Fields of Expertise

• Late Medieval/Early Modern Europe with an emphasis on Spain and Portugal
• Medieval Jewish Civilization
• Global Middle Ages
• Medieval Paleography
• Digital Humanities, Virtual and Augmented Reality, Crowdsourcing, and Massive Open Online Courses

Biography

I am an expert in the cultural, religious, and intellectual developments across medieval Europe and the Mediterranean World, with a special emphasis on Christian, Jewish, and Islamic interrelations. I am a specialist in the 2,500 year history of Sephardic Jews and their descendents — from Phoenician Spain to colonial Spanish America. Holding a doctorate in medieval European history from the University of Texas at Austin, I have almost 25 years of scholarly research experience investigating manuscripts and material culture in over 50 archives and museums in Europe, Latin America, and the United States.

My endearing connection to interrelgious history is driven by a life-long relationship with Spain (including residence) and by my deceased father’s lifelong question — “Who are we?” A question I answered in my first book, Creating Conversos: The Carvajal-Santa María Family in Early Modern Spain (2018), which explores the 14th century creation of my own family — a mixture of Spanish Catholic knightly families and Jewish rabbinic families. Somos católicos, somos judíos. We are the resilient, but fractured conversos.

Presently, I serve on the Queen Sofia Spanish Institute’s Commission for the Celebration of Spain’s Relationship with the United States 1776-2026: America&Spain250. At the Primeras Jornadas “America&Spain250”: Conmemorando los doscientos cincuenta años de las relaciones entre España y Estados Unidos 1776-2026 on May 23-24, 2024, I presented the lecture, “Traigo nuevas de las Américas. Presencia sefardita en el suroeste de los Estados Unidos.”

In December 2023, I launched Personal Journeys: Identity, Motivation, and Resilience, a coursera.org three-course specialization. It explores the Renaissance’s cultural and intellectual legacy and modern global perspectives, focusing on self-discovery, motivation, and overcoming societal challenges. The courses offer an intellectual tapestry designed to foster resilience and growth in both personal and professional spheres.

I was the co-curator for the New Mexico History Museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and its exhibition, Fractured Faiths: Spanish Judaism, The Inquisition, and New World Identities (2016). The exhibition revealed the comprehensive story of how Spain’s Jewry found a tenuous foothold in North America. A collection of essays and catalogue of the exhibition is available via the University of New Mexico Press and the article, “Shields of Grace” in El Palacio preserve its memory.

My travel and life abroad reflect my global perspective of the Middle Ages — delving into the mixed Mediterranean and Gothic cultures of Spain, Portugal, Italy, and North Africa, as well as the Frankish and Germanic peoples of France and the Low Countries. To this end, along with my colleague, Prof. Dr. Lynn Ramey at Vanderbilt University, we created a community of a dozen scholars investigating the Immersive Global Middle Ages, which was funded by the U.S. National Endowment for the Humanities (2021-2023).

From 2014 to 2023, I created and advanced the Deciphering Secrets: Unlocking the Manuscripts of Medieval Spain project. The collaborative citizen science effort, which engaged approximately 50,000 Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) learners on coursera.org, focused on revealing the interreligious relations of Jews, Christians, Muslims, and religious converts during the 12th through 16th centuries. Through onsite video lectures in cathedrals and former synagogues, interviews with museum and cultural specialistists, and a two-week paleography program for learners, we collectively studied history and made history by transcribing manuscripts. The highlights of this intellectual, religious, and cultural journey continue as ongoing MOOC on cousera.org — Coexistence in Medieval Spain: Jews, Christians, and Muslims.

Presently, I am a Professor (Catedrático) of History at the University of Colorado - Colorado Springs (2010-present), and previously, a CONEX Marie Curie Fellow at the Universidad de Carlos III de Madrid (2015-2018) and the David H. Burton Postdoctoral Fellow at Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia (2008-2010).

I hold a Ph.D. in History and a B.A. in Humanities from the University of Texas at Austin, as well as a Master of Public Policy (M.P.P.) from the University of California – Berkeley.