Saint Michael's College

Title: Professor of History

Education: B.A. Duke University; A.M., Ph.D. Harvard University

Areas of Expertise/Research Interests: Medieval Florence (Italy) from antiquity to the Black Death; the Church in Medieval Florence (and Tuscany); the political economy of grain and food in the medieval Italian communes, 1000-1400; the political transformation of Italian cities in the second half of the thirteenth century

Testimonial: The reputation of Saint Michael's as a distinguished institution of higher learning is continuing to grow, and this is also a source of professional satisfaction to me.

What do you like most about teaching/working at Saint Michael's College? There are three major aspects about teaching at Saint Michael's College that I like most: 1) the close academic and intellectual contact I can have with each student; 2) the excellent classroom and seminar facilities for teaching; and 3) the quality of interaction with my faculty colleagues.

What do you like about Saint Michael's students? What I like the most about our students is the courtesy and respect that they show toward each other and toward their professors in their classes. What I also like is the level of earnestness and seriousness that most of them bring to their courses and seminars, especially when they are juniors and seniors.

What is your favorite class to teach, and why? Perhaps my favorite class to teach is History 345 The Black Death, which I offer every other year. As a seminar, enrollment is limited to 15 students, and all of them are usually junior and senior History majors who are very interested and already have some background in the subject. The topic is a source of endless fascination for the students and myself, and new and major scholarship appears every year. The seminar in particular is about much more than the medieval plague. In fact, it is increasingly becoming a general exploration of the role of disease in global history.

What kinds of unique opportunities are available to students in your classes or department? One of the most important opportunities that students have at Saint Michael's College is to work closely with individual professors. Professors are very approachable, both in the classroom and during office hours. Working one-on-one with individual professors on research projects in the senior year (the senior thesis in the History Department, for example) is a major facet of a Saint Michael's College education.

Favorite quote: "The past is not dead. In fact, it is not even past." - William Faulkner

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