Faculty

The faculty and staff in the history department at the University of Minnesota are deeply committed to instilling in students an appreciation for and understanding of the past. The approximately forty full-time faculty have varied academic backgrounds and possess diverse and interdisciplinary research interests.

The department also draws upon visiting lecturers and scholars who bring their expertise in many areas of study. Our graduate students come from all over the world and occupy a unique position as both students and graduate assistants/instructors who bring their diverse research interests to their teaching. Furthermore, the staff members in the department offer many years of experience at the University of Minnesota, provide professional support to faculty and students and keep the department running smoothly. Together faculty, graduate students, and staff are dedicated to providing students with the support they need to learn and excel in today's complex world.

Full-Time Faculty

Name Contact Office Hours Specialty
Susanna Blumenthal    William Prosser Professor of Law and Professor of History 436 Mondale Hall
612-626-5694
blume047@umn.edu

Thursdays 3-5 p.m.

Hybrid

American Legal History
Giancarlo Casale
Associate Professor
1214 Heller Hall
612-626-4265
casale@umn.edu
Thursdays from 4:30PM to 6PM Islamic World, Ottoman Empire, Pre-Modern and Early Modern World History
Sarah Chambers
History Department Chair and Professor
1218 Heller Hall
612-625-6376
chambers@umn.edu
1130 Heller: In person only, Or by appointment (virtual or in person):Mon. 1:30PM-2:30PM; Thurs. 11:00AM-12:00PM Colonial Latin America; Gender, Cultural, and Legal History
David Chang
Distinguished McKnight Professor
1143 Heller Hall
612-624-9045
dchang@umn.edu
Hybrid: 9:30-11:30 Tues                                                       Contact me ahead of time to make a Zoom appointment. Race and Nationalism, American Indian, Native Hawaiian, and 19th- and 20th-Century United States
Anna Clark
Professor
1051 Heller Hall
612-624-8015
clark106@umn.edu

On Sabbatical           By appointment only

 

British, Irish, European, Women, Gender, and Sexuality
Tracey Deutsch
Associate Professor
1045 Heller Hall
612-624-8547
tdeutsch@umn.edu
Hybrid: Wednesday 9:00 - 11:00 AM, or by appointment The United States, Women's History, and Business
Gail Dubrow
Professor
1016 Heller Hall
612-625-6191
dubrow@umn.edu
  United States, Urban, Women, Asian-American, and Public History
Kirsten Fischer
Professor
1049 Heller Hall
612-626-4456
kfischer@umn.edu
In person only, online available by appointment: Thurs, 1-2 pm Colonial and Revolutionary America, United States, and Social and Intellectual
Andrew Gallia
Associate Professor
1041 Heller Hall
612-626-4268
abgallia@umn.edu
In-person only: Mondays 10:30-12:00 and by appointment Ancient History
Assistant Professor
sganor@umn.edu Virtually Only, Monday, 2-3pm, Wednesday, 4-5pm German-Jewish, Displacement and forced migration, Memory Diaspora Studies, Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Modern Germany
Therese Garstenauer Fulbright Visiting Professor tgarsten@umn.edu By appointment  
Katharine Gerbner
Professor
McKnight Land Grant Professor
1239 Heller Hall
612-624-3507
kgerbner@umn.edu

By appointment only

 

Atlantic World, Early America, Comparative Early Modern, Caribbean, Religion, and Race
J. David Hacker
Professor
1235 Heller Hall
612-624-9043
hacke010@umn.edu
In Office: Mon & Wed 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM, and by appointment. Demographic History, Quantitative History, and American Civil War
Assistant Professor
arhall@umn.edu 2:00-3:30 on Thursdays (zoom) and by appointment (in person), Hybrid American Legal and Constitutional, Civil War and Reconstruction, American Slavery
Allen F. Isaacman
Regents Professor
910 Heller Hall
612-624-8037
isaac001@umn.edu
  Central and Southern Africa
Christopher M. Isett
Associate Professor and Director of Undergraduate Studies
920 Heller Hall
612-624-1505
isett003@umn.edu
  Post-War East Asian Political Economies, Global and Post-War Capitalism, East Asia's Cold War, Comparative Economic History, Agrarian, and 18th–20th-Century China
William P Jones
Professor
1118 Heller Hall
612-625-6418
wpjones@umn.edu
Hybrid: Monday and Wednesday, 12-2pm 20th-Century United States, Race, and Labor History

Oleksandr Komarenko 

Visiting Professor

939 Heller Hall

okomaren@umn.edu

In person only, By appointment only, Hybrid: 

Tuesdays and Thursdays, 1:00 - 2:00 PM

 
Mai Na Lee
Associate Professor
937 Heller Hall
612-625-6124
mainalee@umn.edu
By appointment only Southeast Asia, Southeast Asian American/Hmong communities, Highland Southeast Asian Studies
Malinda Lindquist
Associate Professor
1139 Heller Hall
612-626-4263
lindqust@umn.edu
  African-American and United States
1116 Heller Hall
612-624-7834
hlouthan@umn.edu
By appointment Early Modern Europe; Central Europe; Cultural, Intellectual, and Religious History
Michael Lower
Professor
1220 Heller Hall
612-626-1796
mlower@umn.edu
  Crusades, Medieval Mediterranean, and Christian-Muslim relations
Saje Mathieu
Associate Professor
1233 Heller Hall
612-625-7769
smathieu@umn.edu
Virtual: by appointment only African-American, American Social and Political History, and Comparative Immigration
Mary Jo Maynes
Professor
1010 Heller Hall
612-624-9330
mayne001@umn.edu
Hybrid: Tuesdays 11:15-12:15 and by appointment Modern Germany, European Social, and Women
Patrick McNamara
Associate Professor
1212 Heller Hall
612-624-6531
pjm@umn.edu
Hybrid: Thursdays 3-4pm & by appointment Latin America and Mexico
Hiromi Mizuno
Associate Professor
941 Heller Hall
612-626-7597
mizuno@umn.edu
  Modern Japan, Science and Technology, Agriculture and Environment, Empires, Global WWII
Kevin Murphy
Professor
1047 Heller Hall
612-624-9021
kpmurphy@umn.edu
Virtual only, By appointment onlyThursdays 2:00 - 3:30 pm Urban, Gender and Sexuality, Political, and Cultural
Jean O'Brien
Distinguished McKnight Professor
1014 Heller Hall
612-624-5794
obrie002@umn.edu
Hybrid: By appointment only
Colonial American and Native American
Assistant Professor
918 Heller Hall
  Environmental history, Middle East, Modern Muslim World, Ottoman Empire and Ottoman Kurdistan
Helena Pohlandt-McCormick
Associate Professor
935 Heller Hall
612-624-8079
pohla001@umn.edu
M, 1:45-3:15 in person; Zoom by appointment, Virtual only.  Africa, South Africa, Social and Cultural History, and Comparative Women's History
Kathryn L Reyerson
Professor                            Paul Frenzel Land Grant Chair in the Liberal Art
1120 Heller Hall
612-624-8569
reyer001@umn.edu
Virtual: Mondays 1:00-3:00  Medieval Europe, Mediterranean Europe, Medieval France, Social and Economic History, and Legal History
Steven Ruggles
Distinguished McKnight Professor
Regents Professor
945 Heller Hall
612-624-4081
ruggl001@umn.edu
On Sabbatical Virtual only, By appointment only American Demographic and Social History
Daniel Schroeter
Professor
Amos S. Deinard Memorial Chair in Jewish History
1018 Heller Hall
612-624-9526
schro800@umn.edu
Hybrid: Wednesdays, 9:45-11:45 am or by appointment Jewish, North African, and Mediterranean
JB Shank
Professor
922 Heller Hall
612-624-7323
jbshank@umn.edu
In Person Only: M 9:30-11am, Tu 11:15am -12 noon, and by appointment Early Modern Europe, France, European Intellectual, and History of Science
Ajay Skaria
Professor and Director of Graduate Studies 
924 Heller Hall
612-624-7565
skari002@umn.edu

M11:00-01:00 (pls email beforehand ideally), and by appointment if this does not work

Hybrid

South Asia and Environmental History
Theofanis G. Stavrou
Professor
1224 Heller Hall
612-624-5734
stavr001@umn.edu
By appointment only.  Russia, Modern Greek studies, and Eastern Orthodoxy
Andrea Sterk
Associate Professor and Associate Chair
1237 Heller Hall
612-626-4265
sterk@umn.edu
M, 1:45-3:15 in person; Zoom by appointment Ancient and Medieval Christianity, Late Antiquity, and Byzantine History
Yalile Suriel
Assistant Professor
1114 Heller Hall         ysuriel@umn.edu.         Virtual: By appointment only Universities and Power, Carceral State, Higher Education, African American, Latinx, 20th Century United States
Assistant Professor
943 Heller Hall
612-626-7598
itchouka@umn.edu
Hybrid, on Zoom unless specified: W 10-11:30am and by appt Modern Europe, Central, and Southeastern Europe, Travel and Tourism

Ann Waltner
Professor

Interim Dean of CLA

912 Heller Hall
612-624-3810
cladean@umn.edu 
By appointment only in 215 Johnston Hall or on zoom. Please contact Stephanie Engel, enge0663@umn.edu to schedule. Traditional China
Barbara Y. Welke
Distinguished McKnight Professor of History & Law
1039 Heller Hall
612-624-7017
welke004@umn.edu

Wed 3-4:30 and by appointment

In person only, By appointment meetings may be by zoom

American Legal and Constitutional, American Women's, and Modern American History
Thomas Wolfe
Associate Professor
914 Heller Hall
612-624-1886
wolfe023@umn.edu
In Office: Tues & Thurs 2:00 - 3:00 PM, and by appointment European Union, Soviet Union, History of Media and Communications, and Pragmatism

Post Doc

Name Contact Specialty
Post-Doctoral Associate 
adeckrow@umn.edu Public History

Affiliate Faculty

Name Contact Specialty
Jon Butler
Adjunct Research Professor
butle115@umn.edu  
Brenda Child
Associate Professor
104 Scott Hall
612-624-4190
child011@umn.edu
American Studies

Kirsten Delegard              Project Director,

Mapping Prejudice Project

deleg008@umn.edu  
Christine DeLisle
Assistant Professor
19 Scott Hall
612-625-3821
cdelisle@umn.edu
 
American Indian Studies
Vincente Diaz
Associate Professor
19 Scott Hall
612-625-2376
vmdiaz@umn.edu
American Indian Studies
Nick Estes
Assistant Professor
19 Scott Hall
nestes@umn.edu
American Indian Studies
Anne Good agood@umn.edu
612-624-7040
University of Minnesota Libraries
Assistant Professor
266 Nicholson Hall
Classical & Near Eastern Religions & Cultures
Sally Kohlstedt
Professor
123 Pillsbury Hall
612-624-9368
sgk@umn.edu
Science and Nature Study Movement
Alice Lovejoy 235C Nicholson Hall   612-626-1552                    alovejoy@umn.edu Cultural Studies & Comparative Literature
Nabil Matar
Professor
330C Lind Hall
612-626-8320
matar010@umn.edu
Modern Arabic Literature and Arab-Islamic Civilization
Keith A. Mayes
Assistant Professor
827 Social Sciences Building
612-624-5202
mayes@umn.edu
African American
Stuart McLean
Professor
523 Social Sciences Building
612-624-3507
mclea070@umn.edu
Latin America and Demography
Karen Painter
Associate Professor
132 Ferguson Hall
612-624-7512
kpainter@umn.edu
Germany Musicology

Jimmy Patino

Associate Professor

210 Scott Hall
Chicano & Latino Studies
Librarian 
15 Anderson Library 
612-624-6895
 
Eva von Dassow
Associate Professor

245 Nicholson Hall
612-626-4787
vonda001@umn.edu

Office Hours In Person: Wednesdays 3-4 pm or by appointment

Near East
John Watkins
Professor
312 Lind Hall
612-624-8879
watki005@umn.edu
Sovereignty and Queenship, Medieval and Early Modern Diplomacy, Premodern Political Culture, and Classical and Medieval Origins of the Renaissance
Melanie Yazzie
Assistant Professor
308 Scott Hall
yazzi014@umn.edu
American Indian Studies

Faculty Emeriti

Name Contact Specialty
Iraj Bashiri
Professor Emeritus 
Islamic World and Literature 
Gary Cohen
Professor Emeritus
Austria and Germany, Central and Eastern Europe, and Modern European Social and Political History
John K. Evans
Professor Emeritus
Ancient and Ancient Rome
Sara M. Evans
Regents
Professor Emerita
20th-Century US Social and American Women
Edward L. Farmer
Professor Emeritus
Modern China, Comparative Early Modern, and World
David Good
Professor Emeritus
European Economic and Austria
George D. Green
Professor Emeritus
American Economic and Business
Professor Emerita
hakimc@umn.edu Modern Middle East
Thomas Kelly
Professor Emeritus
Ancient and Ancient Greece
Patricia Lorcin
Professor Emerita
plorcin@umn.edu Modern France, Western Imperialism, Colonial and Postcolonial, and Mediterranean
Byron K. Marshall
Professor Emeritus
Japan
Elaine Tyler May
Professor Emerita
mayxx002@umn.edu United States, American Studies, and American Women
Lary May
Professor Emeritus
American Studies and United States
Michael F. Metcalf
Professor Emeritus
Scandinavia
Lisa Norling
Professor Emerita
American Revolution, 18th and 19th Century America, Women and Gender, and Maritime
Carla Rahn Phillips
Professor Emerita
Early Modern Europe, Social & Economic, and Spain
William D Phillips
Professor Emeritus
Medieval & Early Modern Europe, Mediterranean, and Spain
John A. Thayer
Professor Emeritus
European Intellectual and Italy
James Tracy
Professor Emeritus
Renaissance & Reformation and 16th-century Europe
Liping Wang
Professor Emeritus   
lipin003@umn.edu  Modern Chinese Social and Cultural