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Current Graduate Students

Congratulations to our award-winning graduate students!

Below is a directory of currently enrolled graduate students at the Center for Medieval Studies as well as students in other departments with research interests in the medieval period. Directory alphabetized by first name. 

Students A-I

Amanda Racine History PhD

Amanda Racine | PhD, History | [email protected]
Education
MA, History, University of Colorado-Boulder
BA, History, University of Idaho

Research Interests
Latin East, the Eastern Mediterranean, thirteenth-century, France, crusading, slavery, service, law, customary treatises


Benjamin Bertrand | PhD, History | [email protected]
Education
MA, History, Boston College
BA, History, University of New Hampshire, Durham

Research Interests
Intersections of violence and society in Medieval Europe, with a special emphasis upon the ways that violence served to construct identity in different communities.


CRS

Carmeliz Ramas-Fisk | MA, Medieval Studies | [email protected]
Education
BS, Accounting, Santa Clara University
BA, History, University of San Francisco

Research Interests
Medieval Women, with a particular focus on the Anglo-Norman period.


CC

Carolyn Cargile | PhD, English | [email protected]
Education
MA, Medieval Studies, University of York
BA, History with Spanish and Medieval Studies, Wake Forest University

Research Interests
Old English, Latin, and Old French literature; history writing; eleventh- and twelfth-century England and Normandy


CO

Christie Olek  | PhD, History | [email protected]  
Education
MA, Medieval Studies, Fordham University
BA, History, Saint Francis University (Loretto, PA)

Research Interests
Law and medicine, especially illicit medical practice


CR

Curtis Rager | PhD, History | [email protected] edu 
Education
MA, History, San Francisco State University
BA, History, San Francisco State University

Research Interests
Monasticism, Orality and Literacy, and Cognition of the French High Middle Ages.


Diamantina Kefalas | MA, Medieval Studies | [email protected] 
Education
BA, Fordham University

Research Interests
Vernacular Greek and French literature, Byzantium from the 13th to the 15th centuries, collective identities


Douglass Hamilton | PhD, History | [email protected]
Education
MA, University of Toronto
BA, Skidmore College


AG

E. Alice Grissom | MA, Medieval Studies | [email protected]
Education
BA, English, University of Alabama at Birmingham
BA, History, University of Alabama at Birmingham

Research Interests
Representations of the body in Old and Middle English literature; death and liminality; social identity formation and categorization in England and Ireland


ED

Elizabeth Duchovni | MA, Medieval Studies | [email protected]
Education
PhD, Mathematics, CUNY Graduate Center
BA, English Language and Literature, Hunter College                       

Research Interests
Medieval Londoners, Maritime History, DH, Python programming, History of English, Beowulf, Medieval Icelandic History and Literature


Elissa Johnston | PhD, English | [email protected]
Education
BA English Literature, Wheaton College

Research Interests
Female devotional writers of late medieval England, Mariology, gender and devotional practice


EL

Ellis Light | PhD, English | [email protected]
Education
BA, Literature, The New School
MA, English, Fordham University

Research Interests
Contemplative literature, visionary writing, bodily fluids, queer and trans studies


Emma Emrich | PhD, Philosophy | [email protected]
Education
BA, Liberal Arts, Thomas Aquinas College
MA, Philosophy, Fordham University

Research Interests
Medieval Philosophy especially medieval metaphysics and theories of the soul


FE

Frances Eshleman | PhD, History | [email protected]
Education
MA, Medieval Studies, Fordham University
BA, History, Wheaton College

Research Interests
Late medieval canon law and its application, penance, punishment


GK

Galina Krasskova | PhD, Theology | [email protected]
Education
MA, Medieval Studies, Fordham University
MA, Religious Studies, New York University
BA, Religious studies, Empire State University

Research Interests
Eunuchs, constructions of masculinity in early Christianity, asceticism, bodily affect.


Grant Pederson | PhD, Philosophy | [email protected]
Education
BA, University of St. Thomas

Research Interests
Medieval Philosophy

Students J-O

JR

Jason Ray | PhD, English | [email protected]edu
Education
MA, Medieval & Renaissance Studies, Columbia University
BA, Theater Studies, Yale University             

Research Interests
Medieval languages and literatures of the British Isles; cultural contact and transfer; critical theory


JK

John Keirouz | MA, Medieval Studies | [email protected]
Education
BA, Hamilton College

Research Interests
How figures of authority expressed their power over others in the Mediterranean world, with a special focus on the Ottonian and Byzantine courts.


KT

Katherine Tweedel | MA, Medieval Studies | [email protected]
Education
BA, History, University of Dallas

Research Interests
Universities, Thomas Aquinas, medieval curricula, medieval cosmology


KK

Kelly Kornell | MA, History | [email protected]
Education
BA, History, University of Oklahoma

Research Interests
Politics and power but specifically women and how they exercised power and the perceptions and representations of that power, social and cultural history of medieval Europe with a particular focus on England, France, and northern Europe.


Maria Carriere | PhD, History | [email protected]
Education
MA, History, University of Vermont
BA, History, Western Washington University            

Research Interests
Political culture, gender, and women in the 12th and 13th centuries


Mark Host | MA, Medieval Studies | [email protected]
Education
M.A. Cleveland State University
B.A. Cleveland State University 

Research Interests
Literature (Old English, Middle English, Arthurian), relic cults, Byzantine east, military religious orders


Matthew Glaser | PhD, Philosophy |  [email protected]
Education
MA Philosophy Fordham University
BA Economics & Philosophy, Gustavus Adolphus College

Research Interests
Medieval theories of self-knowledge, the soul, and epistemology


Michael Innocenti | MA, Medieval Studies | [email protected]
Education
B.A., Fordham University

Research Interests
Medieval theology, Medieval philosophy, Monastic theology, Thomas Aquinas 


 

MS

Michael J. Sanders | PhD, History | [email protected]
Education
MA, History, Western Michigan University
BA, History & English (Minor in Spanish), St. Vincent College

Research Interests
Later Crusades, political culture, kingship, apocalypticism, interfaith relations


Natalie Reynoso  | PhD, Theology | [email protected]  


Nicholas Joseph Norita | PhD, Philosophy | [email protected]
Education
MA, Philosophy Fordham University
BA, Philosophy, University of San Diego

Research Interests
Metaphysics, Logic


OCG

Olivia Caroline Geraci | MA, Medieval Studies | [email protected]
Education
BA, Classics, University of Chicago

Research Interests
Female mysticism, women religious, eroticism and spirituality, bodily fluids, book history

 

Students P-Z

PDB

Patrick C. DeBrosse | PhD, History | [email protected]
Education
MA, Medieval History, University of East Anglia
BA, History, Temple University

Research Interests
Medieval political culture; the Angevin Empire; the crusading movement; Latin historiography; troubadour lyrics


Peyton Seabolt | PhD, History | [email protected]
Education
MA, Trent University
BA, Armstrong State University

Research Interests
Horses, Medieval Equestrian Culture


RR

Rose Rugendorf | MA, Medieval Studies | [email protected]
Education
BA, Literature (Minor in Medieval Studies), Bard College
AA, Liberal Arts, Norwalk Community College

Research Interests
Animal symbolism and usage within 12th and 13th century English and French literary manuscripts


Sean Loritz | PhD, History | [email protected]
Education
MA, History, Fordham University
BA, Sarah Lawrence College

Research Interests
Gender and sexuality in late medieval France and the Mediterranean, crime, punishment, and public justice, urban history, marriage and family, sex trade, masculinity, queer studies, intersectionality


Sean Spillane | PhD, English | [email protected]
Education
MA, Medieval Studies, University of York
BA, History and English, Bridgewater State University

Research Interests
Old Norse Literature and Language, Old English Literature and Language, translation theory, Global Middle Ages


WS

Tanner Smoot | PhD, History | [email protected]
Education
MA, Marshall University
BBA, Marshall University

Research Interests
Early Medieval England and Europe; Monasticism; Religious Culture


TDLM

Taryn DeLeon Mendiola | MA, Medieval Studies | [email protected]
Education
BFA, Studio Art, New York University
BA, History, New York University

Research Interests
Textile production, techniques, and fashion throughout the Medieval period; Viking-age material culture and religion


TH

Tobias Hrynick | PhD, History | [email protected] 
Education
MA, Medieval Studies, Fordham University
BA, History & English, University of Maine

Research Interests
Environmental History, especially late medieval English wetland drainage, digital humanities, and the history of cartography.
 


Wing Lai | PhD, English | [email protected]
Education
MA, University of Oxford
BA, University of Sheffield

Research Interests
Middle English Romance, Chaucer, the Gowain Poet

Affiliated Fordham Students

Alisa Beer
PhD Program, History
MA Medieval Studies, Fordham University
MLS, Rare Books and Manuscripts Specialization, Indiana
BA History, Yale University
Dissertation Title: "Managing Monastic Libraries in Medieval England" 
Mentor: Dr. Maryanne Kowaleski
[email protected]

Ronald Braasch
PhD Program, History
MA Military History, Norwich University, VT
BS Military History, United States Military Academy
Research Interests: Medieval History, Military History, The Hundred Years’ War, The Crusades.
[email protected]

Kathryn Bresee
PhD Program, Philosophy
BA Eastern University
Research Interests: Natural law, contemporary Thomism
[email protected]

Robert Byers
PhD Program, English
MA English, University of Alaska, Fairbanks
BA English, University of Alaska, Fairbanks
Research Interests: Old English Literature, Middle English literature, Icelandic sagas, animal studies, posthumanism.
[email protected]

Christopher Emrich
PhD Program, Philosophy
BA Liberal Arts, Thomas Aquinas College
Research Interests: the Thought of Thomas Aquinas and his interpretation of the works of Aristotle
[email protected]

Sally Gordon
MA Program, History
[email protected]

Patrick Landers
PhD Program, Theology
MAR, Yale University
MPPM, Yale University
BA, Williams College
Research Interests: Medieval and Patristic Theology
[email protected]
 

Doug Shephardson
PhD Program, Philosophy
Research Interests: Ancient and medieval philosophy, patristics, late antiquity, and the philosophy of religion
[email protected]

Former Visiting Students

Katrine Funding Højgaard
MA Program, Medieval Studies
BA History, Aalborg University (Denmark)
Research Interests: High Middle Ages, Central Europe, and British Isles, History of Mentalities, Cultural History, Manuscripts, Literature.