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Current Graduate Students

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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

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Rahil Asgari
Ph.D. Student in U.S. History
Advisor: Dr. Nancy Beck Young
Major Field: U.S. History
Minor Fields: Labor History, Public History
Research Interests: History of Sex Work; Women and Gender Studies; Historical Sociology
M.A. in Comparative Global History, University of Tehran
B.A. in History, University of Tehran
rasgari@cougarnet.uh.edu

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Dmitrii Blyshko
Ph.D. Candidate in European History
Advisor: Alexey Golubev
Major Field: European History (20th-century Russia and 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

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Maya Bouchebl
M.A. Student in Public History
Advisor: Nancy Beck Young
Major Field: Public History
Minor Field: European History
Research Interests: Medieval Europe, Early Modern Europe, Military History
Undergraduate: History, Univesity of Houston, 2022
mwbouche@cougarnet.uh.edu

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James Burke
Ph.D. student in US History
Advisor: Dr. Todd Romero
Major field: US History
Minor field: Public History
Research Interests: Colonial History; Public History; Maritime History
BA: History, Oklahoma Christian University, 2021
MA: History, Texas A&M University - Central Texas, 2023
Jpburke2@cougarnet.uh.edu

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Stephon Boykin
M.A. 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

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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


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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


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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


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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 Sciences in History, Moscow Region State University, Russia, 2017
Undergraduate degree: Diploma with Honors in History, Moscow Region State University, Russia, 2010
achernya@cougarnet.uh.edu

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Muthuvel Deivendran
Ph.D. Student in History
Advisor: Pratik Chakrabarti
Research Interests: Environmental History, British Colonialism, Labor History, History of Science & Technology, Coastal History, Political Anthropology
Projects: Research Assistant, “Coastal Transformation and Fisher Wellbeing - Synthesized Perspectives from India and Europe” (under French Institute of Pondicherry and Madras Institute of Developmental Studies, India) funded by the European Union ─ India Platform for Social Sciences and Humanities (EqUIP); Research Intern, Tribal Research Centre, Department of Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare, Government of Tamil Nadu, India.
M.A.: Anthropology, University of Madras, India, 2021
mdeivend@cougarnet.uh.edu

Thomas Doser

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

 

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

 

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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

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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

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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 

 

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Caitlyn Jones
Ph.D. Candidate 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 

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Priscilla JudsonWallace
Ph.D. Candidate in Global History and African American Studies
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: "Claudia Jones and the Black Radical Tradition: A Global Study"
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 

 

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Fadi Kafeety
Ph.D. Candidate in Modern Middle East
Advisor: David McNally & Abdel Razzaq Takriti (Rice University)
Research Interests: Marxism; Political Economy; Revolutions and Revolutionary Thought; Tricontinentalism; History from Below; Colonialism and Imperialism
Undergraduate: Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, New York University, 2017
M.A.: Middle East Studies, The Graduate Center, CUNY, 2019
Position: Assistant Director, The Arab-American Educational Foundation Center for Arab Studies (2020-2024)
Awards: 2024-25 ACOR-CAORC Pre-Doctoral Fellowship (Amman, Jordan)
Website
FKafeety@uh.edu

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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.

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Claire Keck
M.A. Student in Public History
Advisor: Nancy Beck Young
Major Field: Public History
Minor Field: European History
Research Interests: Religious History; French History; History of Entertainment; Oral History
Undergraduate: History & Professional Writing, Baylor University, 2023
clkeck@cougarnet.uh.edu

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Jacob King
MA in Public History
Advisor: Nancy Young
Major field: Public History
Research interests: Cold War, History of US activism, US Imperialism, Latin American history
Undergraduate: History, California State University, Sacramento
jking20@COUGARNET.UH.EDU

“Of all our studies, history is best qualified to reward our research. And when you see that you’ve got problems, all you have to do is examine the historic method used all over the world by others who have problems similar to yours. And once you see how they get theirs straight, then you know how you can get yours straight.” - Malcolm X

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Riley Kramer
Ph.D. Student in U.S. History
Advisor: Dr. Nancy Beck Young
Major Field: U.S. History (20th Century)
Minor Field: World History
Research Interests: U.S. and the World, American Empire, America's role in the world, specifically the FDR era
Academic Education: M.S. in Logistics Management from Florida Institute of Technology (2021); B.S. in Business Administration from The Ohio State University (2015)
Active Duty Army Logistics Officer since 2015 to present
rkramer@cougarnet.uh.edu

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Aracely Lara
M.A. Student in Public History
Advisors: Mark Goldberg, Nancy Beck Young
Research: Texas-based muralists, research is focused on communal healing and resistance
through murals and exploring murals as a holistic method to cleanse spaces of historically traumatic events in Texas.
Undergraduate: Literature and Latino Studies, University of Texas at Austin, 2021.
alara32@cougarnet.uh.edu

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Austin Lee
M.A. Student in European History
Advisor: Catherine Patterson
Major Field: European History
Research Interests: Early Modern History, English History, social history and social history within military and popular movements.
Undergraduate: History, University of Houston 2022 and Telecommunications and Media Studies, Texas A&M University 2017
amlee21@cougarnet.uh.edu

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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 and Black History, Sports, Race and Ethnicity, Public History
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 

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Nikita Los
M.A. Student in European History
Advisor: Dr. Kristina M. Neumann
Major field: European History
Minor field: Public History
Research Interests: History of Ancient Rome, History of Principate, Classic, and Hellenistic Period of Mediterranean.
Undergraduate: History (Major), Classical Studies (Minor), University of Houston, 2022
nlos@cougarnet.uh.edu

"Wonders on earth are many, but none is more formidable than man...
...Birds fly carefree on high, wild animals stalk the forests,
fish teem in the deep seas. Of all these the master is man,
man who surpasses all in the acuity of his mind."

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Nicole McCarthy
M.A. 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
ndmccarthy@cougarnet.uh.edu

 

Christian Moore
M.A. Student in U.S. and Public History
Advisor: Nancy Beck Young
mooreachristian1@gmail.com

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Miranda Ruzinsky
M.A. Student in Public History
Advisor: Nancy Beck Young
Research Interests: Hispanic Population
mmruzins@central.uh.edu

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Allison Sáenz
Ph.D. Candidate in U.S. History
Advisors: Monica Perales and Mark Goldberg
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
Fellowships: Smithsonian's Latino Center, Latino Museum Studies Program, Graduate Fellowship, Summer 2019; University of Houston's Center for Mexican American Studies Graduate Fellowship, 2020-2021; Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Latino, Latino Museum Studies Program, Predoctoral Fellowship, 2022-2023; Inter-University Program for Latino Research/University of Illinois-Chicago Mellon Dissertation Fellowship, 2023-2024
Internship: Oral Historian, Making Cancer History Voices Oral History Collection Summer Internship, Research Medical Library, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Summer 2023
Undergraduate: History, University of Texas at San Antonio, 2017
ansaenz@uh.edu 

"If the present had a therapist, it would be history."

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Xavier Saldivar-Osorto
Ph.D. Student in Latin American History
Advisor: José Angel Hernández
Major Field: Latin American History
Minor Field: U.S.-Mexican Borderlands
Research Interests: Digital Humanities, Oral History, Immigration, Race and Ethnicity, Mexican American History, Revolutions in Latin America, Latin America during the Cold War, Food History, Music History.
Undergraduate: History, University of Houston-Downtown, 2021
M.A.: History, University of Texas at San Antonio. 2023
xasaldiv@cougarnet.uh.edu

"History doesn't repeat itself, but it often rhymes." - Samuel Langhorne Clemens (Mark Twain)

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Jesus Sanchez
M.A. in History
Advisor: Dr. Adela Cedillo
Major Field: Latin American History
Minor Field: U.S. History
Research Interests: Latin American history, Salvadoran History, Revolutionary History, American Imperialism, Historical Memory

Undergraduate: University of Houston, 2021
Jsanch66@cougarnet.uh.edu

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Olabode Shadare
Ph.D. Candidate in Transnational History
Advisor: Dr. Kairn Klieman
Major Field: Transnational History
Minor Field: Public History
Research Interests: Nigerian Immigrant Community in Houston; Identity, Gender, and Race; Oral History
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

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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

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Katherine Truax
Ph.D. Student in U.S. History
Advisor: Pratik Chakrabarti
Major Field: History of Medicine
Minor Field: Transnational History
Research Interests: History of Death, Medicalization, Race, Imperialism, Policy, History of Science, Pseudoscience
M.Sc. in History, University of Edinburgh, 2012
B.A in History, University of Houston, 2011
kttruax@CougarNet.UH.edu

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Seth Uzman
Ph.D. Student in Transnational History
Advisor: David McNally
Major Field: Transnational History
Minor Field: U.S. History
Research Interests: The Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico in the 18-19C, race and capitalism, class formation, revolutions, Marxism, universal history, history from below, intellectual history
M.A.: Labor, Social Movements, and Development, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, 2020
B.A.: Mathematics, Economics, Plan II, University of Texas at Austin, 2018
ssuzman@cougarnet.uh.edu

“The tradition of the oppressed teaches us that the 'emergency situation' in which we live is the rule. We must arrive at a concept of history which corresponds to this.” - Walter Benjamin

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Mackenzie Vance
MA student in Public History
Advisor: Nancy Beck Young
Research Interests: Iconography of early America, American civil religion, the rise of radical Evangelicalism, and accessibility in History.
BA: History from Concordia University
AA: Austin Community College.
mvance@cougarnet.uh.edu 

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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 

 

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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