Faculty by Undergraduate Concentration

All history majors select a geographic region of concentration as their primary area of study: Americas and Africa, Asia and the Pacific, and Europe and the Mediterranean World. Majors are encouraged to get to know the faculty in their region of concentration as early as possible.

History majors are also encouraged to carve out their own unique thematic research pathway — religion, social movements, science and environment, and gender, to name a few — and to get to know the history faculty who specialize in those research areas.

***Click on a faculty member's name to view their detailed profile information.***

David Brundage

  • Title
    • Professor Emeritus
    • Research Professor of History
  • Faculty Areas of Expertise Immigration, Class, Colonialism, Discrimination and Inequality, History, Labor and Social Movements, US History
Individual profile page for David Brundage

Grace Peña Delgado

  • Title
    • Associate Professor
  • Faculty Areas of Expertise Border Studies, Ethnicity, Chicana/o Studies, Nationalism, Immigration, Latin American and Latino Studies, Sexuality, Asian American Pacific Islander History, Mexico
  • Summary of Expertise

    North American Borderlands (Canada-U.S.-Mexico)

    Immigration--Mexican, Asian

    Gender and Sexuality 

    Race and Nationalism

    Chinese in Mexico

Individual profile page for Grace Peña Delgado

Marí­a Elena Dí­az

  • Title
    • Associate Professor
  • Faculty Areas of Expertise Colonialism, Slavery, African Diaspora, Atlantic World, Latin American and Latino Studies, History, Race, Law and Policy, Personal and Social Identities, Spanish
  • Summary of Expertise

    Colonial Latin America and Caribbean history

Individual profile page for Marí­a Elena Dí­az

Catherine A Jones

  • Title
    • Associate Professor
  • Faculty Areas of Expertise History, Civil War, Gender Studies, Race, Youth Studies
  • Summary of Expertise

    Slavery and Emancipation

    Civil War Era

    History of Children and Childhood

    American South

Individual profile page for Catherine A Jones

Amy Lonetree

  • Title
    • Professor
  • Summary of Expertise

    Indigenous History, Museum Studies, Commemoration and Public Memory, Native American Cultural Production, Public History, and Ho-Chunk Tribal History

Individual profile page for Amy Lonetree

Aims McGuinness

  • Title
    • College Provost, Merrill College
    • Associate Professor
  • Faculty Areas of Expertise History
  • Summary of Expertise

    Latin America, Panamá, U.S. empire, race, labor, California Gold Rush, socialism, Cold War, transnational/global history/world history.

Individual profile page for Aims McGuinness

Matt O′Hara

  • Title
    • Provost, Stevenson College
    • Professor
Individual profile page for Matt O'Hara

Gregory E. O′Malley

  • Title
    • Professor
  • Faculty Areas of Expertise Slavery, African Diaspora, Atlantic World, History, Race, African American / Black Studies, World History, Digital Humanities, US History
Individual profile page for Gregory E. O'Malley

Eric Porter

  • Title
    • History Graduate Program Director
    • Professor
  • Faculty Areas of Expertise African American / Black Studies, Critical Race and Ethnic Studies, Jazz, American Studies, California History, Improvisation, Urban studies, Cultural Studies
Individual profile page for Eric Porter

Marilyn J Westerkamp

  • Title
    • Professor
  • Faculty Areas of Expertise Colonialism, Gender Studies, Religion and Secularism, Cultural Studies, Feminist Studies, Women's Studies
Individual profile page for Marilyn J Westerkamp

Alice S. Yang

  • Title
    • Chair, History Department
    • Associate Professor of History
    • Co-Director of the Center for the Study of Pacific War Memories
  • Faculty Areas of Expertise History, Critical Race and Ethnic Studies, Asian American Pacific Islander History, Comparative Politics, California History, Colonialism, Feminist Studies, Gender Studies, Labor and Social Read more ...
  • Summary of Expertise

    Historical Memory, Asian American Pacific Islander History, Critical Race and Ethnic Studies, Gender, 20th Century US History, Pacific War History, Oral History, Redress, and Reparations
    Read more ...

Individual profile page for Alice S. Yang

Noriko Aso

  • Title
    • East Asian Studies Program Director
    • Associate Professor
  • Faculty Areas of Expertise History, Asian Studies, Pacific Rim, Cultural Studies, Gender Studies, Visual Culture, Popular Culture, Youth Studies
  • Summary of Expertise

    Modern Japanese history, cultural and intellectual

Individual profile page for Noriko Aso

Shelly Chan

  • Title
    • Associate Professor
  • Faculty Areas of Expertise China, Globalization, World History, Cultural Studies, Asian Studies
  • Summary of Expertise

    Modern and contemporary China through transnational, diasporic, and oceanic approaches

Individual profile page for Shelly Chan

Alan S Christy

  • Title
    • Cowell Provost
    • Professor
    • History Department Undergraduate Program Director
  • Faculty Areas of Expertise Asian Studies, Digital Humanities
Individual profile page for Alan S Christy

Kathleen Cruz Gutierrez

  • Title
    • Assistant Professor
  • Faculty Areas of Expertise The Philippines, Southeast Asian Studies, History of Science, Colonialism, Science Studies
  • Summary of Expertise

    Philippine history, science and technology studies, Southeast Asian studies, history of plant sciences

Individual profile page for Kathleen Cruz Gutierrez

Minghui Hu

  • Title
    • Professor
Individual profile page for Minghui Hu

Juned Shaikh

  • Title
    • Associate Professor
  • Faculty Areas of Expertise India and Indian Studies, Marxism, World History, Colonialism, Labor and Social Movements, Urban studies
  • Summary of Expertise

    Modern South Asia, Urban, Labor, Caste, Dalit Studies, Marxism, and Intellectual History.

Individual profile page for Juned Shaikh

Benjamin Breen

  • Title
    • Associate Professor
  • Faculty Areas of Expertise History of Science, Colonialism, Digital Humanities, Drug Policy, World History
  • Summary of Expertise

    I am an associate professor of history at UC Santa Cruz interested in the history of globalization, science, drugs, and the long-term impacts of technological change. My Read more ...

Individual profile page for Benjamin Breen

Muriam Haleh Davis

  • Title
    • Associate Professor
  • Faculty Areas of Expertise North Africa, Middle East Studies, Critical Race and Ethnic Studies, Capitalism, European Studies
Individual profile page for Muriam Haleh Davis

Jennifer L. Derr

  • Title
    • Associate Professor; Founding Director, Center for the Middle East and North Africa at UC Santa Cruz
  • Faculty Areas of Expertise Disease and Immunity, Science Studies, Environmental Studies, Biomedical Sciences, Capitalism, Colonialism, History, Water
Individual profile page for Jennifer L. Derr

Nathaniel Deutsch

  • Title
    • Distinguished Professor and Baumgarten Endowed Chair in Jewish Studies
    • Director of the Center for Jewish Studies
  • Faculty Areas of Expertise Jewish Studies and Judaism, Religion and Secularism, Critical Race and Ethnic Studies, African American / Black Studies, Hebrew, Yiddish, Ethnography
  • Summary of Expertise

    Modern Jewish history; Hasidism; History of Religions, African American Islam; history of eugenics in the United States; Gnosticism

Individual profile page for Nathaniel Deutsch

Alma Rachel Heckman

  • Title
    • Neufeld-Levin Chair of Holocaust Studies
    • Associate Professor
  • Faculty Areas of Expertise Jewish Studies and Judaism, Middle East Studies, Mediterranean Studies
  • Summary of Expertise

    Modern Jewish History

    Modern History of North Africa and the Middle East

     

Individual profile page for Alma Rachel Heckman

Charles W Hedrick Jr.

  • Title
    • Professor Emeritus
  • Faculty Areas of Expertise Ancient World / Classics, Democracy, Classical Studies, Classics, History
Individual profile page for Charles W Hedrick Jr.

Edward H. Kehler

  • Title
    • Continuing Lecturer
  • Faculty Areas of Expertise History, German Studies, Communism, European Politics, European Studies, Fascism, Film, Jewish Studies and Judaism, Nationalism, Post Communist Politics
Individual profile page for Edward H. Kehler

Marc Matera

  • Title
    • Professor
  • Faculty Areas of Expertise History, European Studies, Africa and African Studies, African Diaspora, Colonialism, Critical Theory, Cultural Studies, Feminist Studies, Critical Race and Ethnic Studies, Urban studies
Individual profile page for Marc Matera

Kiva Silver

  • Title
    • Senior Continuing Lecturer
  • Faculty Areas of Expertise Nationalism, European Studies, History, Writing
  • Summary of Expertise

    Modern European History
    French History
    Nation-state Development & Nationalism
    Immigration & Integration in Europe
    Rhetoric and Composition

Individual profile page for Kiva Silver

Elaine A. Sullivan

  • Title
    • Associate Professor
  • Faculty Areas of Expertise Egyptology; Archaeology; Digital Humanities; Virtual Reality, Immersive, and Augmented Reality Environments; Ancient World / Classics; History
Individual profile page for Elaine A. Sullivan

Bruce A Thompson

  • Title
    • Jewish Studies Academic Advising Coordinator
    • Continuing Lecturer
  • Faculty Areas of Expertise California History, Climate Change, Environmental History, European Studies, Film, History, Jewish Studies and Judaism, Religion and Secularism, War
  • Summary of Expertise

    European history, Jewish history and literature.

Individual profile page for Bruce A Thompson