Director and Staff

Medieval Institute Director and Staff

Thomas E. Burman

Robert M. Conway Director of the Medieval Institute
Professor of History

Burman 2017 Web

Thomas E. Burman joined the Medieval Institute as Robert M. Conway Director in January 2017 with the vision of enhancing the Institute’s traditional strengths in northern European history and culture and, at the same time, expanding its focus to include the whole Mediterranean region. 

Burman, who holds a joint appointment as Professor of History, earned his Ph.D. in Medieval Studies at the University of Toronto and has long been engaged in interdisciplinary scholarship that blends history, theology, religious studies, and literature. His research—which has been supported by fellowships from the Rockefeller Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities—focuses on Jewish-Christian-Muslim relations in the Middle Ages.

Read his full Director's Profile

Email tburman@nd.edu
Twitter @bobqur

Megan J. Hall

Assistant Director

Megan J. Hall 2023 portrait

In her role, Dr. Hall directs the staff and daily operations of the Medieval Institute, including communications, budget, and special events, while researching and publishing in her areas of specialty: medieval women's literacy and education, manuscript studies, digital humanities, and the effects of landscape and environment on the production of texts and text technologies.

Dr. Hall earned her Ph.D. in Medieval English Literature from the University of Notre Dame and her M.A. and B.A. in English Literature from the University of Georgia. She has taught courses on writing and modern and medieval English literature at the University of Notre Dame, the University of Georgia, Augusta State University, the University of North Georgia, and Athens Technical College.

She has authored a number of publications including book chapters and invited essays in Journal of the Early Book Society, Early Middle English, and History of Education Quarterly. Most recently she has been invited to contribute to two podcasts with episodes on "Women's Education and Literacy in England, 1066–1540" for HEQ&A and "Learning about Learned Medieval Women with Dr. Megan J. Hall" for Meeting in the Middle Ages.

Email meganjhall@nd.edu
Twitter @meganjhallphd

Jeff Wickes

Director of Graduate Studies
Associate Professor of Theology

Wickes Headshot

Professor Wickes focuses on the interplay between Syriac literature, theology, and liturgy in the context of late antique Christianity. Building projects that work from close readings of Syriac texts, he gravitates in his work towards larger questions of genre (especially poetry), religion, and theology as they play out within the historical horizons of late antique Christianity, and as those horizons meet our own in the contemporary world. Read his full bio on his faculty fellow page.

Phone (574) 631-0755
Email jwickes@nd.edu

Christopher Liebtag Miller

Assistant Teaching Professor
Director of Undergraduate Studies and Engagement

Christopher Miller 2020

Professor Miller serves the institute and its undergraduates as the Director of Undergraduate Studies and connects the institute to the wider Michiana area through his work as Director of Engagement. He teaches courses in German language and literature and his research concentrates on Middle High German literature and the cultural and social history of the Medieval German Empire. He is particularly interested in literary representations of competition and their relationship to aristocratic economies of symbolic capital during the 12th and 13th centuries. Read his full bio on his faculty fellow page.

Phone (574) 631-6081
Email cmille34@nd.edu

Thomson Guster

Administrative Coordinator

Thomson Guster 2019 Web

Phone (574) 631-6603
Email tguster@nd.edu

The Medieval Studies Research Blog

The Medieval Studies Research Blog is a multi-author blog site sponsored by the Medieval Institute. The blog is maintained and promoted by a blog manager and regular contributors who are current or former Notre Dame graduate students working in some area of medieval studies. Guest posts come from current and former members, as well as friends, of Notre Dame’s vibrant international medievalist community.

Richard Fahey, Ph.D. (English)

Blog Manager + Contributor

Richard Fahey Headshot 2019

Email rfahey@nd.edu

Cait Stevenson, Ph.D. (Medieval Institute)

Blog Contributor

Cait Stevenson

Email Caitlin.Stevenson.30@nd.edu

Emily Mahan, Ph.D. 

Blog Contributor

Emily Mahan

Email emahan@nd.edu

Nick Kamas, Ph.D.

Blog Contributor

Nick Kamas portrait 2023

Email nkamas@nd.edu

Medieval Institute Library Collections

Two subject specialists from the Hesburgh Libraries administer the Medieval Institute collections and advise on research for medievalists and Byzantinists.

Julia Schneider, Ph.D.

Medieval Studies

Julia Schneider Cropped

Phone (574) 631-5724
Email Julia.Schneider.31@nd.edu

David T. Gura, Ph.D.

Byzantine Studies, Classics

David Gura Cropped

Phone (574) 631-6489
Email dgura@nd.edu