MMW Program Staff & Faculty
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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.
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Eberly Barnes - Academic Coordinator
Eberly Barnes is the MMW Academic Coordinator for MMW 11-13. Dr. Barnes earned her Ph.D. in English at St. Louis University, where she specialized in critical theory; studied the evolution of consciousness and history of rhetoric with Walter J. Ong; and wrote her dissertation on the critical history of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. In addition, she holds an MA in English from The University of Texas at Austin and a BA in English from Louisiana College. Her research and teaching interests include writing pedagogy; rhetoric, composition, and the writing process; writing program administration; the evolution of consciousness; sustainability, diversity, and social justice; creative non-fiction; and kinesthetic education. Dr. Barnes also enjoys yoga, tai chi, and exploring nature. In MMW, Dr. Barnes hires and trains new TAs; supervises TAs in MMW 11-13; oversees writing instruction for MMW 12-13; and manages academic integrity cases. -
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.
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Mel Vipperman-Cohen - Interim Associate Director
Mel Vipperman-Cohen (she/hers) is the Academic Coordinator for MMW 11, 12, and 13. Dr. Vipperman-Cohen earned her PhD in Literature from UC San Diego, and she specializes in early modern British theater, queer theory, critical disability studies, and economic criticism. In her book project, "Queer Ears," she explores deafness in early modern theater as queer reimagining of agency, communication, and reason. Her scholarship has been published in Arden Studies in Early Modern Drama, and she is Senior Editor of the Journal for Early Modern Cultural Studies. -
Edmond Chang - Senior Lecturer
Edmond Chang received his Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the University of California, San Diego in 2002. A former Fulbright Research Grant recipient, he focused on comparative philosophy with an emphasis on Chinese aesthetics in the 4th century C.E. Dr. Chang also holds a M.F.A. in Creative Writing from the Writers’ Workshop at the University of Iowa, as well as a B.A. in History and International Relations from Tufts University. He has been a four-time recipient of ERC’s “Outstanding Faculty Award,” in addition to receiving UCSD’s Paul Saltman Teaching Excellence Award in 2013. Aside from teaching, Dr. Chang has published poetry and worked as a professional translator and editor. His hobbies include backpacking, kayaking, and learning to play the guqin. As Senior Lecturer in the MMW program, he teaches MMW 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 121 and 122. -
Shirley Lam - Program Coordinator
Shirley Lam was born and raised in Hong Kong. She received her BS in Mathematics and Computer Science from the University of California, San Diego. After working as a mobile app and web developer in a private school, she found her passion for student service. Prior to joining the MMW, Shirley worked in the Financial Aid and Scholarship Office and the Department of Mathematical Sciences. She likes helping others and enjoys working with faculty and staff. Shirley enjoys traveling, playing badminton, and watching movies in her spare time.
MMW Departmental Faculty
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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.
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Dan Vitkus
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.
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Dana Murillo
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.
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Deborah Hertz
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.
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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.
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Frank Biess
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
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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.
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Jeremy Prestholdt
Jeremy Prestholdt specializes in African, Indian Ocean, and global history with emphases on consumer culture and politics.
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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.
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Oumelbanine Nina Zhiri
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.
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Patrick Adamiak
Lecturer, Making of the Modern World -
Patrick Patterson
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.
MMW Teaching Assistants
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Allie Cook
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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
Preferred Pronouns: she/her/hersDegree: PhD CandidateDepartment: SociologySpecialty: International migration, laws of returnEmail: bwaterhouse@ucsd.edu -
Brianne Itaya
Preferred Pronouns: she/her/hers
Degree: PhD Candidate
Department: Art History, Theory, and Criticism
Specialty: Art of Ancient Mesoamerica
Email: bitaya@ucsd.edu -
Camellia Azzi
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Chenfeng Wang
Preferred Pronouns: she/herDegree: PhD CandidateDepartment: LiteratureSpecialty: Contemporary East Asian, Cinema and Media StudiesEmail: chw058@ucsd.edu -
Christopher Moreland
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Cj Headley
Preferred Pronouns: He/Him
Degree: Ph.D. Candidate
Department: History
Specialty: German Imperialism in Africa
Email: Cjheadle@ucsd.edu -
David Hollingsworth
Preferred Pronouns: he/himDegree: History MA, San Diego State UniversitySpecialties: Post-Civil War United States, 20th Century Revolutionary Latin AmericaEmail: dwhollingsworth@ucsd.edu -
Debra Ligorsky
Preferred Pronouns: she/her/hersDegree: Ph.D. In EnglishSpecialty: The Revolutionary Period, Romanticism, and the Literature of CitizenshipEmail: dligorsky@ucsd.edu -
Dimitris Stergiopoulos
Preferred Pronouns: he/him/hisDegree: Doctoral CandidateDepartment: HistorySpecialty: Modern Greek, Ottoman, and European HistoryEmail: dstergio@ucsd.edu -
Emre Sunu
Preferred Pronouns: he/him/his
Degree: M.A | PhD Candidate
Department: History
Specialty: Social and Cultural History, 19th century Balkans
Email: sesunu@ucsd.edu -
Iman Farahani
Preferred Pronouns: she/her/hersDegree: MFA CandidateDepartment: LiteratureEmail: ifarahan@ucsd.edu
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Jaime (Jamie) Ivey
Preferred Pronouns: he/him
Degree: PhD candidateDepartment: HistorySpecialty: Cold War and Sport; Soviet Union and AfricaEmail: Jaivey@ucsd.edu -
Joy Miller
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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
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Melissa Hurt
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Michael Campbell
Preferred Pronouns: he/him/his
Degree: MA from SDSU
Department: History
Specialty: Cold War, Urban History
Email: macampbell@ucsd.edu -
Michael McGalliard
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Olivia Duffield Maddox
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Oswin Orellana
Preferred Pronouns: he/him/hisDegree: B.A. in History from UCI, M.A. in History from CSUN; Current Ph.D. student at UCSDDepartment: HistorySpecialty: Early Modern Europe with an emphasis on 15th-16th century SpainEmail: oorellan@ucsd.edu -
Rachel Hennings
Preferred Pronouns: she/her/hers
Degree: Previous: iBBA from Schulich School of Business, York University, MA in History from UCSD, Current: PhD Candidate in History
Department: History
Specialty: Modern Germany Business History
Email: rahennin@ucsd.edu -
Rebecca Shoup
Preferred Name: Rebecca ShoupPreferred Pronouns: she/her/hersDegree: PhD CandidateDepartment: HistorySpecialty: Social History of Modern Greece and the eastern MediterraneanEmail: rshoup@ucsd.edu -
Robert Nixon
Preferred Pronouns: he/him/his
Degree: B.A. in History and French from Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania, with a Minor in Middle Eastern Studies
Department: History
Specialty: 20th Century Syrian Intellectual/Cultural History
Email: r1nixon@ucsd.edu -
Sam Sotomayor
Preferred Pronouns: they/them/elleDegree: BA in Theatre Arts from San Francisco State University, Graduate StudentDepartment: Latin American StudiesSpecialty: Theatrical StorytellingEmail: s1sotomayor@ucsd.edu -
Scott Howard
Preferred Pronouns: he/his/himDegree: MA in History - SDSU | BA in History - UC Santa CruzDepartment: HistorySpecialty: Modern Middle East (19th-20th centuries) | War & Society (emphasis: United States)Email: showard1527@sdsu.edu -
Shane McClain
Preferred Pronouns: he/him/his
Degree: MA - Linguistic Anthropology
Department: Anthropology
Specialty: Indigenous languages Mexico
Email: sbmcclain@ucsd.edu -
Sophia Veran
Preferred Pronouns: she/her/hersDegree: BA in History, UCSD – Masters in Latin American Studies, UCSD (in progress)Department: Latin American StudiesSpecialty: Cacicas and Litigation Practices in Mexico City, 1790-1830, Late Medieval Iberian Socio-Literary PracticesEmail: sveransa@ucsd.edu -
Thomas McLamb
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Yingjie Fei
Preferred Pronouns: she/HerDegree: PhD student, Literatures in SpanishDepartment: LiteratureSpecialty: Memories and narratives of violence in 20th and 21st century Latin AmericaEmail: yifei@ucsd.edu -
Yuchen Yan
Preferred Pronouns: she/her/hersDegree: PhD in Progress from UCSDMA from Duke University (Critical Asian Humanities)BA from Peking University (Chinese Language and Literature)Department: LiteratureSpecialty: Late Qing and modern Chinese literature and cultural studies; urban literary studies; narratives of the grotesqueEmail: y9yan@ucsd.edu
