# Committee on Degrees ## expand\_more History & Literature's Committee on Degrees is composed of junior and senior faculty members drawn from various departments at Harvard. They govern the program, deciding on policy and approving degree recommendations. Members of the Committee on Degrees offer courses that count for concentration credit and advise senior theses. They link History & Literature to their departments, and they provide the institutional foundation that makes this program so strong. [### Paulina Alberto ](/people/paulina-alberto) Professor of African and African American Studies and of History PhD, History (University of Pennsylvania) Afro-Latin American Studies; 20th century ![Paulina Alberto](/sites/g/files/omnuum4926/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/histlit/files/paulina_alberto.jpg?itok=IMACmV5b) [### Steven Biel ](/people/steven-biel) Senior Lecturer on History & Literature Executive Director, Mahindra Humanities Center PhD, History (Harvard University) US history; 20th century ![Steve Biel](/sites/g/files/omnuum4926/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/histlit/files/img_0881.jpeg?itok=poy_B9VP) [### Jonathan Bolton ](/people/jonathan-bolton) Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures PhD, Slavic Studies (University of Michigan) European literature; emphasis in Czech literature ![jonathan_bolton.jpg](/sites/g/files/omnuum4926/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/histlit/files/jonathan_bolton.jpg?itok=tFtmbJTq) [### Glenda Carpio ](/people/glenda-carpio) Professor of English and of African and African American Studies PhD, English (University of California, Berkeley) African American studies; 20th century ![glenda_r._carpio_photo.jpg](/sites/g/files/omnuum4926/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/histlit/files/glenda_r._carpio_photo.jpg?itok=Z_9LGdiv) [### Bruno Carvalho ](/people/bruno-carvalho) Chair of the Committee on Degrees in History & Literature Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures and African and African American Studies, Co-Director of the Harvard Mellon Urban Initiative PhD, Romance Languages and Literatures (Harvard University) Romance Languages and Literatures; Brazil since the 18th century ![Bruno Carvalho](/sites/g/files/omnuum4926/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/histlit/files/carvalho_img_4962_1.jpg?itok=OkEe2QtZ) [### Philip Deloria ](/people/philip-deloria) Professor of History PhD, American Studies (Yale University) American Studies; 19th and 20th century ![Philip Deloria](/sites/g/files/omnuum4926/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/histlit/files/deloria.jpg?itok=bTvUwHOI) [### Laura Frahm ](https://afvs.fas.harvard.edu/people/laura-frahm) Director of Graduate Studies, Art, Film, and Visual Studies Professor of Art, Film, and Visual Studies PhD, Art, Film, and Visual Studies (Humboldt University Berlin) Film and media ![Laura Frahm](/sites/g/files/omnuum4926/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/2025-08/frahm_laura.jpg?itok=Ujlls5hs) [### Jesse Hoffnung-Garskof ](/people/jesse-hoffnung-garskof) Professor of History PhD, History (Princeton University) Latin American and Caribbean history; 19th and 20th century ![Jesse Hoffnung-Garskof](/sites/g/files/omnuum4926/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/histlit/files/jesse_hoffnung-garskof.jpg?itok=dsJZLN3K) [### Maya Jasanoff ](/people/maya-jasanoff) Coolidge Professor of History PhD, History (Yale University) British history; 19th and 20th century ![jasanoff2013.jpg](/sites/g/files/omnuum4926/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/histlit/files/jasanoff2013.jpg?itok=AjCpOlfM) [### Alison Frank Johnson ](/people/alison-frank-johnson) Professor of History and of Germanic Languages and Literatures PhD, History (Harvard University) European history; German-speaking Europe since the 18th century ![Alison Johnson](/sites/g/files/omnuum4926/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/histlit/files/alison_johnson_0_01.jpg?itok=0jBk4rQk) [### Lauren Kaminsky ](/people/lauren-kaminsky)Associate Senior Lecturer on History & Literature Assistant Dean for Arts & Humanities Education PhD, History (New York University) European history; 20th century ![Lauren Kaminsky, Photo Credit Stephanie Mitchell](/sites/g/files/omnuum4926/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/2025-07/Kaminsky%20Headshot.jpg?itok=x648i-WG) [### Ju Yon Kim ](/people/ju-yon-kim-0) Professor of English PhD, Modern Thought and Literature (Stanford University) Asian American literature and performance ![Ju Yun Kim](/sites/g/files/omnuum4926/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/histlit/files/kim_01.jpg?itok=YzVOFqCW) [### Shawon Kinew ](/people/shawon-kinew-0) Assistant Professor of History of Art and Architecture PhD, Art History (Harvard University) Renaissance and Baroque Art ![Shawon Kinew](/sites/g/files/omnuum4926/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/histlit/files/shawon_kinew_2.jpg?itok=9OLLwBmU) [### Deidre Lynch ](/people/deidre-lynch) Ernest Bernbaum Professor of Literature PhD, English (Stanford University) English literature, 18th and 19th century ![lynch.jpg](/sites/g/files/omnuum4926/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/histlit/files/lynch.jpg?itok=XlCH4rpS) [### Durba Mitra ](/people/durba-mitra) Carol K. Pforzheimer Assistant Professor at the Radcliffe Institute Assistant Professor of Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality PhD, History (Emory University) History; Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies; South Asian Studies ![Durba Mitra](/sites/g/files/omnuum4926/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/histlit/files/durba_mitra.png?itok=FZMqOXSV) [### Christopher Pexa ](https://english.fas.harvard.edu/people/christopher-pexa) Associate Professor of English PhD, English (Vanderbilt University) Native American and Indigenous Literatures; 19th and 20th century ![Christopher Pexa](/sites/g/files/omnuum4926/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/2025-08/christopher%20pexa.jpeg?itok=Bf0ileE2) [### Matt Saunders ](/people/matt-saunders) Professor of Art, Film, and Visual Studies Director of Undergraduate Studies, AFVS MFA (Yale University) Studio Art and Photography ![Matt Saunders](/sites/g/files/omnuum4926/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/histlit/files/matt_saunders.jpg?itok=woxvxvVG) [### Kirsten Weld ](/people/kirsten-weld) Professor of History PhD, History (Yale University) Latin American history; 19th and 20th century ![weldmay2013.jpg](/sites/g/files/omnuum4926/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/histlit/files/weldmay2013.jpg?itok=yIqd6-GJ)