Faculty
The History department's full-time faculty members offer classes in American, British, European, Latin American, Middle Eastern, African, Japanese and Chinese history. Faculty members also specialize in in political, social, cultural, diplomatic, environmental, media, gender and ethnic history.
USD actively supports a model of teacher-scholars. Faculty members in history balance their commitment to undergraduate teaching with research and produce award-winning books and articles. We bring our research interests to the classroom. Students learn to work with original sources and to think critically and creatively about a wide variety of historical issues.
Department Chair
Professor, History
kserbin@sandiego.edu
(619) 260-4037
Office: KIPJ 263A
Office Hours: Spring 2013 Tues/Thurs 8:00-9:00 10:35-12:05
Kenneth P. Serbin, Ph.D., professor and chair in the Department of History, served as vice president, president, and immediate past president of the Brazilian Studies Association (2004-2010). He also was the co-chair of the Brazil Section of the Latin American Studies Association from 2003-2006.
Assistant Professor, History
barton@sandiego.edu
(619) 260-4042
Office: KIPJ 266
Office Hours: Spring 2013 Tues/Thurs 12:10-2:40
Thomas W. Barton, PhD, joined the faculty in 2007. He offers a wide sweep of undergraduate courses, including The Medieval World, The Pacific World, Europe’s Discovery and Conquest of the World, Christians, Jews, and Muslims in Spain, Renaissance Europe, and Historians’ Methods. His research concerns the social history of Europe and contacts between Europeans and non-Europeans in the medieval and early modern periods, with a current focus on the case of eastern Iberia and the western Mediterranean.
Professor, History
iris@sandiego.edu
(619) 260-4038
Office: KIPJ 265
Office Hours: Spring 2013 On leave this semester
Iris H. W. Engstrand, PhD, is a native Californian. Engstrand’s academic honors include USD’s distinguished University Professorship; the Davies Award for Faculty Achievement; Awards of Merit from the San Diego, Southern California, and California Historical Societies, Western History Association, and Orange Coast College; fellowships from the Fulbright Commission, American Philosophical Society and Huntington Library; and the California Design Award in Historic Preservation. She is a trustee of the San Diego Natural History Museum and the San Diego Maritime Museum, past president of the American Historical Association Pacific Coast Branch and of the Western History Association. Engstrand has lived and traveled extensively in Spain and Mexico and lectures widely in both English and Spanish. She has degrees in history, with maors and minors in the fields of California, Mexico, Latin America and the Spanish Southwest history, biology and Spanish
Engstrand has recently been awarded the prestigious medal of the Order of Isabel la Católica (Isabel the Catholic -- ruler of Spain in 1492) by Juan Carlos, King of Spain, for outstanding contributions to the history of Spain in the Americas.
Associate Professor, History
colinf@sandiego.edu
(619) 260-4039
Office: KIPJ 279
Office Hours: Spring 2013 Tues/Thurs 12:00-2:30
Graduate Program Director
Associate Professor
michaelg@sandiego.edu
(619) 260-4043
Office: KIPJ 269
Office Hours: Spring 2013 Wed 10:00-2:00 Thurs 12:00-2:00
Michael Gonzalez, PhD, began teaching at the University of San Diego in 1995. He currently is director of the History Masters program.
Professor, History
gump@sandiego.edu
(619) 260-7787
Office: KIPJ 267
Office Hours: Spring 2013 Mon/Wed 1:15-2:15 Fri 12:20-1:20
James O. Gump, PhD, has been a member of the faculty since 1981. He currently serves as an associate dean in the College of Arts and Sciences. In the History Department, Gump offers undergraduate courses on war and peace in the modern world, history of Africa, rise and fall of apartheid, and modern Europe. His research focus is comparative, South African, and Native American history, with special interests in ethnic conflict, state-sponsored violence, and transitional justice.
Assistant Professor
slr@sandiego.edu
619-260-4041
Office: KIPJ 290
Office Hours: Spring 2013 Mon/Wed 2:00-4:30
Sarah Levin-Richardson, PhD, joined the department in 2012. She offers courses in ancient history, including surveys of ancient Mediterranean civilizations and upper-level courses in Greek and Roman history. Levin-Richardson’s research explores gender and sexuality in the Roman Empire through graffiti, literature, art, and architecture, with a particular focus on the city of Pompeii. She has excavated at Pompeii, in the Roman Forum, and on Crete, and currently serves on the steering committee of the Women’s Classical Caucus.
Professor
Interdisciplinary Humanities Program Director
mmcclain@sandiego.edu
(619) 260-4044
Office: KIPJ 268
Office Hours: Spring 2013 Mon 11:00-2:00 Tues 1:30-3:30
Molly McClain, PhD, serves as director of the Interdisciplinary Humanities Program. Her work in seventeenth-century British history includes a biography of the duke and duchess of Beaufort as well as articles on Queen Mary II. She also publishes work on local history. A ninth-generation San Diegan, she co-edits The Journal of San Diego History.
Assistant Professor, History
oberle@sandiego.edu
(619) 260-7813
Office: KIPJ 278
Office Hours: Spring 2013 Tues 3:00-4:00 Thurs 11:00-3:00
Clara M. Oberle, PhD, has been a member of the History department since 2008. She offers courses on modern Europe, Eastern Europe, and Germany. Further teaching interests include World War II, women in history, and urban history. Her research focus is on Berlin, on post-catastrophe cities, and on German history, with special interests in migrations, comparative military occupations, urban planning and housing, as well as the interplay between law and memory.
Kathryn C. Statler, PhD, has been a member of the faculty since 1999. She is the coordinator of the Peace and Justice Studies minor. Statler offers undergraduate courses on the Vietnam wars, U.S. foreign relations, history of France, peace and justice studies, and armed conflict and American society. Her research focus is international and multidisciplinary, with an emphasis on alliance politics and cultural diplomacy.
Associate Professor, History
ysun@sandiego.edu
(619) 260-6811
Office: KIPJ 270
Office Hours: Spring 2013 Tues 1:30- 3:30 Thurs 1:30-4:30
Yi Sun, PhD, has been a member of the History Department at USD since fall 1997. She teaches a number of undergraduate courses on East Asian history and U.S.-East Asia Relations. Currently she also serves as the coordinator for the Asian Studies Minor program. Her research interests include Chinese women and modernization, Sino-American relations, and globalization. She has served on the executive board of several academic organizations, including the AsiaNetwork, Chinese Historians in the United States and the Association of Third World Studies, and presently is the associate editor of the Asian section for the Journal of Third World Studies.
