Uncommon People

  • Maya K. Peterson

    The Maya K. Peterson Memorial Endowment

    December 6, 2021

    To honor the memory of Maya Karin Peterson’s intellectual spirit and passion for the study of history, the History Department at the University of California, Santa Cruz invites colleagues, students, family and friends of Maya Peterson to contribute to the Maya K. Peterson Memorial Endowment.

  • Shelly Chan

    Shelly Chan

    September 1, 2020

    The History Department is delighted to welcome Associate Professor Shelly Chan to UCSC!

  • Associate Professor Aims McGuinness

    Aims McGuinness

    September 1, 2020

    The History Department is delighted to welcome Associate Professor Aims McGuinness to UCSC!

  • Assistant Professor Kathleen Cruz Gutierrez

    Kathleen Cruz Gutierrez

    September 1, 2020

    The History Department is delighted to welcome Assistant Professor Kathleen Cruz Gutierrez to UCSC!

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    Elaine Sullivan

    March 4, 2020

    Associate Professor of History Elaine Sullivan takes a fresh look at the ancient Egyptian burial site of Saqqara to demonstrate how the site has evolved over more than 2,500 years.

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    Undergraduate with a love for politics eager to give back

    May 14, 2019

    Thomas, a third-year history major, travels to UC Regents meetings, presents student issues to UC Office of the President, travels to Sacramento to lobby California lawmakers on behalf of the student body, and has even led a delegation to Washington D.C. to help bring awareness of student issues to the federal level.

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    Juliet Carpenter

    April 16, 2019

    The History Department is thrilled to welcome Juliet Carpenter, a UCSC history major graduate, back to campus as this year's Undergraduate Showcase keynote speaker.

  • Wyatt Young

    THI Public Scholarship Profile: Wyatt Young

    February 21, 2019

    Wyatt Young is a second-year History PhD at UC Santa Cruz. He is currently a year-long Public Fellow at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History, where he works as a professional public humanist and local historian.

  • Image from Industrial History Theme Park, Chengdu, by Sarah Chang

    THI Graduate Profile: Sarah Chang

    February 15, 2019

    History Doctoral Student Sarah Chang investigates the lifecycle of the postwar factory in China, and the shift for women workers from the home to paid industrial work during the socialist period.

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    Greg O'Malley

    July 31, 2018

    This year's featured article in Inquiry, titled "Beyond the Middle Passage: Intra-American trafficking magnified slavery’s impact," highlights the valuable contributions Associate Professor Greg O'Malley has made to the study of the Atlantic slave trade.

  • Joe Gabent

    Joe Gabent

    April 10, 2018

    The History Department is thrilled to welcome Joe Gabent, a UCSC history major graduate, back to campus as this year's Spring Showcase keynote speaker.

  • Benjamin Breen

    Benjamin Breen

    November 6, 2017

    The History Department is delighted to welcome Assistant Professor Benjamin Breen to our program.

  • Erin Wright

    Erin Wright

    May 3, 2017

    Invited Keynote Speaker for the 2017 Undergraduate History Showcase, Erin Wright is now the Director of Community Relations for the Oakland Raiders.

  • Muriam Davis

    Muriam Haleh Davis

    October 6, 2016

    The History Department is pleased to welcome Assistant Professor Muriam Haleh Davis.

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    3D Saqqara Project Interns: Cori Hoover and Sophie Short

    April 6, 2016

    Two history undergraduates, Cori Hoover and Sophie Short interned with Assistant Professor Elaine Sullivan this year, working on her 3D Saqqara project in the Archaeological Geographic Information Systems (GIS) lab on campus.

  • Alma Heckman

    Alma Heckman

    March 18, 2016

    The History Department is pleased to welcome Assistant Professor Alma Heckman.

  • Brian Mathias

    Brian Mathias

    March 7, 2016

    Invited Keynote Speaker for the 2016 Undergraduate History Showcase, Brian Mathias is now an attorney and a Constitutional Law Fellow at the Monterey College of Law.

  • Sara Mederos

    Sara Mederos

    October 7, 2015

    Alumna Sara Mederos is currently a Ph.D. student in medieval history at the University of Lincoln in the United Kingdom.

  • Tyler Spencer

    Tyler Spencer

    October 7, 2015

    History major and Everett Program fellow, Tyler Spencer spent last summer in South Africa working on a digital mapping project that helps hold mining companies more accountable for actions that negatively impact the community.

  • Eryn Brennan

    Eryn Brennan

    May 4, 2015

    Invited Keynote Speaker for the 2015 Undergraduate Research Symposium, Eryn Brennan is now an Architectural Historian and Urban Planner.

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    Tom Beckett

    December 18, 2014

    Tom Beckett 13', along with his partner Bar Smith launched a Kickstarter campaign for their CNC (Computer Numerical Control) router and won second place in UCSC's Entrepreneurship Showcase.

  • Cary Joji Fukunaga

    Cary Joji Fukunaga

    August 26, 2014

    Cary Joji Fukunaga, acclaimed director of the HBO series "True Detective", "Jane Eyre" (2011), and "Sin Nombre" (2009), graduated from UCSC in 1999 with a History degree.

  • Ian Sherr

    Ian Sherr

    April 30, 2014

    Invited Keynote Speaker for the 2014 Undergraduate Research Symposium, Ian Sherr '05 is now a reporter for The Wall Street Journal.

  • Assistant Professor Grace Peña Delgado

    Grace Peña Delgado

    March 15, 2014

    The department is delighted to welcome Assistant Professor Grace Peña Delgado.

  • Lia Winfield

    Lia Winfield

    October 28, 2013

    Alumni Lia Winfield recently graduated with her Ph.D. from UC Davis.

  • Assistant Professor Juned Shaikh

    Juned Shaikh

    October 11, 2013

    The History Department is delighted to welcome Assistant Professor Juned Shaikh

  • Professor and Chair, Mark Cioc

    Mark Cioc

    October 4, 2013

    Professor and Co-Director of German Studies, Mark Cioc, has been appointed as Chair of the History Department

  • Michael Jin

    Michael Jin

    June 24, 2013

    Michael Jin, a recent graduate of the Ph.D. program, has recently accepted a position at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi.

  • James Dustin Wright

    James Dustin Wright

    May 31, 2013

    James Dustin Wright, a History Ph.D. student, won the prestigious Fulbright-Hays award in the fall of 2012.

  • Anna E. von Gehr

    Anna E. von Gehr

    April 29, 2013

    Invited Keynote Speaker for the 2013 Undergraduate Research Symposium, Anna E. von Gehr '99 is now Director of University Arts Development, University of Virginia.

  • Jennifer Derr

    Assistant Professor Jennifer Derr

    April 5, 2013

    The department is delighted to welcome Assistant Professor Jennifer Derr. Her research explores the contemporary history of the modern Middle East.

  • Rhiannon Schade

    Rhiannon Schade

    March 27, 2013

    Rhiannon Schade '11 is now an admission counselor for Sweet Briar College in Virginia and enjoys traveling around the country helping perspective students with their college search process.

  • Assistant Professor Maya Peterson

    Assistant Professor Peterson

    January 3, 2013

    The Department of History is delighted to welcome to our faculty Professor Maya Peterson, whose research explores Russian and Soviet history.

  • Assistant Professor Catherine Jones

    Assistant Professor Catherine Jones

    November 7, 2012

    Assistant Professor Catherine Jones delivered congratulatory remarks to the graduating class of 2012 at the 1st Annual History Graduation Celebration on June 15th, 2012.

  • Gail Hershatter

    Distinguished Professor Hershatter

    October 15, 2012

    The UCSC Academic Senate bestowed their highest honor by selecting Hershatter to give the 47th annual Faculty Research Lecture.

  • Assistant Professor Marc Matera

    Assistant Professor Matera

    September 28, 2012

    The Department of History is delighted to welcome to our faculty Professor Marc Matera, whose research explores gender and race in imperial Britain and the British Empire, especially colonial Africa and the Caribbean.

  • Greg O'Malley

    Assistant Professor Greg O'Malley

    June 14, 2012

    Teacher of Atlantic History, winner of the Douglass Adair Memorial Award, and soon-to-be author of a cutting-edge new book.

  • Alan Christy

    Associate Professor Alan Christy

    May 17, 2012

    Alan Christy is an Associate Professor of History, Undergraduate Director of East Asian Studies, the leader of the ROUTES project, and winner of the 2012 John Dizikes Teaching Award.

  • Gregg Herken

    Gregg Herken: Unraveling history's mysteries

    April 2, 2012

    Gregg Herken '69 tackles in his research one of the great unresolved controversies of the Cold War: whether American physicist Robert Oppenheimer-–the “father of the atomic bomb”–-was, in fact, a communist and a spy for the Soviet Union.

  • Jeffrey Wasserstrom

    Jeffrey Wasserstrom

    March 6, 2012

    Keynote speaker at the 2010 Undergraduate Research Symposium, Jeffrey Wasserstrom '82 is now a Professor of History at UC Irvine, specializing in East Asian Studies.

  • Matt Bokovoy

    Matthew Bokovoy

    March 6, 2012

    Keynote speaker at the 2011 Undergraduate Research Symposium, Matthew Bokovoy '91 is now senior acquisitions editor for Native American and Indigenous Studies and the History of the American West for the University of Nebraska Press.

  • Anthony Barbieri-Low

    Anthony Barbieri-Low

    March 6, 2012

    Invited Keynote Speaker for the 2012 Undergraduate Research Symposium, Anthony Barbieri-Low '94 is now Associate Professor of History at UC Santa Barbara, specializing in the Social, Economic, Legal, and Material Culture History of Ancient China.

  • Paul Freedman

    Paul Freedman

    March 5, 2012

    Keynote speaker at the 2009 Undergraduate Research Symposium, Paul Freedman '71 is now Professor of History at Yale University.

  • Carla Hesse

    Carla Hesse

    March 4, 2012

    Keynote speaker at the 2008 Undergraduate Research Symposium, Carla Hesse '78 is now the Peder Sather Professor of History at UC Berkeley, specializing in modern European history.

  • Kenneth Feingold

    Kenneth Feingold: UCSC's fourth alumni Regent

    January 11, 2012

    This week, Kenneth A. Feingold (Cowell, ’71, history) was named the fourth UCSC alumnus to represent the campus on the Board of Regents.

  • Lisbeth Haas

    Professor Lisbeth Haas

    November 4, 2011

    For over a decade, Professor Lisbeth Haas has been doing research on Indian societies in California. Her most recent project has yielded her not one, but two publications, to be published this year and next.

  • Rick Warner

    Richard Warner

    September 8, 2011

    Richard Warner earned his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. in history from UC-Santa Cruz. Warner recently has been named the Daniel F. Evans Associate Professor in the Social Sciences at Wabash University.

  • Paula Daccarett

    Paula Daccarett, a fresh face in Jewish Studies

    August 23, 2011

    Paula Daccarett is currently a visiting assistant Professor in Jewish Studies here at UCSC. Her history courses shed new light onto different aspects of Jewish culture.

  • Keith Christiansen

    Keith Christiansen

    July 12, 2011

    Once a UCSC History and French Literature student, Keith Christiansen went on to have a rich and successful career as an art curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

  • Mark Teague

    Mark Teague

    July 10, 2011

    Mark Teague graduated from UCSC in 1985 with a History B.A. Now, he is a best-selling author and illustrator of children's books.

  • Cynthia Thickpenny

    Cynthia Thickpenny

    July 8, 2011

    HUGRA recipient, History Alum, and now, Marshall Scholar!

  • Jane Ann Krentz

    Jayne Ann Krentz

    July 7, 2011

    Popular, prolific fiction author Jayne Ann Krentz graduated from UCSC in 1970 with a B.A. in History. She says it was at UCSC that she "learned how to learn."

  • Richard White

    Richard White

    June 23, 2011

    UCSC alumnus Richard White graduated in 1969 with a B.A. in History. Now, he is considered one of the nation's leading scholars.

  • Nathaniel Deutsch

    Nathaniel Deutsch, IHR Director

    February 8, 2011

    Nathaniel Deutsch appointed as the director of the Institute for Humanities Research