Graduate Students & Dissertation Committees

USC: Dissertation Director

  • Laura Kalba, History, Outside the Lines: Color and the Color Revolution in 19th century France, defended Spring 2008; awarded three-year post-doc at George Mason; tenure-track position at Smith College. Associate Professor, 2016- Associate Professor, University of Minnesota.  2019-, book published with Penn State Press. Winner highest book award, CAA. Winner, Wylie Prize in French Studies.
  • Ryan Linkof, History, The Tabloid Press in 20th Century Britain, defended May 2011. Associate Curator, Photography Department, LACMA; Curator, Lucas Museum, book published, Bloomsbury.
  • Brian Jacobson, Cinema, Early Studios, Architecture and Technology, defended May 2011. Winner SSRC, Fulbright, Chateaubriand. Prof. Visual Studies, Cal Tech; Asst. Prof. Cinema, TT,U Toronto. Winner SCMS Dissertation Prize. Book: Columbia UP.
  • Anca Lasc, Art History, Designing Space: The French Private Interior Illustrated, 1852-1914, defended May 2012. Assoc. Prof. of Art History, Pratt, three edited books and monograph, Manchester UP, 2018.
  • Catherine Clark, History, Picturing Paris, defended May 2012. Winner Chateaubriand,. TT French Studies, MIT, Fall 2013-, Associate Prof., 2017; tenured, 2019, winner, fellowship, IAS, Princeton. Book, Oxford UP. Winner, Wylie Prize, French Studies.
  • Mark Braude, History. Spectacle and Speculation in Monaco, 1856-1956, defended May 2013. Stanford Digital Humanities Post-doc, Winter 2014-2017. Winner, NEH Public Humanities Fellowship. Books Published, Simon and Schuster; Penguin Second Book on Napoleon. Thurd book on Kiki de Montparnasse.
  • Nadya Bair, Art History, Magnum: The Decisive Network, defended May 2016. ACLS/Getty Post-doc; Mellon/ACLS Finishing Fellowship. Post-Doc, Ryerson, Toronto, Post-Doc, CCA, Post-Doc, Digital Humanities, Yale, 2017-18. ACLS/Getty Post-doc, 2018-2919; Several published articles. Book to appear UC Press, 2020. TT Job, Hamilton College, Art History. Winner, Prose Award, Best Nonfiction Book.
  • Kelly McCormick, History, UCLA, co-directe with William Marotti, Japanese Cameras, defended November 2019. sixth year, Fulbright, Japan; Technology in Asia Fellowship. Article Prize., TT job, UBC, Vancouver, January 2020.
  • Jonathan Dentler, History, The Wired Image, defended, May 2020 USC Digital Humanities Fellowship. USC Finishing Fellowship, 2-year Terra Foundation Post-Doc in Paris, Post-Doc, Institute for Photography, 2022-23.
  • Aaron Rich, Cinema, Picture Collections and the Cinematic Dispersion of Visual Knowledge, defended May 2020. Mellon Sawyer Fellow, Mellon Digital Humanities Grant.
  • Natalia Lauricella, Art History, Collaborating in Color: Master Printers and the Avant-Garde in Belle Époque France, defended April 2021. Fulbright; Chateaubriand Fellowship (declined). Post-Doc, Stanford University, 2021-2023.
  • Isabel Wade, Art History, Glossy Buildings, Planned Images: Architectural Photography across Contested Spaces in Los Angeles, 1940- 1980, defended May 2023. ACLS Luce Fellowship, 2020-2021, CCP Fellowship, Huntington Fellowship. USC two-year Dornsife Teaching Post-Doctoral Fellowship, 2023-2025
  • Dina Murokh, Art History, co-director, Picture Galleries in 19th c. Century America, defended May 2023. SAAM Fellowship. Assistant Director of the Williams College Graduate Program in the History of Art.
  • Myles Little, Art History, “Blackout: Photography, Darkness and New York City, 1965-1985,” defended May 2024.

Current ABD’s: Director

  • Max Bohner, Art History, Humboldt University, Berlin, co-advisor,, Twilight Aesthetics: Queer Visual Culture in the United States, 1945-1969, expected December 2024/
  • Jessica Williams, Art History, Sports, Illustrated, expected Spring 2027.
  • Rose Bishop, Art History, Idol Makers, Picture Takers: Photography and American Popular Music, 1956-1981

USC: Dissertation Committees Since 2007:

  • Natalie Roseau, Urbanism, Ecole des Ponts et Chausées, Paris, Member of the Jury, La culture aérienne, Fall 2007.
  • Liz Willis-Tropea, History, Glamour Photography, defended Fall 2007.
  • Sandra Zalman, Art History, Surrealism and Its Popular Reception, defended Fall 2008. Tenure-track job, University of Houston. ACLS Post-Doc, 12-13.
  • Megan Kendrick, History, Hotels in LA, defended Fall 2008.
  • Amy Von Lintel, Art History, Illustrated Art Histories, defended 2010. Tenured West Texas.
  • Jennifer Miller, Art History, Vaudeville and American Art, defended 2010.
  • James Cahill, Cinema, Painlev” defended 2011. TT U of Toronto.
  • Jason Hill, Art History, PM, Reporting and Visual Evidence, defended 2011. Terra Foundation Post-Doctoral Fellowship, Paris, Fellow, NY Historical Society Associate Prof. Art History, U of Delaware.
  • Jennifer Black, History, Advertising in Nineteenth Century US, defended, 2013. TT Position, Misericordia College.
  • Curtis Fletcher, History, Art and Technology in Post-War America, defended 2013. Director, Scalar Multi-Media Authoring Project.
  • Matthew Fox-Amato, History, Photography, Slavery and Anti-Slavery in 19th century America, defended 2013. USC VRSI Postdoc. Interdisciplinary Post-doc, Wash U, Fall 2014. Tenured, University of Idaho.
  • Katherine Wells, Art History, Tapestries and The Renovation of the Decorative Arts, defended, Spring 2014, TT Art History, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee.
  • Luci Marzola, Cinema, Technology in Hollywood, defended, 2016. USC post-doctoral fellow. NTT Teaching in LA.
  • Kohki Watahbe, Cinema, Landscape in Early Cinema, defended Fall 2018.
  • Marie-Madeleine Ozdoba, Visual Studies, Ecole des Hautes Etudes, Paris, defended Fall 2019.
  • Robert Gordon-Fogelson, Art History, Total Design, defended Fall 2021.
  • Céline Arzatian, University of Paris 3, The Sorbonne Nouvelle, Fashion and Cinema, defended Winter 2023.
  • Grace Converse, Art History, Art, Theosophy and the Making of Occult California, defended May 2023.
  • Steven Samols, History, Jews and Photojournalism in Vienna,” defended May 2023.
  • Nicolas Leresche, Geography, Géographies Virtuelles, University of Geneva, defended March 2024.
  • Dora Vanette, Art History, Architecture of Care, defended May 2024.
  • Josh Poorman, History, Industrial Tourism in the US, defended June 2024.

Post-Doctoral Supervisions:

  • Daniela Bleichmar, EMSI-VSRI Post-Doc, 2004
  • Victoria Cain, VSRI-Shoah Foundation Post-Doc, 2007-2009
  • Ryan Linkof, 2008, VSRI Post-Doc
  • Matt Amato, 2012, VSRI Post-Doc
  • Justin Underhill, with Digital Humanities, 2012-2014
  • Gina Greene, Provost’s Post-Doctoral Fellows, 2013-2015
  • Allan Doyle, Mellon Sawyer Post-Doctoral Fellow, 2016-2017
  • Rhae Lynn Barnes, USC Society of Fellows, 2016-2017
  • Liying Sun, with Digital Humanities, 2016-2018
  • John Blakinger, USC Society of Fellows, 2016-2018
  • Aaron Wile, USC Society of Fellows, 2017-2019
  • Ellen MacFarlane, VSRI Post-Doc in Narrative Arts, 2018-2020

Foreign Post-Docs, VSRI:

  • Estelle Blaschke, VSRI and Swiss Foundation, Lausanne, Spring 2017
  • Sonsoles Barbosa, Fulbright and Getty, University of the Balearic Islands, Summer 2016, 2017
  • Filip Lipinski, University of Poznan, Poland, Summer 2019
  • Ori Levin, Israeli Scientific Foundation, 2019-2020

American University: Doctoral Students- Director:

  • Moira Maguire, Cherished Equally? Precarious Childhood in Independent Ireland published by Manchester UP, 2010. Tenured Assoc. Prof. at University of Arkansas, Little Rock.
  • Brett Abrams: “Lavender Hollywood: Gay Culture and the Foundation of Hollywood.”

American University: Doctoral Students- Committee:

  • Debby Doyle, “Atlantic City and the American Resort.”  Now employed at the AHA.

Undergraduate Honors Theses:

  • Sammy Goldenberg, “The Limits of the Jet Age at LAX,” Fall 2010.
  • Katie Gibelyou, “Making of Films and The Production of Film History” (Highest Honors), 2007-2008.
  • James Skee, “The Queen Mary Comes to Long Beach” (Highest Honors), PhD in History Department, UC Berkeley, 2015.