History

Vassar History professors are not only dedicated teachers but also noted scholars whose training and interests span continents and centuries. They have won awards for articles, books, and websites; they serve on distinguished prize committees and editorial boards of major journals; they have been recognized with prestigious, coveted fellowships from many sources, including the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, the American Council of Learned Societies, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. What brings them all to Vassar is a shared appreciation for and devotion to the liberal arts college environment of small classes, lively discussion, and one-on-one mentoring.

Faculty

Faculty

Professor and Chair of History on the Marion Musser Lloyd '32 Chair
Ismail O. D. Rashid wearing a light blue collared shirt and blue jacket against a light background.
BA, University of Ghana; MA, Wilfrid Laurier University; PhD, McGill University
Professor of History and Director of Medieval & Renaissance Studies
Headshot of Nancy Bisaha
BA, Rutgers University-New Brunswick; PhD, Cornell University
Visiting Assistant Professor of History
Portrait photo of Amanda Brennan.
BS, Georgetown University; MA, New York University; MPhil, PhD, CUNY Graduate School and University Center
Professor of History on the Shirley Ecker Boskey Chair
Headshot of Robert Brigham
BA, SUNY College at Brockport; MA, University of Rhode Island; PhD, University of Kentucky
Assistant Professor of History
Headshot of Yu-chi Chang.
BA, National Taiwan University; MA, Brown University; MA, National Taiwan University; PhD, Brown University
Professor of History on the Evalyn Clark Chair
A person with short brown hair and pink lipstick wearing a gray shirt and black and red scarf against a gray background, smiling at the viewer.
BA, Haverford College; MA, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; PhD, Northwestern University
Professor of History on the Eloise Ellery Chair
Headshot of Rebecca Edwards
BA, College of William and Mary; MA, PhD, University of Virginia
Professor of History
Lydia Murdoch wearing a blue shirt against a light background.
BA, Vassar College; MA, PhD, Indiana University-Bloomington
Head of Special Collections and College Historian, Adjunct Associate Professor of History on the Frederick Weyerhaeuser Chair
A person wearing a light colored shirt and brown jacket and tie smiles at the camera. They are in a room with wood paneling in the background.
MLS, Simmons College; BA, Boston College; MA, University of Connecticut; PhD, Boston College
Postdoctoral Fellow in History
BFA, Concordia University; MA, Columbia University in the City of New York; MA, Concordia University; MPhil, Columbia University in the City of New York
Associate Professor of History
BA, The Evergreen State College; MA, PhD, Indiana University-Bloomington
Assistant Professor of History
Allison Puglisi Portrait
BA, Dartmouth College; PhD, Harvard University
Professor of History
BA, University of Chicago; MA, PhD, New York University
Assistant Professor of History
Portrait of Ashanti Shih
BA, University of California-Berkeley; MA, MPhil, PhD, Yale University
Assistant Professor of History
Headshot of Noel Smyth
BA, University of Iowa; MA, PhD, University of California-Santa Cruz

Emeriti

Header image: Unidentified Artist, Women's Work: In lace factory in Nottingham, (from the British Ministry of Information photographs of women working in factories during WWI), 1914–1918, Gelatin silver print, Purchase, Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation Fund, Photo credit: The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center