FACULTY & COURSES

Mark T. Abate - Associate Professor - University of New Hampshire B.A.; Boston University M.A., Ph.D.

Courses taught:

Dr. Abate is the History Club advisor and leads summer trips to Europe. He is currently working on a book titled Holy Wars and Religious Violence in the Premodern World: A Global Perspective. He recently edited the book: History in Dispute: The Crusades, 1095-1291 (St. James Press, 2002).


Michael S. Anciello - Professor - Boston College M.A. Certificate in Russian and East European Studies; Saint Louis University Ph.D.

Courses taught:

Dr. Anciello's research focuses on Romanian and Eastern European history. He is currently completing a book titled Fatal Interlude: The Mussolini-Petacci Affair. He frequently presents papers at the Russian East European Center, most recently “Russian Foreign Policy and the Romanian Principality 1829-1834” (Boston College, 2003).

Christin Cleaton – Assistant Professor – Trinity College (Hartford), BA; University of California at San Diego, MA; Stony Brook University, PhD.

Courses Taught:

Dr. Cleaton studies colonial Latin America, specifically Mexico, with a focus on race, conquest and the establishment of imperial authority in the New World. Her past research examined the role of clothing to create racial and ethnic identities in Mexico during the Spanish colonial period.  Her current research involves oral interviews with participants and survivors of the 1979 Sandinista revolution in Nicaragua.

John A. Dempsey- Assistant Professor- Boston College B.A., M.A.; Boston University Ph.D.

Courses Taught:

Dr. Dempsey's research interests include popular religious movements of the Middle Ages and the growth of literacy in medieval Europe. Currently he is working on a biography of the eleventh century religious reformer Bonizo of Sutri. He is the copy editor for the New England Journal of History.

Mara Dodge - Associate Professor - Hampshire College B. A.; University of Illinois at Chicago M.A., M.Ed., Ph.D.

Courses taught:

Dr. Dodge has published articles on women’s history, legal history, prisons and criminal justice, labor history, and gay and lesbian history. Her book, “Whores and Thieves of the Worst Kind”: Women, Crime, and Prisons, 1835-2000 (NIU Press), was republished in paperback in 2006. She is currently researching the life of Anna Sullivan (1904-83), a textile mill worker and labor union organizer from Holyoke, MA.

Frederick Harling - Professor - Tufts University B.A.; Boston University M.Div., Ph.D.


Courses taught:

Dr. Harling advises the History Honor Society (Phi Alpha Theta) and serves on the book review board for several historical journals, including the Historian and the Journal of the History of Childhood. He recently presented a paper at the International Psychohistorical Association titled "Common Personality Traits of Mao, Stalin, and Hitler" (NY University, June 2004).

John W. Ifkovic - Professor - Fordham University B.A.; Yale University M.A.T.; University of Virginia Ph.D.


Courses taught:

Dr. Ifkovic is the graduate program advisor for 2007-2008. His research interests are in biography and colonial history. He has published several scholarly works, including Mathew Griswold: Lyman's Revolutionary Magistrate (CT: Wesleyan U. Press, 1977). Dr. Ifkovic has also published two textbooks on local history: The Massachusetts Adventure and The Connecticut Adventure (Gibbs-Smith, 2001).

Michael F. Konig - Professor - United States International College B.A.; University of San Diego M.A.; Arizona State University Ph.D.


Courses taught:

Dr. Konig is the chair of the History Department and coordinates the history internship program. He has a background in urban planning and is the editorial director of the Historical Journal of Massachusetts. Dr. Konig has co-edited several books on Massachusetts history, including Education in Massachusetts: Selected Essays (1989) and Massachusetts Politics: Selected Historical Essays (1998) in which he had an essay on "Federal Defense Politics and the Closing of the Springfield Armory."

Brooke S. Orr - Assistant Professor - Bates College B.A.; George Washington University Ph.D.


Courses taught:

Dr. Orr helps to coordinate the teacher certification program. Her research interests are in 19th century history, the Populist movement, and women's history. Dr. Orr recently won the Edgar Langsdorf Award for Excellence in Writing for her article about Populist leader Mary Elizabeth Lease published in Kansas History. (Winter 2006-2007). She is currently working on a book tentatively titled: The “People’s Joan of Arc”: Mary Elizabeth Lease, Gendered Politics and the Populist Party Politics in Gilded-Age America.

Elise G. Young - Full Professor - Sarah Lawrence College B.A.; Columbia University M.F.A.; University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Ed.D. and Ph.D.


Courses taught:

Dr. Young is the founder and coordinator of the Global Women's History Project and of Africa Alive! a community based model for African Studies. Her book, 'Keepers of the History, Women and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict' (Teachers College Press, 1992) presents a unique feminist historigraphical approach. Her many publications, based on research in Palestine, Israel, Jordan, India, Pakistan, focus on such topics as Palestinian women in refugee camps in Jordan; women, health and modern nation state building in Bilad al Sham, and analyses of Global Women's History conferences. Dr. Young speaks internationally on these topics. In 1994/5 she produced a short video, with Dr. Salwa Najjab Khatib, 'Doctors, Friends, Sisters.' She is also a published poet. Dr. Young is the recipient of  research grants and fellowships, and is currently developing a historiographical model that brings Contemplative Practice into the study of history.

Michelle Pescetta is a WSC alumni (B.A. Graphic Arts) who has been a full time employee since 2005. New to the History Department in 2007, Michelle previously worked for the Urban Education Program and Student Support Services. Michelle is also a local artist in Indian Orchard, MA and spends some of her free time at her art studio or face painting at birthday parties. Office Bates 228/29. Telephone: 413-572-8297