Fields of Study

In conjunction with the PhD Program in Classics, our Premodern/Ancient History prepares students for advanced, professional, independent research and teaching in the political, social, and cultural phenomena of Archaic, Classical, and Hellenistic Greece and of the Roman Republic, Principate, and Late Antiquity.  The bulk of coursework will be in ancient history, but with offerings in literature, art and archaeology, and philosophy, the program encourages interdisciplinary approaches.  Owing to a cooperative consortium of area graduate programs in ancient studies, students may also take courses in relevant fields at New York University and Fordham University, as well as avail themselves of their libraries and public events.  Beyond the first year, students may also take courses at other universities in the New York area.  Teaching opportunities are abundant in the CUNY undergraduate colleges across the city and prepare students well for post-graduate work in academia.

The Graduate Center offers a unique opportunity to study the medieval world, with faculty specializing in premodern Asian, Byzantine, Middle Eastern, and European history. Areas of expertise include intellectual history, cultural and religious history, legal history, gender, and archaeology. Students can also benefit from interdisciplinary coursework in medieval studies in a wide range of different departments and programs including Art History, language and literature, music, and more. Medieval history at the GC is an integral part of several overlapping scholarly communities with different geographic, chronological, and thematic interests, explored in conferences, workshops, concerts, exhibits, and lectures held at the GC and throughout the city. Research opportunities include the vast holdings of the New York Public Library, the Morgan Library, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Students also benefit from a consortium that provides access to courses, public events, and libraries, at universities in the Greater New York area. 

FACULTY
Prof. Anna Akasoy - Islamic Intellectual History
Prof. Joel Allen - Ancient History, Rome
Prof. Eric Ivison - Byzantine History
Prof. Sara McDougall - European Legal, Social, and Family History, Gender Studies
Prof. Hyunhee Park - East Asian and Global Cross-cultural and intellectual history
Prof. Jennifer Tolbert Roberts - Ancient History
Prof. Liv Mariah Yarrow - Ancient History, Rome

The Early Modern field includes European society, culture, ideas, and politics from about 1350 to about 1750. Our faculty spans several national and disciplinary sub-fields.

FACULTY
Prof. Herman Bennett - Atlantic World
Prof. Francesca Bregoli - Early Modern Jewish History; Italy
Prof. Clare Carroll -  Early Modern Ireland
Prof. Sarah Covington - Early Modern Britain and Ireland
Prof. Joseph Dauben - History of Science
Prof. Allison Kavey - Renaissance, Early Modern
Prof. Barbara Naddeo - Early Modern Europe
Prof. Helena Rosenblatt - Early Modern and Modern Europe
Prof. David Troyansky - Early Modern and Modern Europe
Prof. Amanda Wunder - Early Modern Europe

Modern Europe constitutes both a major and minor field for students interested in the history of European politics, society, economy, and culture from 1750 to the present. Faculty members in the field of modern Europe, drawn from all CUNY colleges and the Graduate Center, offer courses on a wide variety of topics. They mentor students pursuing research in national, inter-European, and global contexts. As internationally recognized scholars, they actively participate in European conferences and professional organizations, and their publications are frequently translated for European audiences. The program in Modern Europe is especially strong in German, Italian, French, and British history; history of women and gender; intellectual and cultural history; history of sexuality; social and economic history, and comparative history. The many libraries and research institutes in New York City, most notable the New York Public Library, provide rich holdings in foreign-language sources for student research projects.

FACULTY
Prof. Timothy Alborn - British History
Prof. Elissa Bemporad  - European History, Russia and the Soviet Union
Prof. James Cantres - British History (Black Atlantic)
Prof. Elena Frangakis-Syrett - European History
Prof. David Gordon - Economic & French History
Prof. Elizabeth Heath - Modern France and the French Empire
Prof. Dagmar Herzog - European History, History of Sexuality
Prof. Benjamin Hett - European, German, Legal, Cultural History
Prof. Andreas Killen - European, Human Sciences, Cultural History 
Prof. Mark Lewis - Eastern and Southeastern Europe, 19th-20th centuries
Prof. Elidor Mëhilli - Eastern European & Eurasian History
Prof. Steven P. Remy - Modern European History
Prof. Clifford Rosenberg - Modern France, Social, Political
Prof. Andrew Sloin - Russian, East European, Soviet, and Jewish history
Prof. Julia Sneeringer - 20th Century German History
Prof. David Troyansky - Early Modern and Modern Europe
Prof. Richard Wolin - Late Modern Europe

The program is particularly strong in American History, both in terms of the breadth of its specializations and the depth of this expertise. Where other graduate programs may have a social historian and a cultural historian and one who specializes in early American History, the CUNY graduate program, as a result of its unique structure, often boasts two or three highly respected historians in many of the most popular fields. Our wide ranging faculty provide a fine balance between prize winning scholars in traditional fields and gifted historians doing research on cutting edge topics employing innovative methodologies. Highly regarded as teachers and graduate mentors, they work closely with their students. CUNY PhDs have gone on to make important contributions with their research and as professors on leading faculties across the country. 

FACULTY
Prof. Martin J. Burke - American History
Prof. James Cantres - Black Atlantic
Prof. Benjamin L. Carp - Early American History
Prof. Eduardo Contreras - US History, Latin American History
Prof. Blanche Wiesen Cook - Women’s History
Prof. Craig Daigle - U.S. Foreign Relations, Cold War, Arab-Israeli Conflict
Prof. John Dixon- Early American History, American Jewish history
Prof. Johanna Fernández - 20th Century US history and the history of social movements
Prof. Tanisha C. Ford - African American history, African diaspora,  20th century U.S., women's & gender history, cultural history
Prof. Libby Garland - History of migration, border studies, U.S. Jewish history
Prof. Donna T. Haverty-Stacke - late nineteenth and twentieth century United States
Prof. D’Weston Haywood - twentieth century American History;  Black culture, masculinity, politics, and public spheres
Prof. K.C. Johnson - American History
Prof. Thomas Kessner - American History; Jewish History
Prof. Anne Kornhauser - U.S. intellectual and legal history; 20th century U.S. history; transnational history
Prof. Gerald Markowitz - American History & Public Health
Prof. Kathleen McCarthy - American Philanthropy
Prof. Ruth Milkman - U.S. History and Women’s History
Prof. Karen Miller - Histories of US Empire/US in the World
Prof. David Munns - United States (Colonial times to the present); History of Science/Medicine/Public Health/Environment; World History
Prof. Philip Napoli - history of American war veterans and the Vietnam war
Prof. James Oakes - American History
Prof. Michael Pfeifer -  U.S. Legal, Social, and Cultural History
Prof. Michael Rawson  - U.S. Social and Cultural History
Prof. David S. Reynolds - 19th Century U.S. Literature and Cultural History
Prof. Andrew Robertson - American History
Prof. Jonathan Rosenberg - American History
Prof. Jonathan Sassi - American History
Prof. Gunja SenGupta - American, African American, Transnational
Prof. Robyn C. Spencer - American History
Prof. Jeanne Theoharis - American History
Prof. Anne Valk - Public History
Prof. David Waldstreicher - American History

FACULTY
Prof. Herman Bennett - Latin American History
Prof. Laird Bergad - Latin American & Caribbean History
Prof. James Cantres - Black Atlantic
Prof. Eduardo Contreras - US History, Latin American History
Prof. Christopher Ebert - Latin American History
Prof. Natalie Tasha Kimball - Latin American History
Prof. Mary Roldán - Latin American History

Historians form a strong nucleus of the over seventy faculty with an interest in the Middle East who are affiliated with the City University of New York at the Graduate Center. Seven are on the History doctoral faculty. Together these historians cover a broad range of geographical terrain (including Iran, Iraq, Egypt, the Gulf, Ottoman Empire, Northern Africa and Islamic Spain) and historical topics. The PhD program in Middle Eastern History is particularly strong in the following areas: gender, revolution, nationalism, religion, modernity, minorities, and social welfare.

Through its lectures, workshops and events, the Middle East and Middle Eastern American Center at the Graduate Center [MEMEAC] provides a stimulating and supportive setting for studying the Middle East and its diasporas, and also offers research and work opportunities to students. In addition, Graduate Center students can take advantage of the rich resources available in New York City and the surrounding region for studying the Middle East.

FACULTY
Prof. Anna Akasoy - Islamic Intellectual History
Prof. Beth Baron - Middle East History
Prof. Lale Can - Ottoman History, Middle East History
Prof. Craig Daigle - U.S. Foreign Relations, Cold War, Arab-Israeli Conflict
Prof. Simon Davis - Persian Gulf, imperialism and colonialism, transnational and global history
Prof. Elena Frangakis-Syrett - Middle East History, European
Prof. Dina LeGall - Middle East History; Ottoman History

The Program occasionally accepts students in unique fields, should student and faculty interests and expertise intersect. Some examples have been the History of Science and Medicine, Global and Comparative History, and Jewish History. Any prospective student whose field of interest is not on this list should contact the EO to inquire about its viability.

FACULTY
Prof. Swapna Banerjee - World History: Colonial South Asia, Modern India; Comparative Women, Gender, Subaltern and Family history; Social and Cultural history
Prof. Elissa Bemporad - Jewish History
Prof. Manu Bhagavan - 20th-century India, Intellectual, Human Rights, Constitutional, Postcolonial Studies
Prof. Francesca Bregoli - Early Modern Jewish History; Italy
Prof. James G. Cantres - Black Atlantic
Prof. Joseph Dauben - History of Science
Prof. Dagmar Herzog - European History, History of Sexuality, Disability Studies
Prof. Kathleen McCarthy - American Philanthropy, women's, gender and cultural history
Prof. Andrew Sloin - Russian, East European, Soviet, and Jewish history