Faculty and Staff Profiles

Funso Afolayan

Associate Professor of History

415 Horton Social Science Center
Phone: (603) 862-3026
Fax: (603) 862-1502
E-mail: fsa@cisunix.unh.edu

Education:
B.A., University of Ife, Nigeria, 1980
M.A., Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria, 1984
Ph.D., ibid., 1991

Courses Taught:
HIST 422: World History
HIST 588: History of Africa South of Sahara
HIST 684/884: History of South Africa since 1652

Fields of Research:
African history, African religions, Atlantic history, world/non-Western history

Thomas Anderson

Lecturer

435 Horton Social Science Center
Phone: (603) 862-4599
Fax: (603) 862-1502
E-mail: thomas.anderson@unh.edu

Education:
B.A., Hamilton College, 2001
M.A., University of Massachusetts, Amherst, 2004
Ph.D., Binghamton University, 2009

Courses Taught:
HIST 421: World History to 16th Century
HIST 422: World History in Modern Era
HIST 595: Explorations

Kathryn Askins

Lecturer

443 Horton Social Science Center
Phone: (603) 862-5102
Fax: (603) 862-1502
E-mail: kathryn.askins@unh.edu

Education:
B.S., Franklin Pierce College, 1982
M.A., University of Arizona, 1999
Ph.D., University of New Hampshire, 2009

Courses Taught:
HIST 406: Modern US
HIST 595: Native American History

David Bachrach

Associate Professor of Medieval History

132 Horton Social Science Center
Phone: (603) 862-1926
Fax: (603) 862-1502
E-mail: david.bachrach@unh.edu

Curriculum Vitae

Education:
B.A., Carleton College, 1994
M.A., University of Notre Dame, 1997
Ph.D., ibid., 2001

Courses Taught:
HIST 435: Western Civilization
HIST 501: Medieval Military History
HIST 502: Latin Readings in Medieval History
HIST 540: Foundations of Medieval History
HIST 640: Holy War in the Holy Land: The Medieval Crusades 

Fields of Research:
military, religious, and administrative history of Medieval Germany and England

W. Jeffrey Bolster

Associate Professor of History
James H. Hayes and Claire Short Chair in the Humanities (2002-2007)

301B Horton Social Science Center
Phone: (603) 862-3016
Fax: (603) 862-1502
E-mail: jeff.bolster@unh.edu

Curriculum Vitae

Education:
B.A., Trinity College, 1976
M.A., Brown University, 1984
Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University, 1991

Courses Taught:
HIST 405: History of Early America
HIST 505: African American History to 1865
HIST 511: History of New Hampshire
HIST 666: Environmental History of Northwest Atlantic Commercial Fisheries
HIST 939: Readings in Early American History (graduate level)
HIST 989: Research Seminar in Early American History (graduate level)

Fields of Research:
maritime history, African-American history, environmental history, Atlantic history

Jeffry M. Diefendorf

Pamela Shulman Professor in European and Holocaust Studies

407 Horton Social Science Center
Phone: (603) 862-3013 (History) and 862-2062 (Liberal Arts)
Fax: (603) 862-1502
E-mail: jeffryd@unh.edu

Curriculum Vitae

Education:
A.B., Stanford University, 1967
M.A., University of California at Berkeley, 1968
Ph.D., ibid., 1975

Courses Taught:
HIST 444H: Collective Guilt and Collective Responsibility in History
HIST 602/802: Holocaust: The War on Europe's Jews
HIST 669/869: Germany since 1918
HIST 775/875: Historical Methods

Fields of Research: 
modern Germany, urban history, Holocaust studies

Kurk Dorsey

Graduate Director and Associate Professor of History

414 Horton Social Science Center
Phone: (603) 862-3022
Fax: (603) 862-1502
E-mail: kurk.dorsey@unh.edu

Education:
B.A., Cornell University, 1987
M.A., Northwestern University, 1989
Ph.D., Yale University, 1994

Courses Taught:
HIST 406: Modern United States
HIST 444: When is War the Answer?
HIST 567: History of Canada
HIST 618/818: Modern American Environmental History
HIST 619/819: US Foreign Policy to 1900
HIST 620/820: US Foreign Policy since 1900
HIST 797: Senior Colloquium (The United States in World War II)
HIST 940: Readings in Modern American History
HIST 990: Research Seminar in Modern American History

Fields of Research:
US foreign policy, environmental history, history of Canada

Ellen Fitzpatrick

Carpenter Professor of History

411 Horton Social Science Center
Phone: (603) 862-3017
Fax: (603) 862-1502
E-mail: eff@cisunix.unh.edu

Website

Education:
B.A., Hampshire College, 1974
Ph.D., Brandeis University, 1981

Courses Taught:
HIST 406: History of the Modern U.S.
HIST 500: Introduction to Historical Thinking
HIST 621: History of American Thought
graduate-level seminars and directed readings on twentieth century history

Fields of Research:
modern American intellectual and political History, Historiography, Women's History

Cathy A. Frierson

Professor of History

406 Horton Social Science Center
Phone: (603) 862-3011
Fax: (603) 862-1502
E-mail: cathy.frierson@unh.edu

Curriculum Vitae

Education:
B.A., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1975
A.M., Harvard University, 1978
Ph.D., ibid., 1985

Courses Taught:
HIST 563: Introduction to Russian Culture and Civilization
HIST 664: Russia and the Soviet Union in the Twentieth Century
HIST 595: Soviet Dreamers, Despots, and Dissidents
HIST 797: Senior Colloquium in History
HIST 500: Introduction to Historical Thinking

Fields of Research:
Modern Russia, intellectual history, oral history, history of natural disasters

Marion Girard-Dorsey

Associate Professor of History

438 Horton Social Science Center
Phone: (603) 862-3014
Fax: (603) 862-1502
E-mail: mlgirard@unh.edu

Education:
B.A., Stanford University, 1993
J.D., Harvard University, 1997
Ph.D., Yale University, 2002

Courses Taught:
Hist 422: World History in the Modern Era
Hist 444: Wartime Propaganda
Hist 537: History of Espionage

Fields of Research:
European history, history of law, diplomatic and military history, history of medicine in the United States

Jan Golinski

Professor of History and Humanities

403 Horton Social Science Center
Phone: (603) 862-3789
Fax: (603) 862-1502
E-mail: jan.golinski@unh.edu

Website

Education:
B.A., Cambridge University, England, 1979
Ph.D., The University of Leeds, England, 1983

Courses Taught:
HIST 521: Origins of Modern Science
HIST 522: Science in the Modern World
HIST 654/854: Topics in History of Science
HIST 774/874: Historiography

Fields of Research:
history of science, intellectual history, historiography

Eliga Gould

Chair of the History Department and Professor of History

404 Horton Social Science Center
Phone: (603) 862-3012
Fax: (603) 862-1502
E-mail: ehg@cisunix.unh.edu

Curriculum Vitae

Education:
A.B., Princeton University, 1983
M.Sc., University of Edinburgh, 1987
M.A., Johns Hopkins University, 1988
Ph.D., ibid., 1992

Courses Taught:
HIST 405: History of Early America
HIST 605/805: Revolutionary America
HIST 797: Senior Colloquium (Anglo-American Right to Bear Arms)
HIST 939: Graduate Readings in Early American History
HIST 949: Graduate Colloquium on the World of the American Revolution
HIST 949: Graduate Colloquium on the British Atlantic, 1500-1800
HIST 989: Graduate Research Seminar in Early American History

Fields of Research:
Colonial America, the American Revolution, and the early modern Atlantic world

Nicoletta F. Gullace

Associate Professor of History

413 Horton Social Science Center
Phone: (603) 862-1715
Fax: (603) 862-1502
E-mail: nfg@cisunix.unh.edu

Education:
B.A., University of Rochester, 1983
M.A., University of California at Berkeley, 1987
Ph.D., ibid., 1993

Courses Taught:
HIST 436: Western Civilization
HIST 656/856: 20th Century Europe
HIST 701/801: Seminar/British Empire
HIST 843: British Empire

Fields of Research:
modern Britain, European cultural history, women's history

J. William Harris

Professor of History

301D Horton Social Science Center
Phone: (603) 862-3019
Fax: (603) 862-1502
E-mail: jw.harris@unh.edu

Education:
B.S., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1968
M.A., Johns Hopkins University, 1976
Ph.D., ibid., 1982

Courses Taught:
HIST 506: African American History
HIST 611/811: Civil War Era
HIST 625: Southern History and Literature
HIST 787: Quantitative Methods and Computers for Historians

Fields of Research:
history of the American South, civil war, African American history

Jessica M. Lepler

Assistant Professor of History

436 Horton Social Science Center
Phone: (603) 862-3146
Fax: (603) 862-1502
E-mail: jessica.lepler@gmail.com

Education:
B.A, Newcomb College, Tulane University, 2000
M.A., Brandeis University, 2005
Ph.D., ibid., 2007

Courses Taught:
HIST 405: History of Early America
HIST 500: Introduction to Historical Thinking
HIST 606/806: History of the Early America Republic
HIST 612/812: Emergence of Industrial America
HIST 621/821: History of American Thought
HIST 797: Senior Colloquium in History
HIST 939: Readings in Early American History

Fields of Research:
early American history, American economic history, the culture of capitalism, narrative history, political history, Jacksonian America, intellectual history, legal culture in the long nineteenth century, and Atlantic world history

Lu Yan

Associate Professor of History

412 Horton Social Science Center
Phone: (603) 862-3025
Fax: (603) 862-1502
E-mail: ylu@cisunix.unh.edu

Website

Education:
B.A., Fudan University, Shanghai, 1982
M.A., Michigan State University, 1989
M.A., Cornell University, 1993
Ph.D., ibid., 1996

Courses Taught:
HIST 425: Chinese Civilization
HIST 500: Introduction to Historical Thinking
HIST 579: History of China in Modern Times
HIST 580: History of Japan in Modern Times
HIST 681/881: Modern China Topics
(including: "Society and Culture in Twentieth-century China," and "Women in Chinese History"

Fields of Research:
modern Chinese history, cross-cultural/transnational relations in East Asia, Sino-Japanese relations

Addis Mason

Lecturer

403 Horton Social Science Center
Phone: (603) 862-3015
Fax: (603) 862-1502
E-mail: addis.mason@gmail.com

Education:
B.A., Princeton University, 1993
M.A., Stanford University, 1997
Ph.D., ibid., 2007

Courses Taught:
HIST 436: Western Civilization
HIST 656: 20th Century Europe

Gregory McMahon

Associate Professor of History

408 Horton Social Science Center
Phone: (603) 862-3023
Fax: (603) 862-1502
E-mail: gmcmahon@cisunix.unh.edu

Education:
B.A., University of Kansas, 1975
M.A., Miami University, Ohio, 1979
Ph.D., Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, 1988

Courses Taught:
HIST 435: Western Civilization
HIST 575: Ancient Near East
HIST 675/875: Early History of Ancient Greece
HIST 676/876: Classic & Hellenistic Greek Worlds
HIST 677/877: Roman Republic

Fields of Research:
Ancient Near East, Greek history, Roman history

Elizabeth W. Mellyn

Assistant Professor of History

437 Horton Social Science Center
Phone: (603) 862-3028
Fax: (603) 862-1502
E-mail: ewmellyn@gmail.com

Education:
B.A., University of Chicago, 1999
A.M., Harvard University, 2002
Ph.D., ibid., 2007

Courses Taught:
HIST 642/842: Religious Conflict in Early Modern Europe
HUMA 512: Renaissance and Early Modern: An Interdisciplinary Introduction

Fields of Research:
history of medicine and law, origins of forensic medicine in Europe, reception and appropriation of Greco-Roman and Arabic learning, medieval and early modern travel and communication in the Mediterranean, education and culture in medieval and early modern Italy

Janet Polasky

Professor of History and Women's Studies
Presidential Professor of History

301C Horton Social Science Center
Phone: (603) 862-3027
Fax: (603) 862-1502
E-mail: Janet.Polasky@unh.edu

Curriculum Vitae

Education:
B.A., Carleton College, 1973
M.A., Stanford University, 1974
Ph.D., ibid., 1978

Courses Taught:
HIST 444: Freshman Seminar, Atlantic Revolution
HIST 436: Western Civilization
HIST 565: Women in Modern France
HIST 647/847:Early Modern France
HIST 648/848: Modern France
HIST 652/852: European Intellectual History
HIST 655/855: Gender and Politics
HIST 952: Atlantic Revolution
 

Fields of Research:
Eighteenth-Century Atlantic Revolution, comparative history, urban history, political theory, European women's history, Belgian history

Julia Rodriguez

Associate Professor of History

301A Horton Social Science Center
Phone: (603) 862-0354
Fax: (603) 862-1502
E-mail: juliar@cisunix.unh.edu

Curriculum Vitae

Education:
B.A., New School for Social Research, 1989
M.A., ibid., 1992
M.Phil., Columbia University, 1995
Ph.D., ibid., 2000

Courses Taught:
HIST 427: Crime and Punishment in Modern Society
HIST 531: Modern Latin America
HIST 532: The Americas
HIST 600: Women and Gender in Latin America
HIST 797: Senior Colloquium: Race, Gender, and Nation

Fields of Research:
Latin America, history of science and medicine, women and gender, Atlantic history

Lucy Salyer

Associate Professor of History

409 Horton Social Science Center
Phone: (603) 862-3021
Fax: (603) 862-1502
E-mail: lucy.salyer@unh.edu

Education:
B.A., University of California at San Diego, 1979
M.A., University of California at Berkeley, 1983
Ph.D., ibid., 1989

Courses Taught:
HIST 406: History of Modern U.S.
HIST 509: Law in American Life
HIST 609/809: Special Topics/American Legal History

Fields of Research:
American legal history; Modern American and Progressive era history; race, ethnicity and immigration

Jason Sokol

Assistant Professor of History

434 Horton Social Science Center
Phone: (603) 862-3024
Fax: (603) 862-1502
E-mail: jason.sokol@unh.edu

Education:
B.A., Oberlin College, 1999
M.A., University of California at Berkeley, 2001
Ph.D., ibid., 2006

Courses Taught:
HIST 406H: Honors/History of Modern US
HIST 616/816: United States Since WWII

Fields of Research:
20th century U.S. history, Civil Rights movement, political history, African American History

Cynthia Van Zandt

Associate Professor of History

410 Horton Social Science Center
Phone: (603) 862-2018
Fax: (603) 862-1502
E-mail: cynthia.vanzandt@unh.edu

Education:
B.A., University of Virginia, 1984
M.A., University of Connecticut, 1991
Ph.D., ibid., 1998

Courses Taught:
HIST 405: History of Early America
HIST 500: Introduction to Historical Thinking
HIST 603/803: European Conquest of America

Fields of Research:
Colonial North America, Native America, Early Modern Atlantic world

Ethel Sara Wolper

Associate Professor of History

A409 Horton Social Science Center
Phone: (603) 862-3884
Fax: (603) 862-1502
E-mail: esw@cisunix.unh.edu

Education:
B.A., University of Chicago, 1982
M.A., ibid., 1984
Ph.D., University of California at Los Angeles, 1994

Courses Taught:
HIST 425: Islamic Culture and Civilization
HIST 500: Introduction to Historical Thinking
HIST 585: Venture of Islam: 6-15th Century

Fields of Research:
history of the Middle East, history of Islam, history of Islamic art

Laura Simard

Academic/Student Services Assistant

405 Horton Social Science Center
Phone: (603) 862-1764
Fax: (603) 862-1502
E-mail:  laura.simard@unh.edu
 

Thea Dickerman

Graduate Assistant

405 Horton Social Science Center
Phone:  (603) 862-1765
Fax:  (603) 862-1502
E-Mail: thea.dickerman@unh.edu