History Department

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The Graduate Program in History

The graduate program in history at The University of Toledo is committed, first and foremost, to the values and priorities of liberal arts education: fostering critical analysis and the skills of written and oral communication; the pursuit of knowledge as an organic and expansive universe of possibilities; a respect for diversity and difference, including difference of opinion; and the continuing relevance of the humanities as the search for and understanding of the human experience. Graduates from the history program have gone on to successful careers in academia, the private sector, and public venues such as museums and historical societies.

Master's in History       Ph.D. in History     Graduate Assistantships    Scholarships     Admission

Our Mission

The mission of the History Department is to tell our story, to tell the many stories of the world today. These are the stories of men and women, ancestors and the forgotten, heroes and scoundrels, workers and rulers: stories well-known, half-told, and yet to be told. They are from the public realm and the private, from the pillow and the kitchen, from the congress and battlefield, from the ocean to the office, from the fields to the streets. We teach of noble persons; we teach of common persons. We teach human history from Japan to the Indian subcontinent, from the Mississippi Delta to the Arctic Circle, from the Andes to the Caribbean, from Africa to the Americas.

One goal is to prepare students for the future, to understand continuity with the past and the ruptures or changes they will face. Thus we teach interpretations or philosophies of history (idealism, materialism, divine, economic, social, and political). Besides the famous words and daring deeds in the tales from the days of yore, we teach students the forms of scrutiny and investigation enabling them to distinguish the true from the false, veracity from deception. We teach multiple points of view. We provide the historical specificity to human society, the arts of periodization, in the relation of human beings to one another and to our environment. And we love dates!

History Department Faculty

*Beatty-Medina, Charles, Assoc. Prof. (Brown, Ph.D. 2002) - Latin America, African Diaspora, Circum-Caribbean History

Geaman, Kristen, Associate Lecturer (Univ. of Southern California, Ph.D. 2013) - Medieval and Early Modern England, Medieval Spain, History Methods.

Griffis, Chelsea, Associate Lecturer (Univ. of Toledo, Ph.D. 2014) - Modern U.S., Women, Gender, and Sexuality, Conservatism

*Jackisch, Barry, Associate Professor, (Univ. at Buffalo, Ph.D. 2000) - Modern Europe, Germany, the Holocaust and Genocide, Russia and Eastern Europe, Environmental History

*Mavima, Shingi, Assistant Professor, (Michigan State University, Ph.D. 2019) – Southern African History (colonial and postcolonial), African Literature and Popular Culture

*Padilla, Roberto, Associate Professor (Ohio State, Ph.D. 2009) - Modern East Asia, History of Medicine, Military History

*Pflugrad-Jackisch, Ami, Associate Professor (Univ. at Buffalo, Ph.D. 2005) - Early America, Gender, African American, Old South

*Stauch, Michael, Assistant Professor (Duke, Ph.D. 2016), 20th Century U.S., Race and Ethnicity, Urban History.

Affiliate Faculty

*Ovamir Anjum, Professor, Middle Eastern History

*Kim E. Nielsen, Professor, U.S. Disability History

Emeritus Faculty

Diane F. Britton • Lorin Lee Cary • William Hoover • Peter Linebaugh •  William Longton • Ronald Lora • Theodore Natsoulas • Roger Ray • Ivan Scott • Robert F. Smith • Larry Wilcox

*Asterisk identifies full members of the graduate faculty


Graduate Faculty

The College of Graduate Studies determines the membership of the Graduate Faculty according to certain criteria (see College of Graduate Studies website, “Graduate Faculty Membership Categories”). Full members of the Graduate Faculty may serve on and chair Master’s and doctoral committees as well as comprehensive examination committees. Associate and adjunct members may serve on, but not chair, these committees. All categories may teach graduate-level courses, including independent studies, but only Full members may supervise thesis and dissertation research hours.

For additional information contact

Dr. Kristen Geaman, Director of Graduate Studies, The UToledo Department of History

Office  University Hall 5210-G
Phone  419-530-4719
Email kristen.geaman@utoledo.edu

Last Updated: 10/6/23