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Faculty by Research Specialization

The Department of History at UC Santa Cruz is known for its innovative research and exemplary scholarship. Our faculty work at the cutting edge of their respective fields, covering a wide variety of geographic, temporal, and thematic fields of study. The areas of specialization listed here are by no means an exhaustive list of our scholastic interests. Rather, they highlight the diverse and often overlapping ideas and approaches we explore within our teaching and research.

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.