Curriculum Vitae
Education
PhD in Medieval History. University of California, Los Angeles / UCLA, 2004 (committee: Richard Rouse, Ronald Mellor, Geoffrey Symcox, Carole Newlands, and Brent Vine).
MA in Medieval History. UCLA, 2000.
Postgraduate study. New College, Oxford (UK), 1996–7 (see Harlech Scholarship, below, under "Academic Honors").
AB magna cum laude. Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 1996. Concentration: Medieval History and Literature (co-sponsors Jan Ziolkowski and Jennifer Lee Carrell).
Employment
Professor of Medieval & Renaissance History, New College of Florida (2018–present).
Associate Professor of Medieval & Renaissance History, New College of Florida (2010–18).
Assistant Professor of Medieval & Renaissance History, New College of Florida (2004–10).
Courses taught: Please see the Teaching page of this site.
Senior theses supervised (24). Sample titles: “The Role of Law in Edward I’s Conquests of Wales and Scotland, 1277–1307” (Caitlyn Miller, 2006); “Rex Perpetuus Norwegiae: Kingship and Conversion in Eleventh-Century Norway” (Danielle Fasig, 2011); “Republicanism and Governmental Stability in Renaissance Venice, 1300–1600” (Michael McGurl, 2013); “Translating Tristan: Reconsidering Thirteenth- and Fourteenth-Century Translations of the Tristan and Isolde Story” (Holly McArthur, 2014); “Mysticism in Medici Florence: A Ghettoized Jew Meets a Catholic Medici” (Jess Zimmerman, 2016); ”Digitizing New College’s Manuscripts” (Adelle Singer, 2017).
Exhibit Curator:
“Science, Technology, and Commerce in Pre-Modern Italy: Manuscripts from the Collection of Lawrence J. Schoenberg.” February–March 2006, at the Ringling Museum of Art, as part of the 15th New College Conference on Medieval and Renaissance Studies.
“The Art of Book Decoration: Medieval & Renaissance Manuscripts in the New College Library.” February–March 2010, in the Jane Bancroft Cook Library, as part of the 17th New College Conference on Medieval and Renaissance Studies.
"Medieval Manuscripts from New College and Paris." December 2019, as part of my Introduction to Medieval Manuscripts class, in partnership with Manuscripts in the Curriculum.
Instructor, “1066 & All That: The Norman Conquest of England.” Duke University TIP (Talent Identification Program) Scholar Weekends, 2005, 2008, and 2010.
Lecturer and Tour Manager, Art and Architecture of Renaissance Tuscany. National Trust for Historic Preservation, 22 June–4 July 2002.
Teaching Associate and Course Reader, UCLA (1999–2003). History of the Roman Republic (753–44 BCE); History of the Roman Empire (44 BCE–CE 330); History of Western Civilization (800–1750); and Urban History in Europe (800–1750).
Academic Honors
Professional.
Rome Prize, American Academy in Rome, Rome, Italy, 2008–9.
Pontifical Institute of Mediæval Studies Visiting Fellowship, Toronto, Ontario, Fall 2007.
Visiting Fellowship (Faculty Exchange), New College, Oxford, Summer 2007.
New College Faculty Development Stipend. Summers 2005–8 and 2010–19.
NEH Summer Stipend, 2006.
NEH Summer Seminar on St. Francis of Assisi, 2005 (cancelled due to director’s illness).
Graduate.
Meyer and Renée Luskin Dissertation Prize, June 2004 (presented annually for the best UCLA history dissertation; chosen out of a pool of 38 in 2004).
UCLA Graduate Division Dissertation Year Fellowship, 2003–4.
UCLA Chancellor’s Fellowship, 1999–2004.
American Academy in Rome Visiting Scholarship, Fall 2001.
Mellon Foundation Robert F. Goheen Prize in Classical Studies, 2001.
Beverly Walsh Research Scholarship, 2001.
UCLA Summer Research Mentorship Fellowship, Summer 2000.
UCLA Department of History Summer Language Grant, Summer 1999.
Mellon Fellowship in Humanistic Studies, 1998–9.
Other (selected).
Harlech Scholarship to New College, Oxford (a one-year scholarship as a non-degree graduate student), 1996–7.
Phi Beta Kappa and Ford Foundation Research Fellowships, Summer 1995.
Publications
Translator, Jacopo da Varagine's Chronicle of the History of Genoa, Manchester Medieval Sources (Manchester University Press, 2019).
General editor, A Companion to Medieval Genoa (Brill, 2018); I contributed the introduction, chapter 8 ("Civic Identity"), and all the maps, as well as organizing and editing the volume as a whole.
SPQR: The Branding of Rome, AD 600–1600 (book project in progress).
“Landscape and History in the Works of Jacopo da Varagine” (article in progress).
“Reframing the Roman ‘Free Commune’: Municipal Autonomy and Regional Relations in Trecento Rome” (article in progress).
Urban Legends: Civic Identity & the Classical Past in Northern Italy, 1250–1350 (University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2011).
“Noble and Most Ancient: Catalogues of City Foundation in Fourteenth-Century Italy,” in Medieval Manuscripts, Their Makers and Users: A Special Issue of Viator in Honor of Richard and Mary Rouse (Turnhout: Brepols, 2011).
“Whose SPQR? Sovereignty and Semiotics in Medieval Rome.” Speculum 84 (2009), 874–904.
“Many Januses in Search of Unity: Defining Civic Identity in Genoa, 1257–1312.” Studies in Medieval and Renaissance History, 3rd Series, 6 (2009), 53–92.
"Mapping a Roman Legend: The House of Cola di Rienzo from Piranesi to Baedeker." Italian Culture 26 (2008), 53–83.
“Debunking the Dinosaur Myth: A Case for Palaeography and the Undergraduate Curriculum.” Medieval Academy News 158 (Fall 2007), 10.
“The Appearance and Spread of the E-Cedilla.” Manuscripta 43/44 (1999–2000), 1–43.
“Cola di Rienzo and the Lex Regia.” Viator 30 (1999), 231–52.
Selected Papers & Presentations
"Landscape and History in the Works of Jacopo da Varagine." Invited presentation to the Center for Medieval Studies, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, 9 April 2020.
"After the Fall of Acre: The Crusades in Jacopo da Varagine's Chronicle of Genoa (ca. 1295)." 22nd Biennial New College Conference on Medieval & Renaissance Studies, Sarasota, FL, 13 March 2020.
"The Blackbird, the Basilisk, and the Evicted Corpse: Sacralizing Landscape in Jacopo da Varagine's Genoese Relic Treatises." Invited presentation for Visions of Medieval Studies in North America: A Conference in Honor of Professor Patrick J. Geary, UCLA, Los Angeles, 12–14 April 2019.
"Between Hagiography and Local History: Jacopo da Varagine's Genoese Relic Treatises." International Medieval Congress, Leeds, 26 July 2018.
“Leo X, the Roman Commune, and Ownership of the Classical Past.” Early Modern Rome 3, University of California, Rome, 5–7 October 2017.
“History, Historians, and the Spatial Turn.” Invited plenary presentation for the annual History Graduate Association conference, Washington University in St Louis, 31 March 2017.
“Habitatores civitatum: Landscape and History in Jacopo da Varagine’s History of Genoa.” 2015 Meeting of the Southeastern Medieval Association, Little Rock, AR, 23 October 2015.
“Civic Advice from an Archbishop: Jacopo da Varagine’s History of Genoa.” The 50th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, MI, 15 May 2015.
Chair, respondent, and commentator for "Civic Foundation Legends in Italian Art," a series of three panels sponsored by the Italian Art Society. The 50th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, MI, 15 May 2015.
“SPQR: The Branding of Rome.” Invited presentation for the University of Southern California-Huntington Library Seminar on the Premodern Mediterranean, Los Angeles, CA, 2 March 2015.
“Ubi enim senatus? Assessing the Roman Senate in the Early Middle Ages.” The 19th Biennial New College Conference on Medieval & Renaissance Studies, Sarasota, FL, 6 March 2014.
“Reframing the Roman ‘Free Commune’: Municipal Autonomy and Regional Relations in Trecento Rome.” The 88th Annual Meeting of the Medieval Academy of America, Knoxville, TN, 6 April 2013.
“Popes and Republicans: Municipal Politics and the Classical Past in Fifteenth-Century Rome.” 57th Annual Meeting of the Renaissance Society of America, Montreal, Quebec, 26 March 2011.
“The Papacy, the Commune, and the Struggle for SPQR in Fifteenth-Century Rome.” 125th Annual Meeting of the American Historical Association, Boston, MA, 8 January 2011.
“The SPQR and the Reassertion of Papal Rule in Renaissance Rome .” The 17th Biennial New College Conference on Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Sarasota, Florida, 11 March 2010.
“L’idea di Roma tra medioevo e rinascimento.” Invited lecture for Roma nel Rinascimento, Istituto storico italiano per il medio evo (ISIME), Rome, Italy, 18 June 2009.
“Adopting a New Aeneas: Civic Identity in Perugia, 1255–1301.” The 84th Annual Meeting of the Medieval Academy of America, Chicago, Illinois, 27 March 2009.
“SPQR Transformed: Art, Politics, and the Roman Commune, 1150–1400.” The 16th Biennial New College Conference on Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Sarasota, Florida, 7 March 2008.
“Whose SPQR? Sovereignty and Semiotics in Medieval Rome.” Invited lectures for the Centre des études classiques, Université de Montreal, Quebec, 27 November 2007; and the Pontifical Institute of Mediæval Studies, Toronto, Ontario, 7 December 2007.
“Ancient and Most Noble: Tracking Italian Civic Foundation Lists.” Invited paper for Medieval Manuscripts: Their Makers and Users: A Conference in Honor of Richard and Mary Rouse, Los Angeles, California, 6 October 2007.
“Romulus and Remus, Revisited: Civic Identity in Late Medieval Siena.” The 14th Annual International Medieval Congress (Medieval Cities), Leeds, UK, 10 July 2007.
“Are You Sure This Isn’t About Dinosaurs? A Case for Palaeography in the Undergraduate Curriculum.” The Medieval Academy of America CARA Meeting, Peterborough, Ontario, 22 September 2006.
“Ad publicam utilitatem: Broadening the Communal Audience for the Classics in Late Medieval Italy.” Invited paper for Urban Witness: Languages of the Medieval Italian Commune, London, UK, 7 July 2006.
“Piranesi and the House of Cola di Rienzo.” The 15th Biennial New College Conference on Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Sarasota, Florida, 9 March 2006.
Panelist for “Reflections on the First Year on the Job; or, What I Wish I Had Known While Still in Graduate School.” Roundtable discussion sponsored by the Medieval Academy of America’s Graduate Students’ Committee at the 40th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, Michigan, 7 May 2005.
Professional Service
Service to the Profession:
Committee Co-Chair and Webmaster for the Biennial New College Conference on Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 2005–present (next conference to be held in March 2018).
Editor, The Medieval Review (2011–present).
Series Editor, Artes liberales: Interdisciplinary Studies of the Middle Ages, Manchester University Press, 2013–present.
Member, History Tuning Project, American Historical Association, 2011–14.
Participant in several networking & mentorship programs (such as the Medieval Academy’s Graduate Student Mentorsip Program at Kalamazoo and Leeds), 2008–present.
Manuscript Reviewer for Viator, Studies in Medieval & Renaissance History, Gesta, Renaissance Quarterly, English Historical Review, Choice, and Longman. 2005–present.
Member of the Evaluating Committee for the NEH Collaborative Research Program, Summer Stipends, and others.
Fellows’ Representative, American Academy in Rome, 2008–9.
Service to the University:
Board of Directors, New College Child Center, 2014–18 (President, 2015–18).
Webmaster, New College Conference on Medieval & Renaissance Studies (2006–present) and NCUFF, the NCF faculty union (2008–present).
Committee For Revision of the Liberal Arts Curriculum (Gen. Ed.), 2018–present.
Writing Advisory Committee, 2016–17.
Provost's Advisory Committee on Tenure & Promotion, 2012–14 (Co-chair, 2013–14).
Educational Policy Committee, 2009–11 (co-chair, 2010–11).
Student Academic Status Committee, 2006–8 (chair, 2007–8).
Educational Technology Services Steering Committee, 2004–6.
Memberships
American Academy in Rome (fellow)
American Historical Association
APICES (Association Paléographique Internationale: Culture, Écriture, Société)
International Society of the Classical Tradition
Medieval Academy of America
Renaissance Society of America
Other Skills
Languages: Advanced Latin and Italian. Functional German and French. Basic Spanish.
Technical Competence: ArcGIS; Adobe Creative Suite; numerous web design, presentation, and blogging platforms; digital preservation and archival systems and practices. Professional editing and copyediting experience.