Current Graduate Students

Catilyn Jones Wins Two Prestigious National Fellowships
PhD Candidate Caitlyn Jones received two prestigious national fellowships for her dissertation writing year: the American Dissertation Fellowship, awarded by the American Association of University Women to offset living and research costs for the final year of dissertation writing, and the Gerald R. Ford Scholar Award in Honor of Robert Teeter awarded by the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library to a doctoral student researching any aspect of the United States political process, with particular attention to how public opinion affects this process.
Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Fellowship
Dr. Alberto Wilson III (Ph.D. 2021) has been awarded an Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Fellowship in Latino Studies at the School for Advanced Research in Santa Fe, NM, for the academic year 2023-24 to make progress on his first book, Pan American Cities. After completing his fellowship year, Dr. Wilson will join the faculty at Texas Christian University as a tenure-track assistant professor in Mexican American, Latinx, and Borderlands History.
Allison Saenz Awarded National Fellowship
PhD Candidate, Allison Saenz, was selected as a 2022 Latino Museum Studies Program Predoctoral Fellow at the National Museum of American History and National Museum of the American Latino in Washington, D.C. Ms. Saenz’s dissertation, "Being a U.S. Central American: Immigration, Culture, and Ethnicity in Houston," examines the history of Central Americans in one of the nation’s largest urban centers.
Crossing Latinidades Mellon Humanities Fellowship
PhD Student Shine Trabucco receives a 2022-2023 Mellon Fellowship from the Crossing Latinidades Humanities Research Initiative, which includes a one-year stipend of $30,000, extensive mentorship, and a position with the Mapping Everyday Mexicana/Chicana Political Organizing in the Texas and Arizona Borderlands Crossing Latinidades Humanities Research Working Group.
Critical Language Scholarship
PhD Candidate, Heather Butina-Sutton is awarded a Critical Language Scholarship through the U.S. Department of State to study Portuguese in Florianópolis, Brazil, over the summer.

	Said Sultan Al Hashimi Ph.D. Candidate in Modern Arab History Advisor: Abdel Razzaq Takriti Major Field: Modern Arab History Minor Field: Transnational History Research Interests: Anti-colonialism; Imperialism; Revolutions and Resistances in Oman and Arabian Peninsula Publications in Arabic: Oman: Human and Authority, A Primer to Understanding the Modern Omani Political Landscape (2014) Novels and Prison Literature in Arabic: “If the Trees Fell in Love”; “The Shadow’s Lullaby”; “What the Cell Left Behind for the Rose: The Papers of a Prisoner in 2011”; “Jasmine of Absence: Letters from Solitary Confinement”; “Omani Spring: Reading into the Contexts and Significance”; The Sacred Valley Infantries: Studies and Readings in Sufi Life in Oman Undergraduate: Political Sciences and Economics, University of Kuwait, 1999 M.A.: Strategic Studies, University of Aberdeen, 2006 ssalhash@cougarnet.uh.edu
	Allison R. Anderson Ph.D. Student in U.S. History Advisor: Nancy Beck Young Major Field: U.S. History in the 20th century Minor Field: Public History Research Interests: U.S. Politics, Modern Conservatism, Women’s History Digital Projects: Contributor to the CPH podcast, Public Historians at Work; Digital Projects Intern, Historical Resources Center at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center Research Medical Library Undergraduate: History Pre-Law, Western Illinois University, 2019 arander6@cougarnet.uh.edu
	Erica Augenstein Ph.D. Candidate in Modern Middle East Advisor: Abdel Razzaq Takriti Research Interests: Palestinian left in the 1950s and 1960s—particularly Palestinian activists in the Communist Party of Israel M.A.: Middle East Studies, University of Chicago ezaugens@cougarnet.uh.edu
	Dmitrii Blyshko Ph.D. Student in European History Advisor: Alexey Golubev Major Field: European History (20th-Century Russia and Nordic Europe) Minor Field: History of Science Research Interests: History of Science; History of Russia; History of Archaeology; Archaeology of Nordic Europe Undergraduate: Specialist Degree with Honors in History from Petrozavodsk State University, Russia, 2011 M.A.: Anthropology and Ethnology from European University at Saint-Petersburg, Russia, 2013 dblyshko@cougarnet.uh.edu
	Eric Boutin-Bloomberg Ph.D. Candidate in U.S. History Advisor: Mark Goldberg Major Field: U.S. History (19th Century) Minor Field: World History Research Interests: Canadian-American Borderlands; Whiteness Studies; Race and Ethnicity Undergraduate: History, University of Houston, 2015 Dissertation: “British Imperialists and Reluctant Americans: The Transnational Colonization of the Canadian-American Borderlands, 1776-1900” Website enboutin@central.uh.edu
	Stephon Boykin Ph.D. Student in U.S. History Advisor: Linda Reed Major Field: U.S. History since 1877 Minor Field: Public History Research Interests: African American history in the US during the 20th century with a focus on Black social and cultural institutions, civil rights, and Black radical movements in the American South Fellowship: University of Houston Presidential Award for Graduate Study sboykin2@cougarnet.uh.edu
	Heather Butina-Sutton Ph.D. Candidate in Latin America Advisor: Philip Howard Major Field: Transnational History (18th-19th century Atlantic World) Minor Field: Public History Research Interests: Black Labor and Entrepreneurship; Women and Gender Studies; African-American History; Afro-Latina/o/x History; Digital Humanities Undergraduate: Cultural Anthropology, University of Houston, 2014 Twitter: @hbsutton hbsutton@central.uh.edu "History, as nearly no one seems to know, is not merely something to be read. And it does not refer merely, or even principally, to the past. On the contrary, the great force of history comes from the fact that we carry it within us, are unconsciously controlled by it in many ways, and history is literally present in all that we do." - James Baldwin
	Valerie N. Butler-Harris Ph.D. Candidate in U.S. History Advisor: David McNally Major Field: U.S. History (15th century-Modern) Minor Field: Public History Research Interests: African American History (New Negro, 1920s-1965); Civil Rights Movement (1950s-1965); Women's History: Labor History Undergraduate: Health and Physical Education, Texas Southern University, 1980 Masters: Master of Education-Educational Administration, Texas Southern University, 2000; M.A. in History, Texas Southern University, 2019 vbutlerharris11@gmail.com "Won't it be wonderful when Black history, and Native American history, and Jewish history and ALL U.S. History is taught from one book. Just U. S. history.” - Maya Angelou
	Sutanwi Chatterjee Ph.D. Student in History Research topic: Disease Control in Colonial Port cities (Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay) of India (1857-1947) Advisor: Nandini Bhattacharya Major Field: Global History with a focus on South Asia Minor Field: History of Medicine Research Interests: History of Science, Medicine, Technology, Urban History, Environmental History, Oceanic History, Economic History, and History of Cuisines M.Phil. in History, Ambedkar University, Delhi, India M.A. in History, University of Mumbai, India B.A. (Hons) in History, Daulat Ram College, University of Delhi, India schaterj@cougarnet.uh.edu
	Alexey Chernyavskiy Ph.D. Student in History Advisor: Alexey Golubev Major Field: Transnational History Minor Field: European History Research Interests: Soviet Union and the world, Soviet engagement with Africa, Asia, and Latin America during the Cold War, Anticolonialism Graduate degree: Candidate of Science in History, Moscow Region State University, 2017 Undergraduate degree: Diploma with Honors in History, Moscow Region State University, 2010 achernya@cougarnet.uh.edu
	Nicole Deere Ph.D. Student in European History Advisor: Kristina Neumann Major Field: European History (Ancient Mediterranean from 100 BCE-100 CE) Minor Field: Public History Research Interests: Roman Empire (Principate); Roman Republic; Social and Political Change; Power Structures and Dynamics Undergraduate: Anthropology and Classics, Texas A&M University, 2021 cndeere@cougarnet.uh.edu
	Samantha de León M.A. Student in Public History Advisor: Nancy Beck Young sndeleon@cougarnet.uh.edu
	Thomas Doser Ph.D. Candidate in U.S. History Advisor: Nancy Beck Young Research Interests: urban/suburban history, environmental history, race and ethnicity, immigration, public history tcdoser@cougarnet.uh.edu
	Brian "Ty" Erickson M.A. Student in Public History Advisor: Nancy Beck Young and Kristina Neumann Major Field: Public History Minor Field: Ancient History Research Interests: Greek History; Mediterranean History; Classical Studies; Digital Humanities Undergraduate: History, University of Houston, 2020 btericks@cougarnet.uh.edu "What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others." - Pericles
	Jonathan Fairchild Ph.D. Candidate in U.S. History Advisor: Todd Romero Research Interests: Native American Studies, 19th-century US, Borderlands, Race and Ethnicity, Oral History Dissertation: "They Intend to Conduct Us Out of Their Country: The Choctaw Diaspora" Website jrfairch@cougarnet.uh.edu
	Alfonso Garza Ph.D. Student in Transnational History Advisor: Jose Angel Hernandez Major Field: Transnational History Minor Field: Political History Research Interests: Migration, diaspora voting, economic development, regime-changes, democracy, Latin American international relations M.Sc.: Latin American Development, University College London, UK B.Sc.: Economics, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands agarza89@cougarnet.uh.edu “If my death contributes to the end of partisanship and the consolidation of the union, I shall be lowered in peace into my grave.” - Simon Bolivar
	David Guzman Ph.D. Student in U.S. History Advisor: David McNally dguzman8@central.uh.edu
	Cady Hammer M.A. in Public History Advisor: Kristina Neumann Research Interests: Transnational History, Colonial America, Medieval Europe, Medieval Middle East, Political and Diplomatic History B.A. in History, College of William and Mary Website: cadyhammer.com cahammer@CougarNet.UH.EDU
	Patrick Higgins Ph.D. Candidate in Modern Arab History Advisor: Abdel Razzaq Takriti Major Field: Modern Arab History (1940s-1970s Palestine) Minor Field: Transnational History Research Interests: Revolutions and Revolutionary Theory; Anti-Imperialism; World-Systems; Dependency; Unequal Exchange Undergraduate: Journalism, Wayne State University, 2012 M.A.: Middle East Studies, University of Texas at Austin, 2015 phiggins2@uh.edu
	Paula Davis Hoffman M.A. Student Research Interests: Miami's Cuban-exile community Thesis: "Rise of the Chongas: How Loud and Lipsticked Cubanitas Burned Their Community’s Racial, Sexual, and Class-Based Pedestal to the Ground" pdhoffma@cougarnet.uh.edu
	Derek Ide Ph.D. Candidate in Modern Arab History Advisor: Abdel Razzaq Takriti Major Field: Modern Arab History Minor Field: Transnational History Research Interests: Internationalism; Empire; Anti-colonialism Dissertation: "Panthers, Palestinians, and the Pig Power Structure: Black Internationalism and the Palestinian Revolution, 1967-1982" Fellowships: Houston Endowment Dissertation Completion Fellowship, 2022 Undergraduate: Education and History, University of Toledo, 2011 M.A.: History, University of Toledo, 2015 Website daide@cougarnet.uh.edu “Most young men and women (...) grow up in a sort of permanent present lacking any organic relation to the public past of the times they live in. This makes historians, whose business it is to remember what others forgot, more essential (...) than ever before.” - Eric Hobsbawm
	Caitlyn Jones Ph.D. Student in U.S. History Advisor: Nancy Beck Young Major Field: 20th-century U.S. History Minor Field: Public History Research Interests: U.S. Political History; Women and Gender Studies; Media History; Digital Humanities; Public Memory Digital Projects: Writer and Producer for Public Historians at Work (podcast through the UH Center for Public History); Graduate Research Assistant for Sharing Stories from 1977 Undergraduate: Journalism, University of North Texas, 2015 M.A.: Public History, University of Houston, 2022 Website cjones8@cougarnet.uh.edu "It is possible to read the history of this country as one long struggle to extend the liberties established in our Constitution to everyone in America.” - Journalist Molly Ivins
	Priscilla JudsonWallace Ph.D. Student in Transnational History Advisor: David McNally Major Field: Transnational History Minor Field: African American Studies Research Interests: Black Radical Tradition; Black Radical Intellectuals; Franz Fanon; Resistance Movements Dissertation: "The Global Impact of Black Radical Tradition on Social and Political Movements" Undergraduate: History, University of Texas at El Paso judsonpriscilla@gmail.com “The function of history is not simply to teach breadwinning, or to furnish teachers for the public schools, or to be a centre of polite society; it is, above all, to be the organ of that fine adjustment between real life and the growing knowledge of life, an adjustment which forms the secret of civilization.” ―W.E.B. Du Bois
	Fadi Kafeety Ph.D. Candidate in Modern Middle East Advisor: Abdel Razzaq Takriti Major Field: Transnational History Minor Field: Modern Arab History Research Interests: Marxism; Political Economy; Revolutions and Revolutionary Thought; Tricontinentalism; History from Below Undergraduate: Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, New York University, 2017 M.A.: Middle East Studies, The Graduate Center, CUNY, 2019 Position: Administrative Coordinator, The Arab-American Educational Foundation Center for Arab Studies Website FKafeety@uh.edu "Men make their own history, but they do not make it as they please; they do not make it under self-selected circumstances, but under circumstances existing already, given and transmitted from the past. The tradition of all dead generations weighs like a nightmare on the brains of the living." -Karl Marx
	Nancy Katz Ph.D. Student in U.S. History Advisor: Mark Goldberg Major Field: U.S. History Minor Field: World History Research Interests: Atlantic World; Early U.S. Colonies; Crypto-Judaic Stories; U.S. Southern Borders; British Colonialism Undergraduate: History (with Classical Studies, Religious Studies, and Jewish Studies), University of Houston, 2021 Website nlkatz@cougarnet.uh.edu "We are not makers of history. We are made by history." -Martin Luther King, Jr.
	Karla A. Lira Ph.D. Candidate in U.S. History Advisor: Mark Goldberg Major Field: U.S. History (20th Century) Minor Field: Public History Research Interests: Latinx, Sports, Race and Ethnicity, 20th Century, Public History, Intersections of Latinx and Black college athletes during Jim Crow Dissertation: “For the City: Latinx and Black Athletes in Houston, 1950s-1970s" Undergraduate: History, University of Texas at Pan-American, 2014 M.A.: History, University of Texas: Rio Grande Valley, 2017 Website kalira@uh.edu "¡Sí Se Puede!" -Dolores Huerta
	Christian Moore M.A. Student in U.S. and Public History Advisor: Nancy Beck Young mooreachristian1@gmail.com
	Alex Paul Ph.D. Candidate in U.S. History Advisor: James A. Schafer Major Field: Modern U.S. History (1850-Present) Minor Field: Modern European History Research Interests: Race and Ethnicity Studies; War and Society Studies; Immigration History; Gender Studies; Military History Dissertation: "Resistance, Coercion, and Americanization: Immigrant Soldiers in the U.S. Army during World War I" Grant: Travel Grant, Larry J. Hackman Research Residency Program Undergraduate: History, University of Houston, 2017 aypaul@uh.edu "History is about exploring what it means to be a human being; it should encourage empathy and standing up for one another." -Dr. Irene V. Guenther
	Isabella Rumbough Ph.D. Student in U.S. History Advisor: Josiah Rector Major Field: U.S. History Minor Field: Public History Research Interests: History of Public Transportation; Late 19th and 20th Century Urban History; Urban Planning and the Construction of the New York Subway; Labor and Environmental History Undergraduate: History, University of West Florida, 2021 irrumbou@uh.edu
	Allison Sáenz Ph.D. Candidate in U.S. History Advisor: Monica Perales Major Field: Latina/o/x History Minor Field: Public History Research Interests: Central American Studies; Immigration, Race and Ethnicity; Public History Dissertation: "Being a U.S. Central American: Migration, Culture, and Ethnicity in Houston Post-1965" Digital Projects: Contributor to "Latino cARTographies: Mapping the Past, Present, and Future of Houston Latino Art," a digital project that seeks to highlight Latinx art in the city Fellowship: University of Houston's Center for Mexican American Studies Graduate Fellowship, 2020-2021 Internship: Latino Political History Initiative at the National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Latino Museum Studies Program Undergraduate: History, University of Texas at San Antonio, 2017 ansaenz@uh.edu "If the present had a therapist, it would be history."
	Nella C. Sakic M.A. Student in U.S. History Advisor: Mark Goldberg Major Field: U.S. History Minor Field: European History Research Interests: Immigration History Undergraduate: History, University of Houston, 2020 nlsakic@cougarnet.uh.edu “I can only note that the past is beautiful because one never realises an emotion at the time. It expands later, and thus we don't have complete emotions about the present, only about the past.” ― Virginia Woolf
	Jesus Sanchez M.A. Student in Public History Advisor: Adela Cedillo Major Field: Public History Minor Field: Latin American History Research Interests: 20th Century Central American History, Guerilla History, Salvadoran History, Public History, Anti-Imperialism, Latin American History Undergraduate: History Major with a minor in Mexican American studies, Univesity of Houston 2021 jsanchez56@uh.edu
	Olabode Shadare Ph.D. Student in Transnational History Advisor: Dr. Kairn Klieman Major Field: Africa History, with a focus on 20th-century Nigeria Research Interests: Yorùbá Women, Gender and Sexuality Fellowship: University of Houston Presidential Award for Graduate Study Undergraduate: History & International Relations, Osun State University, 2011 M.A.: International Relations & European-Asian Studies, Tallinn University of Technology, 2016; History, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, 2020 Personal Website omshadar@cougarnet.uh.edu
	Shine Trabucco Ph.D. Student in U.S. History Advisor: Raul Ramos Major Field: U.S.-Mexican Borderlands (19th century) Minor Field: Public History Research Interests: Digital Humanities; Oral History; American Indian Studies; Material Culture; Environmental Studies Digital Projects: Researcher for "To Bear Fruit for Our Race" (UH Center for Public History); Arte Público Press in the Recovering the US Hispanic Literary Heritage Digital Collections on an Optical Character Recognition (OCR) project for the book, La Patria Perdida Undergraduate: Anthropology, Southwestern University, 2018 M.A.: History, St. Mary's University (San Antonio), 2019 Personal Website sstrabuc@cougarnet.uh.edu
	Darah Vann Ph.D. Candidate in European History Advisor: Kristina Neumann Major Field: Ancient History Research Interests: Women, Gender, and Sexuality; Ancient Greece, Roman Republic, Late Antiquity Dissertation: "Rape and Imperialism: Rome's Violent Conquest of Land and Bodies" Awards: Margaret Hensen Award (2019); Friends of Women’s Studies Graduate Essay Prize (2019) dpvann@uh.edu
	Claire White M.A. Student in Public History Advisor: Nancy Beck Young and Kristina Neumann Major Field: Public History Minor Field: European History (Imperial Rome) Research Interests: Women of Rome; Roman Religion; Provinces of Rome; Nautical Archaeology Undergraduate: History, University of Houston, 2020 white.claire02@gmail.com "Aut viam inveniam aut faciam (I will find a way, or I will make a way)." -Hannibal
	Seth Whitty Ph.D. Student in U.S. History Advisor: Matthew Clavin Major Field: Early American History Minor Field: Atlantic World Research Interests: Slavery in the United States; Abolition; Acts of Resistance; Haitian Revolution Dissertation: "Slashed with All the Severity: Resistance and Oppression in Nineteenth-Century Tennessee" Undergraduate: History, Oklahoma State University, 2019 srwhitty@uh.edu
	Ajanae Willis Ph.D. Candidate in U.S. History Advisor: Richard Mizelle Major Field: U.S History in the 19th and 20th Centuries Minor Field: Public History Research Interests: Environmental History/Racism; Culture and Community Building; Disaster Capitalism; Black Geographies; Medical History; Race, Disease, and Healthcare disparities; Oral History M.A. in History, North Carolina Central University, 2020 B.A in History, Elizabeth City State University, 2017 atwillis@central.uh.edu
	Ezell Wilson Ph.D. Candidate in Latin American History Advisor: Philip Howard Major Field: Latin American History (Colonial) Minor Field: Public History Research Interests: Environmental History; Slavery; Atlantic World Undergraduate: History, University of Houston, 2015 elwilson@uh.edu “People are trapped in history and history is trapped in them.” -James Baldwin

Graduate Program

Catilyn Jones Wins Two Prestigious National Fellowships

Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Fellowship

Allison Saenz Awarded National Fellowship

Crossing Latinidades Mellon Humanities Fellowship

Critical Language Scholarship