Zatlin Jan-24 Lecturer at BU
Johnathan Williams “Big-Box Nation: Target and the Making of a Retail World” Professor Sarah Phillips May-23 Lecturer at BU
Charley Binkow “‘She Forces Nature’: Nature and the Criminalization of Abortion” Professor Nina Silber Jan-24
Dalia Haitayan “The Greatest Evangelizing Opportunity of the Century: Mexican Immigration and the Religious Right” Professor Bruce Schulman May-23
Jeanna Kinnebrew “Sexual Health in the Puritan City, 1880-1980” Professor Brooke Blower Aug-23
Joshua Castillo “Lingala Franca: Language and Political Power in Mobutu’s Congo/Zaire: 1965-1997” Professor Linda Heywood Aug-23 Lecturer at BU
John Seth Anderson “Straight Talk: Elite Universities and the Genesis of Gay Conversion Therapy, 1900-2015” Professor Bruce Schulman Aug-23
Patrick Browne “The Ordeal of Homecoming: Returning Union Soldiers and Northern Civilians” Professor Nina Silber Aug-22 Director, Plymouth MA Historical Society
Cari Babitzke “Man, Machine, Myth: The Politics of Gun Control in the Twentieth Century US” Professor Bruce Schulman Aug-22
Jamie Grishkan “Banking, Law, and American Liberalism: The Rise and Regulation of Bank Holding Companies in the Twentieth Century” Professor Louis Ferleger May-22 Assistant Professor of Law at Arizona State University, School of Law
Elizabeth Hameeteman
 “Pipe Parity: Desalination, Development, and the Global Quest for Water in the 1950s and 1960s” Professor Sarah Phillips Jan-22
Matthew Lavallee “Scientific Management, Labor, and the Evolution of Transatlantic Capitalism, 1878-1920“ Professor Louis Ferleger May-21 Lecturer at Tufts University
Julie Keresztes “Building National Socialism through Photography, 1933-1945” Professor Jonathan Zatlin Mar-21 Lecturer at Tufts University
Andrew Bell “Archaeologists and American Foreign Relations in a World of Empires, 1879-1945” Professor Brooke Blower May 2020 Visiting Assistant Professor at Amherst College
Kathryn Lamontagne “Unconventional Religiosity: Modes of Lay Catholic Womanhood in Britain, c. 1880-c. 1920” Professor Arianne Chernock May 2020 Lecturer at CGS, Boston University
Kristen Carey “Ceding Control: The Origins, Implementation, and Breakdown of Population Management in Tanzania (1948-1999)” Professor James McCann Mar-20 Director of Platform at Bema Technologies, LLC
Agnes Burt “Reforming the Married State: Women and Property after the Married Women’s Property Acts, 1870-1935” Professor Arianne Chernock Dec-19 Program Manager at New Hampshire Humanities
David Shorten “For Capital or Country: The Anti-Monopoly Tradition and the Political Economy of U.S. Foreign Enterprise, 1905-1929” Professor Bruce Schulman Dec-19 Manager, Business History Initiative, Harvard Business School
Krista Kinslow “Contesting the Centennial: Politics and Culture at the 1876 World’s Fair″ Professor Nina Silber May-19 OnRamps Grader at UT Austin
Robert Shimp “A British Paradox: John Quincy Adams’s Life and Career in the Early American Republic” Professor Brendan McConville May-18 Director of Research and Adult Programming at Paul Revere Memorial Association
Daniel Burge “Deregulation and the Partisan Politics of the Savings and Loan Crisis 1970-1989” Professor Bruce Schulman Jan-18 Assoc. Lecturer Umass Boston
Andrew David “Fighting for National Security: Building the National Security State During the Eisenhower and Kennedy Administrations” Professor David Mayers Jan-18 Lecturer, History Department, Boston University
Aaron Hiltner “Friendly Invasions: Civilians and Servicemen on the World War II American Home Front” Professor Brooke Blower Jan-18 Instructor, History Department, UW-Madison
Benjamin Twagira “Bajeemi Urbanites: Roots of Social Resilience in Militarized Kampala, 1966-1986” Professor Diana Wylie Jan-18 Assist Prof at Williams College
Katie Moore “A Just and Honest Valuation: Paper Money and the Body Politic in Colonial America, 1640-1765” Professor Brendan McConville Sep-17 Asst. Prof at UC Santa Barbara
Christopher Conz “‘Wisdom Does Not Live In One House’”: Compiling Environmental Knowledge in Lesotho, Southern Africa, C. 1880-1965 Professor James McCann May-17 Visiting Assistant Professor of History at the College of the Holy Cross
Zach Fredman “From Allies to Occupiers: Living with the U.S. Military in Wartime China, 1941-1945” Professor Brooke Blower Sep-16 Associate Professor of History, Duke Kunshan University
David Olson “The World ‘In Search of its Soul’: Unesco, America, and the Struggle to Build a Postcolonial World” Professor William Keylor Sep-16
Amy Noel Ellison “‘Reverse of Fortune’: The Invasion of Canada and the Coming of American Independence, 1774-1776” Professor Brendan McConville May-16 Exhibition Curator at Los Altos History Museum
Sara Georgini “Household Gods: Creating Adams Family Religion in the American Republic, 1583-1927” Professor Jon Roberts May-16 Series Editor, The Adams Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society
Matthew Pressman “Remaking the News: The Transformation of American Journalism, 1960-1980” Professor Bruce Schulman May-16 Assistant Professor of Journalism, Seton Hall University
Aaron Knapp “Law’s Revolutions: Coercion and Constitutional Change in the American Founding” Professor Brendan McConville Jan-16 Partner, McCormick, Barstow, Sheppard, Wayte & Carruth LLP
Mark Kukis “An Unseen Dimension of RFK: The Attorney General and National Security Policy, 1961-1963” Professor Andrew Bacevich Jan-16 Assistant Professor of Social Sciences, Minerva Schools at KGI
Beth M. Forrest “Hungry and Thirsty: The Role of Food and the Senses in Spanish Identity, 1750 – 1850” Professor Thomas Glick Sep-15 Professor of Liberal Arts and Applied Food Studies, Culinary Institute of America
Christine Axen “Mapping the Bishop of Avignon: Sources of Episcopal Power in the Thirteenth Century” Professor Deanna Klepper May-15 Contract Position, Plymouth State University
Katherine A. Hollander “At Home in Exile: Co-Creation and Intellectual Labor in a Socialist Circle” Professor James Schmidt May-15 Visiting Assistant Professor of History, University of Hartford
William McCoy “Healing the Leper? Mission Christianity, Medicine, and Social Dependence in 20th Century Swaziland” Professor Diana Wylie May-15 Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the College at East Nazarene College
Gareth McFeely ‘”Gone are the Days’: A Social and Business History of Cinema-Going in Gold Coast/Ghana, 1910 – 1982” Professor Diana Wylie May-15 Executive Director, Study Abroad, Boston University
Patricia J. Peknik “Exotic Folk: Old-Time French Louisiana Music and the Politics of Culture, 1946-1973” Professor Bruce Schulman May-15 Associate Professor, Berklee College of Music
Rosemary Hynes “The Mask of Liberty: The Making of Freeholder Democracy in Revolutionary Georgia” Professor Brendan McConville Sep-14 Associate Dean, Program Planning and Strategic Initiatives, Emory University
Jonathan Koefoed “Cautious Romantics: Trinitarian Transcendentalists and the Emergence of a Conservative Religious Tradition in America” Professor Charles Capper Jan-14 Post-Doctoral Fellow, Thomas Jefferson Center, University of Texas at Austin
Andrew Ballou “From Pacifism to Nonviolent Direct Action: The Fellowship of Reconciliation and Social Christianity, 1914-1947” Professor Jon Roberts Sep-13 History Teacher, St. John Paul II High School
Michael Holm “America in the World: Ideology and U.S. Foreign Policy, 1944-1950” Professor William Keylor Sep-13 Lecturer, Boston University
Seth Blumenthal “Children of the Silent Majority: Nixon, New Politics, and the Youth Vote, 1968-1972” Professor Bruce Schulman May-13 Lecturer, Writing Program, Boston University
Christopher Seely “Fighting the Good Fight: The Religious Right and American Foreign Policy Since World War II” Professor William Keylor May-13 Lecturer, Assumption University
Jolanta Komornicka “The Parlement of Paris and Crimes of Lese Majesty in France, 1328-1350” Professor Clifford Backman Jan-13 Asst. Prof of University of Waterloo; Also Assoc. Director of the DRAGEN Lav (digital humanities project)
Ellen Wald “Fueling the American Century: The United States, Great Britain and the Middle-Eastern Oil Industry, 1945-1960” Professor Louis Ferleger Jan-13 Sr. Fellow at Global Energy Center
Anne Blaschke “Racing to Win: Women Track and Field Athletes in American Political Culture, 1928-1978” Professor Bruce Schulman May-12 Assoc. Lecturer at Umass Boston (American Studies); also at MIT (Graduate Consortium in Gender, Culture, Women, and Sexuality)
Douglas Kierdorf “Social, Political, and Economic Life in the Post-Conquest Kingdom of Valencia: La Plana de Castello” Professor Thomas Glick May-12 Adjunct Lecturer, Bentley University
David Mislin “Faith Bounded and Unbounded: The Protestant Establishment, Secularism, and the Emergence of Religious Inclusiveness in America” Professor Jon Roberts May-12 Assistant Professor, Temple University
Dane Cash “The Forgotten Debate: American Political Opinion Journals and the Korean War, 1950-1953” Professor William Keylor Jan-12 Assistant Professor, Carroll College
Scott Marr “Urban Encounters and the Religious Divide: Catholic-Protestant Coexistence in Samur, France, 1589-1665” Professor Barbara Diefendorf Jan-12 Senior Lecturer, College of General Studies, Boston University
Michael McGuire “An Ephemeral Relationship: American Non-Governmental Organizations, the Reconstruction of France, and Franco-American Relations, 1914-1924 Vol. I of II” Professor William Keylor Jan-12 Visiting Instructor, Salem State University
Andrea Mosterman “Sharing Spaces in a New World Environment: African-Dutch Contributions to North American Culture, 1626-1826” Professor Linda Heywood Jan-12 Assistant Professor, University of New Orleans
Zachary Smith “From the Well of the House: Remaking the House Republican Party, 1978-1994” Professor Bruce Schulman Jan-12 Digital Director at For Our Future
Kathyrn Brownell “The Entertainment Estate: Hollywood in American Politics, 1932-1972” Professor Bruce Schulman May-11 Assistant Professor of History, Purdue University
François Lalonde “Diverging Visions of Leadership in the Atlantic Alliance, 1957-1963″ Professor William Keylor Jan-11 Part-time professor, School of Political Studies, University of Ottawa
David Atkinson “The Burdens of Whiteness: Asian Immigration Restriction and White Supremacy in the British Empire and the United States, 1897-1924″ Professor William Keylor May-10 Assistant Professor of History, Purdue University
Melissa Graboyes “Surveying the ‘Pathological Museum’: A History of Medical Research in East Africa, 1940-1965″ Professor James McCann May-10 Faculty Fellow and Assistant Director of the African Studies Program, University of Oregon
Katherine Jewell “As Dead as Dixie: The Southern States Industrial Council and the End of the New South, 1933-1954″ Professor Louis Ferleger May-10 Assoc. Professor of History, Fitchburg State University
Ronald Lamothe “Slaves of Fortune: Sudanese Soldiers and the River War, 1896-1898″ Professor James McCann May-10 Documentary Film Maker; Assistant Professor of History, Lesley University
Andrew R. Black “The Whig in Swallow Barn: The Political and Literary Culture of John Pendleton Kennedy” Professor Nina Silber Jan-10 Writer, published John Pendleton Kennedy: Early American Novelist, Whig Statesman, and Ardent Nationalist (Southern Biography Series) on LSU Press
Robyn Metcalfe “Smithfield on the Move: Cattle, Commerce, and the City, 1800-1855” Professor Louis Ferleger Jan-10 Director of Food+City, Lecturer; University of Texas at Austin
Jean Dunlavy “A Band of Sisters: Vietnam Veterans’ Organization for Rights and Recognition, 1965-1995″ Professor Bruce Schulman Jan-09 Instructor, Phillips Exeter Academy
Belete Bizuneh “An Agrarian Polity and Its Pastoral Periphery: State, Society and Pastoralism in the Borana Borderlands (Southern Ethiopia), 1897-1991″ Professor James McCann May-08 Assistant Professor of History and Cultural Heritage, Addis Ababa University (Ethiopia)
Zbysek Brezina “The Czechoslovak Democrat: The Life, Writing and Politics of Hubert Ripka from 1918 to 1945″ Professor Anna Geifman May-08 Social Studies Teacher, The Rashi School
Brenda Gardenour “Medicine and Miracle: The Reception of Theory-Rich Medicine in the Hagiography of the Latin West, 13th and 14th Centuries” Professor Deeana Klepper Jan-08 Associate Professor of History, St. Louis College of Pharmacy
R. Samuel Deese “Ecology and the Gospel of Progress: Julian and Aldous Huxley in the American Century” Professor Charles Capper May-07 International History Institute Fellow, Lecturer, College of General Studies, Boston University
Devon H. Atchison “Shades of Change: Suntanning and the Twentieth Century American Dream” Professor Bruce Schulman Jan-07 Partner, SVP Seattle
Kyri Claflin “Culture, Politics, and Modernization in Paris Provisioning, 1880-1920″ Professor William Keylor May-06 Lecturer, Metropolitan College, Boston University
John Dempsey “Bonizo of Sutri: Life and Work” Professor Clifford Backman May-06 Associate Professor of History, Westfield State University
Christina Kopp “‘A School of New Men’: Composing an American Identity in the Early Twentieth Century” Professor Bruce Schulman May-06 Global Studies Program Coordinator, Deerfield Academy
Virginia Laffey “The Invisible Regiment: The Wives, Mothers and Girlfriends of Soldiers in Vietnam” Professor Bruce Schulman Jan-06 Lecturer, Bryant University
William Leeman “The Long Road to Annapolis: The Naval Academy Debate and Emerging Nationalism in the United States, 1775-1845″ Professor Nina Silber Jan-06 Associate Professor of History and Faculty Fellow, Salve Regina University
Benjamin Varat “A Clash of Kings: de Gaulle, Kennedy and the Battle for Western Europe, 1958-1963” Professor William Keylor Jan-06 Senior Lecturer of Social Sciences, College of General Studies, Boston University
Stacy Holden “Maintaining a Moroccan Medina: Commercial and Technological Innovations at the Workplace of Millers and Butchers in Fez, 1878-1937″ Professor Diana Wylie May-05 Associate Professor of History, Purdue University
Robert Munson “The Landscape of German Colonialism: Mounts Kilimanjaro and Meru, c. 1890-1916″ Professor James McCann May-05 African Analyst, United States Airforce
April Najjaj “The Alhambra in Comparative Perspective: Towards a Definition of Palace-Cities” Professor Thomas Glick May-05 Lecturer, Texas A&M University at San Antonio
Madia Thomson “Modernization, Slavery, and the Transformation of Social Hierarchy in Southwestern Morocco, 1912-56″ Professor Diana Wylie May-05 Writer, published The Demise of Slavery in Southwestern Morocco, 1860-2000: Economic Modernization and Transformation of Social Hierarchy on Edwin Mellen Press
Bryan Thrift “Jesse Helms, the New Right, and American Freedom” Professor Bruce Schulman Jan-05 History Instructor, Johnston Community College
Jennifer Alpert “Medicine and Politics in the Life of Henry I. Bowditch, M.D., 1808-1892″ Professor Thomas Glick May-04 Adjunct Assistant Professor of History, Bentley University
Amy Kittelstrom “The Religion of Democracy: William James and Practical Idealism in Evolutionary America, 1870-1910″ Professor Charles Capper May-04 Associate Professor of History, Sonoma State University
Melissa Lurio “An Educated Bishop in an Age of Reform: Marbode, Bishop of Rennes, 1096-1123″ Professor Clifford Backman Jan-04
Sarah Phillips “Acres Fit and Unfit: Conservation and Rural Rehabilitation in the New Deal Era” Professor Bruce Schulman Jan-04 Associate Professor of History, Boston University
Melissane Parm Schrems “A Freedom to Suit Themselves: Negotiating Mashpee Indian Political Identity on Cape Cod, 1746-1834″ Professor Jill Lepore May-03 Associate Professor and Coordinator of Native American Studies, St. Lawrence University
Gerald Ward “Restoring the Shattered World: The Apocalyptic Mercantilism of Samuel Purchas and the Revelatiopn of World Trade” Professor Thomas Glick May-03
Midori Yoshii “Reducing the American Burden: Kennedy’s Policy Toward Northeast Asia” Professor David Mayers May-03 Associate Professor of International Studies, Albion College
Leonid Blickstein “The Challenge of Otherness: Self, Values, and Modernity in Russian Philosophical Thought, 1900-1917″ Professor Anna Geifman Jan-03 Senior Instructor, University of Massachusetts, Lowell
Heather Hoag “Designing the Delta: A History of Water and Development in the Lower Rufiji River Basin, Tanzania, 1945-1985″ Professor James McCann Jan-03 Associate Professor of History, University of San Francisco
Timothy Walker “Doctors, Folk Medicine and the Inquisition: The Repression of Popular Healing in Portugal During the Enlightenment Era” Professor Barbara Diefendorf Jan-01 Associate Professor of History, University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth
Mark Abate “Roger Bacon and the Rage of Antichrist: The Apocalypse of a Thirteenth Century Natural Philosopher” Professor Clifford Backman May-00 Chair and Professor of History, Westfield State University.
Peter Alegi “Keep Your Eye on the Ball: A Social History of Soccer in South Africa, 1910-1976” Professor Diana Wylie May-00 Professor of History, Michigan State University
Mitchell Allen “The Anglo-Hanoverian Connection in the Foreign Policy of George II” Professor John Gagliardo May-00
Yusufu Lawi “Local Environmental Perceptions and te Political Economy of Natural Resource Use in Iraqw’ar Da/aw, Northern Tanzania, 1900-1980s” Professor James McCann Jan-00 Senior Lecturer in History, University of Dar es Salaam (Tanzania)
Angel Amy-Moreno “The Spanish Treatment of Moriscos as a Model for the Treatment of Native Americans” Professor Thomas Glick May-99 Professor of Social Sciences Emeritus, Roxbury Community College
Tumelo Tsikoane “A History of Public Health Policy in Lesotho, Southern Africa, 1900-1980″ Professor James McCann Jan-98 Senior Lecturer, Department of Development Studies, National University of Lesotho
Kirk Hoppe “Lords of the Fly: Environmental Images and Social Engineering in British East African Sleeping Sickness Control, 1903-1963″ Professor James McCann May-97 Associate Professor of History, University of Chicago
David Van Meter “The Empire of the Year 6000: Eschatology and the Sanctification of Carolingian Politics” Professor Richard Landes May-97 Financial Advisor, Van Meter & Van Meter, LLC, Little Falls, NY
Erik Gilbert “The Dhow Trade: Wooden Ships and the East African Economy, 1860-1964” Professor James McCann Jan-97 Associat Dean of the Graduate School and Professor of History, Arkansas State University
Sanders Huguenin “The Curious History of the Prinkipo Idea: The Big Four and Bolshevism at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919″ Professor William Keylor May-96 Provost and Senior Vice Chancellor; Associate Professor of History, University of Virginia, Wise
Jonathan Reynolds “Zamanin Siyasa (the Time of Politics): Islam and Political Legitimacy in Northern Nigeria, 1950-1966″ Professor James McCann May-95 Professor of History, Northern Kentucky University
Elizabeth Hazard “Cold War Crucible: United States Foreign Policy and the Conflict in Romania, 1943-1952″ Professor David Mayers Jan-95 Published Cold War Crucible: United States Foreign Policy and the Conflict in Romania, 1943-1952
Tekalign Wolde-Mariam “A City and Its Hinterlands: The Political Economy of Land Tenure, Agriculture and Food Supply for Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 1887-1974″ Professor James McCann Jan-95 Academic Vice President, Associate Professor of History, Addis Ababa University
Victor Bondi “The Origins of the Theory of Totalitarianism: Essays in Interpretation” Professor Richard Fox Jan-93 Vice President of Educational Technology, Platform Learning, Inc.
Pamela Laird “The Business of Progress: The Transformation of American Advertising, 1870-1920″ Professor Josph Boskin May-92 Professor of History, University of Colorado, Denver
John McGrath “France in America, 1555-1565: A Reevaluation of the Evidence” Professor Barbara Diefendorf May-91 Associate Professor of Social Science, College of General Studies, Boston University
William McCarthy “The Economic Impact of Shipwreck During the Age of Discovery” Professor Thomas Glick Jan-91 Associate Professor of History, University of North Carolina, Wilmington