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Department of

History

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

Kenneth P. Serbin</a>

Kenneth P. Serbin, Ph.D.

Professor, History
kserbin@sandiego.edu
(619) 260-4037

Office: KIPJ 263A

Office Hours: Tuesday and Thursday 8:00 - 9:00 10:35 - 12:05

Kenneth P. Serbin, Ph.D., professor and chair in the department of History, is the immediate past president of the Brazilian Studies Association (2008-2010). He also served as the co-chair of the Brazil Section of the Latin American Studies Association (2003-2006).

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Thomas Barton</a>

Thomas Barton, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor, History
barton@sandiego.edu
(619) 260-4042

Office: KIPJ 266

Office Hours: Tuesday 12:10-2:10 Thursday 12:10-3:10

Thomas W. Barton, Ph.D., 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.

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Jonathan Conant</a>

Jonathan Conant, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor, History
conant@SanDiego.edu
(619) 260-4041

Office: KIPJ 278

Office Hours: On sabbatical

Jonathan P. Conant, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the History Department, also currently serves as the coordinator of the Classical Studies minor.  Conant offers undergraduate courses on the ancient world, the medieval world, Greek civilization, Roman civilization, the fall of the Roman empire, castles and crusades, and historians’ methods.  His research focus is on the Mediterranean world in late antiquity, with a special emphasis on questions of empire, identity, trade and communications, urban and rural life, literacy, and violence.

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Iris Engstrand</a>

Iris Engstrand, Ph.D.

Professor, History
iris@SanDiego.edu
(619) 260-4038

Office: KIPJ 265

Office Hours: Monday/Wednesday 1:00-3:30

Iris H. W. Engstrand, Ph.D., 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.

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Colin Fisher</a>

Colin Fisher, Ph.D.

Associate Professor, History
colinf@sandiego.edu
(619) 260-4039

Office: KIPJ 279

Office Hours: Tuesday 1-5 Thursday 1-2

Colin Fisher, Ph.D., conducts research in the field of U.S. environmental history. He offers classes in environmental history, history of the American West, and public history.

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Michael Gonzalez</a>

Michael Gonzalez, Ph.D.

Graduate Program Director
Associate Professor
michaelg@sandiego.edu
(619) 260-4043

Office: KIPJ 269

Office Hours: Wednesday 10:00-12:00 Thursday 10:00-1:00

Michael Gonzalez, Ph.D., began teaching at the University of San Diego in 1995.  He currently is director of the History Masters program.

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James O. Gump</a>

James O. Gump, Ph.D.

Professor, History
gump@sandiego.edu
(619) 260-7787

Office: KIPJ 267

Office Hours: Mon/Wed/Fri 12:30-1:30 Tuesday/Thursday 4:00-5:00

James O. Gump, Ph.D., 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, institutional approaches to fact-finding and reconciliation, and restorative justice.

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Molly McClain</a>

Molly McClain, Ph.D.

Associate Professor, History
interdisciplinary Humanities Program Director
mmcclain@sandiego.edu
(619) 260-4044

Office: KIPJ 268

Office Hours: On sabbatical

Molly McClain, Ph.D., 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.

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Clara Oberle</a>

Clara Oberle, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor, History
oberle@sandiego.edu
(619) 260-7813

Office: KIPJ 290

Office Hours: Monday/Wednesday 4:00-6:00 Friday 9:00-10:00

Clara M. Oberle, Ph.D., 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.

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Kathryn Statler</a>

Kathryn Statler, Ph.D.

Associate Professor, History
kstatler@SanDiego.edu
(619) 260-4652

Office: KIPJ 271

Office Hours: Tuesday/Thursday 12:00 - 2:30

Kathryn C. Statler, Ph.D., 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.

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Yi Sun</a>

Yi Sun, Ph.D.

Associate Professor, History
ysun@SanDiego.edu
(619) 260-6811

Office: KIPJ 270

Office Hours: Tuesday/Thursday 10:45-12:00, 1:15-2:15, 4:00-6:00

Yi Sun, Ph.D.,  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.

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