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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.***

Cynthia Polecritti
  • Title
    • Professor Emerita
  • Division Humanities Division
  • Department
    • History Department
  • Affiliations Italian Studies
  • Phone
    831-459-3356 (office), 831-459-2555 (message)
  • Email
  • Office Location
    • Stevenson College Academic Building, 267 Stevenson College
  • Mail Stop Stevenson Academic Services
  • Mailing Address
    • 1156 High Street
    • Santa Cruz CA 95064
  • Faculty Areas of Expertise History, Italian Studies, Renaissance Studies, Popular Culture, Urban studies, Middle Ages
  • Courses HIS 65A, Medieval Europe: 200-1000; HIS 164A, Late-Medieval Italy, c. 1200–1400; HIS 164B, Renaissance Italy, c. 1400–1600; HIS 183A, Nineteenth-Century Italy; HIS 183B, Fascism and Resistance in Italy; HIS 196D, City of Rome; HIS 196Y, Saints and Holiness in Medieval Europe

Research Interests

Medieval, Renaissance, and Modern Italy; social, cultural, and urban history; ritual and popular devotion

Biography, Education and Training

Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley

Selected Publications

  • "In the Shop of the Lord: Bernardino of Siena and Popular Devotion," in Beyond Florence: The Contours of Medieval and Early Modern Italy, P. Findlen, M. Fontaine, and D. Osheim, eds. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press, 2003.
  • Preaching Peace in Renaissance Italy: Bernardino of Siena and His Audience. Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 2000.