Contact Us
Contact:
Correnti, Sarah E
Senior Administrative Assistant
History
4400 Massachusetts Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20016-8038
United States
PhD Student Profiles
Marga Andersen, ABD
- Fields:
- Britain, Modern European and Public History, History.
- Dissertation:
- Like Lions After Slumber: Challenges to Britishness by Jewish and Irish Immigrants in Late-Victorian London.
- Faculty Advisors
- Laura Beers, Andrew Demshuk, Lisa Leff
- Email Address:
- ma3204a@american.edu

Laura Auketayeva Gibson
- Fields:
- Holocaust Studies, Modern Jewish History, Soviet History, European History.
- Advisors:
- Lisa Leff and Michael Brenner
- Education:
- BA '15 History/International Relations, Boston University;
- MA '17 History, SUNY.
- Research Interests:
- The Holocaust, the Soviet Union, Jewish youth, Refugee Studies, Women's and Gender History.
- Email:
- la7457a@american.edu
Michael T. Barry, Jr.
- Fields:
- Modern American, African American, Modern Middle East, Digital and Oral History
- Faculty Advisor:
- Ibram X. Kendi
- Education
- BA in History and Africana Studies, College of the Holy Cross, 2014; MA in American and Middle Eastern History, Providence College, 2016.
- Research Interests
- Islam in American, History of Racism and Islamophobia, African American and Muslim American Intellectual History, Civil Rights and Social Justice, Malcolm X, the Nation of Islam, the Moorish Science Temple of America, Popular Culture and Film, Veterans' Affairs.
- mb6368a@american.edu

Paul Behringer
- Fields
- Diplomatic History, Russia, Japan
- Dissertation
- The US and Japanese Interventions in the Russian Far East
- Faculty Advisors
- Max Paul Friedman, Eric Lohr, Justin Jacobs
- Education
- BA in history and East Asian studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison, MA in international relations, University of Chicago.
- Research Interests
- Connecting US Diplomatic history to the history of Russia and Japan, particularly in Northeast Asia, through transnational, borderlands, imperial, and international relations theory approaches.
- pb1169a@student.american.edu
DONELLE BOOSE, ABD
- Faculty Advisor:
- Theresa Runstedtler
- Faculty Committee:
- Theresa Runstedtler, Mary Ellen-Curtin and Daniel Kerr
- Dissertation Title:
- Black Power and the Organizing Tradition: Working Women of Washington, DC, 1965-1990.
- Fields:
- U.S. History, African American History, Public History
- Email Address:
- db7136a@student.american.edu

Rebecca Brenner
- Fields:
- Early U.S., Recent U.S., Public History
- Faculty Advisor:
- Gautham Rao
- Education:
- BA History and Philosophy double major, Mount Holyoke College;
- MA Public History concentration, American University
- Research Interests:
- Early U.S. political and intellectual history
- Email:
- rb5078a@student.american.edu
Andrew Chatfield
- Fields:
- US Diplomatic History
- Faculty Advisors:
- Max Friedman, Peter Kuznick and Aparna Vaidik
- Education:
- BA, University of Colorado; MA, Boston University
- Research Interests:
- War of 1898/Spanish-American War, Progressivism, WWI, Wilsonianism, Anticolonialism, Anti-Imperialism, WWII.
Dissertation Title:
American Support for India's Self-Determination from 1915-1920: Progressives, Radicals and Anti-Imperialists. - Email Address:
- ac5668a@student.american.edu

Jayne Cosson
- Field:
- European, Ottoman, World History
- Dissertation:
- The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace: The Origins of Think Tank Influence in US Foreign Policy
- Faculty Advisor:
- Eric Lohr
- Education:
- BA international studies, Ohio State University. MEd secondary social studies, Georgia State University. MA history, American University. ABD history, American University.
- Research Interests:
- Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, US foreign policy, the international peace movement 1890-1920, World War I, the League of Nations.
- Email:
- jc2013a@student.american.edu

Lauren Duval
- Fields:
- Early American History, Atlantic World, Public History
- Dissertation:
- Landscapes of Allegiance: Space, Gender, and Military Occupation in the American Revolution
- Faculty Advisors
- Kate Haulman
- Education:
- BA history '09, Colby College
- Research Interests:
- Women’s and Gender History, Colonial and Revolutionary America, Atlantic World.
- Email:
- lduval@american.edu

Ryan Englekirk
- Fields:
- Sports History, Baseball History, Oral History, Public History, US History
- Dissertation:
- The Dark Knights: The Major League Baseball Umpire-- Guardians and Protectors of Traditional American Values
- Dissertation Committee:
- Peter Kuznick (advisor), Eric Lohr, Daniel Kerr
- Education:
- BA '09, American University; MA '12, American University
- Email:
- ryan.englekirk@gmail.com
Jonah Estess
- Fields:
- Early American Republic, Political Economy, Numismatic and Monetary History, Political and Cultural History.
- Faculty Advisor:
- Gautham Rao.
- Education:
- BA in History, CUNY Brooklyn College (2017)
- Research interests:
- I am interested in both popular and authoritative understandings of public debt, nation building, banking, and federal monetary policy during the early American republic. I am also interested in historical memory of the American Revolution during the Antebellum and Civil War periods, particularly as it relates to currency, coinage, federal, state, local, and private monetary policy, and petitioning and grassroots democracy.
- Email:
- je4529a@student.american.edu

Ruth Gabor
- Field:
- Russia, Modern Europe
- Faculty Advisor:
- Eric Lohr
- Education:
- BA international relations and Russian '13, Bucknell University
- Research Interests:
- Late Imperial Russia and the Soviet Union, cultural diplomacy, fashion history
- Email:
- rg2829a@student.american.edu
Laura gibson, ABD
- Fields:
- U.S. History, Media Studies, Digital History.
- Dissertation:
- "It's Love That Counts"; the History of Non-Nuclear Families in American Domestic Sitcoms.
- Faculty Advisor:
- Peter Kuznick
- Dissertation Committee:
- Mary Ellen Curtin, Theresa Runstedtler, Jeffrey Middents.
- Education:
- BA, American University, MA New York University.

Jordan Grant, ABD
- Fields:
- Nineteenth-Century US History, Public History, Digital History
- Dissertation:
- Forthcoming
- Faculty Advisors:
- Peter Kuznick and Kathleen Franz
- Education:
- BA '09, St. Mary's College of Maryland; MA '11, American University
- Email Address:
- jg7138a@student.american.edu
Curtis Harris, ABD
- Fields:
- U.S. History, Public History, Sports History.
- Dissertation Title:
- Hardwood Revolution: The NBA's Growth & Player Revolt, 1950-1976.
- Faculty Advisor:
- Eric Lohr
- Education:
- BA in International Studies, AU (2009); MA in Public History, AU (2014)
- Research Interests:
- Sports, Labor, Race, Civil Rights, Civil War and Reconstruction.
- Email:
- ch2775a@american.edu
Ivan Grek, ABD
- Fields:
- Russian History, the Cold War.
- Dissertation:
- Illiberal Civil Society in Russia, 1992-2000.
- Faculty Advisor:
- Eric Lohr
- Dissertation Committee:
- Eric Lohr, Anton Fedyashin, Keith Darden (AU SIS)
- Research Interests:
- Cold War History, modern Russian History.
- Email:
- ig0028a@student.american.edu

Julie Hawks
- Fields:
- Twentieth-Century US History, Public History, African-American History
- Dissertation
- Capital Investments: Engineering American Cold War Culture
- Faculty Advisors:
- Malgorzata J. Rymsza-Pawlowska, Kate Haulman, Katerina Vester, Max Paul Friedman
- Education:
- BS Mathematics, Eastern Connecticut State University; MS Library Science, Simmons College; MA Religious Studies and MA History (Public History), University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
- Research Interests:
- Politics of memory and identity, public commemoration, material culture, racism, gender studies.
- Email Address:
- juliehawks@gmail.com

Mary "Allison" Jobe
- Field:
- US History since Reconstruction
- Faculty Advisor:
- Peter Kuznick
- Education:
- MA history '12, American University, BA history '09, Appalachian State University
- Dissertation:
- "We Remember Him for His Character": The Life of James W. Ford and the Communist Party USA.
- Email:
- mj5318a@student.american.edu

Anna F. Kaplan
- Fields:
- African American History, 19th-Century US History, Memory and Oral History, Public History
- Faculty Advisor:
- Daniel Kerr
- Education:
- BA anthropology '07, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; MA anthropology '09, Columbia University; MA, oral history '10, Columbia University
- Research Interests:
- I am interested in the idea of post-memory and how one generation passes its memories to the next, looking specifically at how that transfer changes the history being told. My focus is on the retelling of personally traumatic or deeply unsettling experiences in the South during the Civil Rights Era and how those individuals deal with that past in their present lives.
- Email:
- ak9747a@student.american.edu

Amy Langford
- Field:
- Modern US History, Early American History, Public History
- Faculty Advisors:
- Peter J. Kuznik, Kate Haulman, Gautham Rao
- Education:
- BA history '09, University of the Pacific
- Research Interests:
- 19th- and 20th-century Gender and Sexuality, American borders and nation-building, Borderlands, (Im)migration, Citizenship, Marriage, and Polygamy.
- Email:
- al7735a@student.american.edu

Jacob R. Levin
- Fields:
- 20th Century US, Race, Jewish History, Public History
- Faculty Advisor:
- Peter Kuznick
- Education:
- BA education/history '06, University of Maryland, College Park; MA historical studies '11, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
- Research Interests:
- Baltimore, MD history; Black-Jewish relations; Civil Rights Movement; History of the Left
- Contact:
- jl2461a@student.american.edu

Jeffrey Levin
- Fields:
- Modern Middle East, British Empire
- Faculty Advisors:
- Michael Brenner and Max Friedman
- Education:
- BA English, University of Florida; MSc, international history, London School of Economics
- Research Interests:
- The economic history of Palestine and modern Israel.
- Email Address:
- jl5117a@student.american.edu

John Little, ABD
- Fields:
- Disability History, Russian History, Modern European History, International Relations
- Dissertation:
- Disability in the Early Soviet Union
- Faculty Advisor:
- Eric Lohr
- Education:
- BA international studies and political science '99, University of Richmond; MA international relations '01, University of East Anglia
- Research Interests:
- My dissertation focuses on the concept of disability in the early Soviet Union. I examine the evolution of the structures associated with disability and the disabled population's acceptance or resistance to Soviet programs. More broadly, I study cultural and social issues, including disability, gender, race, and class. I continue to have a deep interest in diplomatic history, from 18th- and 19th-century Ottoman-Russian relations to the space race.
- Email Address:
- jl3245a@student.american.edu

Lindsay MacNeill
- Fields: Modern
- Modern Europe, Modern Germany, Central Europe
- Faculty Advisor:
- Richard Breitman
- Education:
- MA history '13, American University; BA history and Spanish '09, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- Research Interests:
- Nazi Germany, the Holocaust, interwar Austria, Nazi Austria, the history of policing, international police cooperation.
- Email Address:
- lm1164a@student.american.edu
Alon Milwicki
- Fields:
- Modern America, American Extremism, particularly right wing extremist groups, white supremacists, and Neo-Nazis
- Faculty Advisor:
- Allan Lichtman
- Education:
- BA history, Boston University; MA Seton Hall University
- Research Interests:
- Post WWII America, Extremist groups, Racism, and Hate Studies.
- Email Address:
- am1537a@student.american.edu

Nathan Moore
- Fields:
- Twentieth Century European, British History.
- Faculty Advisor:
- Laura Beers
- Education:
- BA '13 History, George Mason University, MA '15 GMU
- Research Interests:
- British Communism, British-Soviet Relations, Interwar Period, Anti-Capitalism, Resistance Movements.
- Email Address:
- nm5090a@student.american.edu

Nguyet Nguyen, ABD
- Fields:
- History of US Foreign Relations; US history since 1865
- Dissertation Title:
- The World is on Our Side: People's Diplomacy during the Second Indochina War
- Advisor:
- Max Paul Friedman
- Education:
- BA international relations and journalism; MA communication
- Research Interests:
- US foreign relations, the Vietnam War in the Cold War.
- Email:
- nn9606a@student.american.edu

Terumi A. Rafferty-Osaki, ABD
- Fields:
- 20th Century American History
- Dissertation:
- ’Strictly Masculine:’ Reforming and Performing Manhood at Tule Lake, 1942-1946
- Faculty Advisors:
- Max Paul Friedman
- Education:
- BA Boston College; MA, The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey
- Research Interests:
- Asian-American, Diplomatic, and Sports History
- Email Address:
- tr7118a@american.edu

Maurizio Recordati
- Fields:
- Modern European History; Russian History (19th-20th centuries); Theory of Grand Strategy.
- Advisor:
- Eric Lohr
- Education:
- BA in History (University of Milan); MA in Russian & Eurasian Studies (European University at St. Petersburg).
- Research Interests:
- In addition to studying modern European and Russian history, I take a particular interest in strategic history and theory of grand strategy. In my dissertation, I explore Russia's foreign and military policies from the era of "Recueillement" to the Congress of Berlin (1856-1878) and re-read them from a grand-strategic perspective.
- Short Bio: I have worked as Associate Director of the ENERPO Program (MA in Energy Politics in Eurasia, European University at St. Petersburg) since its founding in 2012. There I taught the graduate level Seminar on World Oil and Gas Affairs, founded the ENERPO Journal, ran the ENERPO Workshop Series, and organized annual conferences. In 2016, I taught a module on Russian grand strategic models in the 19th and 20th centuries as part of a graduate course on Russian Foreign Policy (IMARES program, EUSP). Prior to my academic experience, I interned and worked in the EU institutions, focusing mostly on energy international relations (Permanent Representation of Italy to the EU, European Parliament, among others)
- Languages: Italian and French (native speaker); English, Russian, Spanish; Latin and Ancient Greek (with dictionary).
- Email:
- mr5216a@student.american.edu

Nathan Sowry
- Field:
- Early American History, Atlantic World, Early Modern Europe
- Faculty Advisors:
- Kate Haulman, Dan Kerr, Malgorzata Rymsza-Pawlowska
- Education:
- BA anthropology and religious studies '01, University of Pittsburgh; MA history '11, Washington State University; MLIS archives and records administration '13, University of Wisconsin-Madison.
- Research Interests:
- Colonialism/Imperialism; Native American Studies; Acculturation, Resistance, and Identity Formation in 18th-century Great Lakes/Ohio Valley region.
Dissertation Title: - Museums, Native American Representation, and the Public: The Role of Museum Anthropology in Public History, 1873-1929
- Email:
- ns8804a@student.american.edu

Scott T. Vehstedt
- Fields:
- Modern US history, political history
- Faculty Advisors:
- Allan J. Lichtman, Max Paul Friedman and Peter Kuznick
- Education:
- MA American history, Brooklyn College; BA American history and political science, Stony Brook University
- Research Interests:
- American politics, religion, atheism, elections.
Dissertation Title: - "Let's Help Finland": The Politics of American Relief Aid in the Winter War, 1939-40
- Email:
- sv8991a@student.american.edu

Jason Weixelbaum
- Field:
- Business history, 19th and 20th US History, Modern Germany, Holocaust
- Dissertation:
- Lawyers, Spies, and Industry: The Dulles Brothers and Transnational Business in Nazi Germany
- Faculty Advisors:
- Peter Kuznick (chair) Allan Lichtman, Richard Breitman, Heather Elms (Kogod)
- Education:
- BA history, SUNY Buffalo State College; MA modern European history, Boston College
- Research Interests:
- Transnational corporate development, US History, War & Genocide, Nazi Germany
- Email:
- jason.weixelbaum@gmail.com