MMW People

Matthew T. Herbst, Ph.D. - Director

Matthew T. Herbst is the faculty director of the Making of the Modern World program, faculty co-director of Study Abroad, and co-director of Classical Studies. He specializes in the pedagogical leadership of academic programs and experiential learning opportunities at home and abroad.  He was an inaugural professor of UCSD’s Global Seminars and has led 13 summer programs in Asia, Europe, Oceania, and North America (2008-2024).   Since 2012, he has led more than 30 other academic experiential programs in the deserts and mountains of California, in the Southwest, and in Turkey.  Prof. Herbst was a first-generation college student and collaborated to found UCSD's college-based First Year Experience & Transfer Year Experience courses, designed to help students transition to and thrive at UC San Diego.  For more on his work, see here.

Eberly Barnes - Academic Coordinator

Johanna L. Peterson - Associate Director

Dr. Peterson is an Assistant Teaching Professor and Associate Director of the MMW Program. In her role, Dr. Peterson works to foster a student-centered learning environment by supporting course instructors, supervising and mentoring Instructional Assistants, administering the writing project, managing Canvas, and exploring diverse pedagogical approaches and technologies.  

Dr. Peterson received her Ph.D. in History from UC San Diego, her BA in History from California Lutheran University and her MA in History from Cal State Fullerton. Her research focuses on the relationship between girls’ education and women’s citizenship during and immediately following the interwar period in Lebanon. Dr. Peterson is also interested in writing pedagogy, including peer review as antiracist praxis and alternative grading practices.

Outside of work, Dr. Peterson enjoys traveling, spending time outdoors, reading, learning to play the piano, and marveling at how much her 5-year-old changes every day.

Mel Vipperman-Cohen - Interim Associate Director

Edmond Chang - Senior Lecturer

Shirley Lam - Program Coordinator

Babak Rahimi

Associate Professor, Literature

Babak Rahimi holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from the European University Institute in Florence, Italy (2004), and an M.A. in Ancient and Medieval Philosophy from the University of Nottingham, UK (1997).

Babak's research interests focus on the intersections of culture, religion, and technology, with a particular emphasis on the historical and social contexts of early modern Islamicate societies and the Global South.

Dan Vitkus

Professor, Literature

Daniel Vitkus earned his Master’s Degree in English Language and Literature at Oxford University (Hertford College) and his Ph.D. in English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University.

Dan's interests include Shakespeare, Renaissance literature, travel writing, Islamic culture and its representation in the West, the origins of capitalism, the cultural history of empire, eco-criticism, historical materialism, cultural studies, and literary and critical theory.

Dana Murillo

Associate Professor, History

Dana Murillo is a social and ethnohistorian of early modern Latin America. Her research focuses on recovering the histories of the non-elite groups of colonial Mexico’s northern silver mining district, especially native people and women.  

Deborah Hertz

Professor, History

Deborah Hertz received her Ph.D. in German history from the University of Minnesota. She is a historian whose specialties are modern German history, modern Jewish history, and modern European women’s history. Her current research focuses on the history of radical Jewish women.

Edward (Ted) Kelting

Associate Professor, Literature

Edward (Ted) Kelting received his Ph.D. in Classics from Stanford University in 2019 and his A.B. in Egyptology and Classics from Brown University in 2012. His research ranges across Egypt, Greece, and Rome in the early-imperial period. 

Frank Biess

Professor, History

Frank Biess earned his Ph.D. at Brown University. He is a historian of Modern Europe with an emphasis on 20th-century Germany. Frank is interested in the history of emotions and the history of German colonialism

Jacobo Myerston

Associate Professor, Literature

Jacobo Myerston studied Classics in Mérida, Venezuela, and earned a Ph.D. in Ancient Mediterranean Studies from the University of Chicago.

His research focuses on ancient Greek and Sumero-Akkadian texts, which he examines through multiple lenses, including cultural studies, computational sociology, linguistics, and digital humanities. In addition to his work on ancient Greece and the literatures of ancient Iraq, he is interested in how Latin American scholars and intellectuals have studied and interpreted the ancient world.

Jeremy Prestholdt

Professor, History

Jeremy Prestholdt specializes in African, Indian Ocean, and global history with emphases on consumer culture and politics. 

Maria Carreras

Lecturer, Making of the Modern World

Maria Carreras received her Ph.D. in Modern European History from the University of California, San Diego, with a specialization in twentieth-century Spain.

Her research focuses on the social and cultural history of childhood, nationalism, sport, and urban life. In addition to her work in European history, she is deeply interested in teaching and exploring world history, bringing a global perspective to both her scholarship and the classroom.

Oumelbanine Nina Zhiri

Professor, Literature

Oumelbanine Nina Zhiri received her Ph.D. in Literature from Paris X-Nanterre. Nina studies early modern culture in Europe, North Africa and West Asia.

Her research interests include Arab and European, especially French, literatures, Orientalism and its history, travel accounts and geography, science and technology studies, the practices of philology, and early modern empires. She teaches French and Arabic literature, world history, and theory.

Patrick Adamiak

Patrick Patterson

Professor, History

Patrick Patterson received his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. His research centers on the history of 20th-century Eastern Europe and the Balkans, with major emphases on everyday life and consumer culture and on the interplay of Islam, Christianity, and secular society.

Allie Cook

Baris Tasyakan

Preferred Pronouns: he/him/his
Degree: PhD Candidate
Department: History
Speciality: Late Ottoman Empire, Modern Middle East
Email: batasyakan@ucsd.edu

Beatrice Waterhouse

Brianne Itaya

Camellia Azzi

Chenfeng Wang

Christopher Moreland

Cj Headley

David Hollingsworth

Debra Ligorsky

Dimitris Stergiopoulos

Emre Sunu

Iman Farahani

Jaime (Jamie) Ivey

Joy Miller

Kimiko Nicole LeNeave

Preferred Pronouns: she/her/hers
Degree: B.A. History, Latin American Studies, Music; MA History; PhD Candidate in Latin American History and Caribbean Studies
Department: History
Specialty: 20th Century Latin American History (Cuban and Chilean History - Music History)
Email: kleneave@ucsd.edu

Kris Fabian

Preferred Pronouns: he/him/his
Degree: Ph.D. in History
Specialty: Colonial Latin America; The Spanish Empire
Email: kfabian@ucsd.edu

Matt Ehrlich

Melissa Hurt

Michael Campbell

Preferred Pronouns: he/him/his
Degree: MA from SDSU
Department: History
Specialty: Cold War, Urban History
Email: macampbell@ucsd.edu

Michael McGalliard

Olivia Duffield Maddox

Oswin Orellana

Rachel Hennings

Rebecca Shoup

Robert Nixon

Sam Sotomayor

Scott Howard

Shane McClain

Sophia Veran

Thomas McLamb

Yingjie Fei

Yuchen Yan