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CARRIE ELIZABETH BENEŠ
Assistant Professor of Medieval and Renaissance History
Division of Social Sciences
5800 Bay Shore Road
Sarasota, FL 34243
office: 941-487-4383 fax: 941-487-4475
email: cebenes[at]yahoo.com
EDUCATION
PhD in Medieval History. University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), 2004.
Dissertation: “Roman Foundations: Constructing Civic Identity in Late Medieval Italy.”
Committee: Richard Rouse, chair (medieval history); Geoffrey Symcox (early modern and urban history); Ronald Mellor (ancient history); Carole Newlands and Brent Vine (classical and medieval Latin).
Qualifying exams passed with distinction, Summer 2001.
MA in Medieval History. UCLA, 2000.
Postgraduate study. Oxford University, Oxford, UK, 1996-1997. Completed first year of two-year MPhil in late medieval English, along with research in art history, palaeography, and late medieval Italian history (see Harlech Fellowship, below).
AB magna cum laude. Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 1996. Concentration: Medieval History and Literature, specializing in late medieval England and Italy.
Assistant Professor of Medieval & Renaissance History, New College of Florida. 2004-present.
Courses taught: Medieval Europe, ad 500-1350.
Renaissance and Reformation Europe, ad 1350-1650.
The Black Death: Catastrophe and Response in Late Medieval Europe.
The History of the Western City from Antiquity to the Renaissance.
The Norman Conquest of the Medieval World.
Ideal vs. Real: Rome in the Middle Ages and Renaissance.
An Introduction to Medieval Romance (co-taught January interterm, 2006).
An Introduction to Medieval Manuscripts.
The World of St Francis: Religion and Society in the Thirteenth Century.
Culture and Society in Trecento Italy.
History of Western Costume from the Ancient World to the Present (group tutorial).
Medieval Latin (group tutorial).
Courses planned: The Italian Renaissance in Historical Context.
Commerce, Culture, and the City-State: Medieval Italy, 1050-1350.
The Name of the Rose: Umberto Eco and the Middle Ages.
Instructor, “1066 & All That: The Norman Conquest of England.” Duke University TIP (Talent Identification Program) Scholar Weekend, 15-16 October 2005. To be repeated, spring 2008.
Teaching Associate, UCLA, 2000-2001 and 2002-2003. Taught two to three sections per quarter; collaborated with professor on exams and essay questions; led review sessions; advised students; graded essays and exams; gave lectures in professor’s absence or at professor’s invitation.
History of the Roman Republic, 753-44 bce.
History of the Roman Empire, 44 bce-ce 330.
History of Western Civilization, ce 800-1750.
Course Reader, UCLA, Spring 1999 and 2003. Gave review sessions, advised students, and graded papers and exams.
Urban History in Europe, ce 800-1750.
Lecturer and Tour Manager, Art and Architecture of Renaissance Tuscany. National Trust for Historic Preservation, 22 June-4 July 2002. Acted as group leader for tour covering central Tuscany and Assisi; coordinated tour details and advised participants. Gave a series of illustrated lectures throughout on relevant aspects of medieval and Renaissance Italy.
“Senatus, Populus et Qommune Romanus: Glossing the Medieval SPQR” (article under review with Speculum).
Urban Legends: Constructing Civic Identity in Medieval Italy (book manuscript under review with Cornell Univ. Press).
“Mapping a Roman Legend: The House of Cola di Rienzo from Piranesi to Baedeker” (article forthcoming in Italian Culture, 2008).
“Many Januses in Search of Unity: Defining Civic Identity in Genoa, 1257-1312” (article forthcoming in Studies in Medieval and Renaissance History, 2008).
Review of The Cambridge Companion to Giotto, ed. Anne Derbes and Mark Sandona (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2004) in Comitatus 34 (2004), 194-5.
Review of Amanda Collins, Greater than Emperor: Cola di Rienzo (ca. 1313-1354) and the World of Fourteenth-Century Rome (Univ. of Michigan Press, 2002) in Comitatus 34 (2004), 203-4.
“The Appearance and Spread of the E-Cedilla.” Manuscripta 43/44 (1999-2000), 1-43.
“Cola di Rienzo and the Lex Regia.” Viator 30 (1999), 231-252.
ACADEMIC HONORS
Professional. Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies Visiting Fellowship, Toronto, Ontario, Fall 2007.
Visiting Fellowship (Faculty Exchange), New College, Oxford, Summer 2007.
New College Faculty Development Stipend. Summer 2005, 2006, and 2007.
NEH Summer Stipend, 2006.
NEH Summer Seminar on St. Francis of Assisi, 2005: cancelled due to director’s illness.
Graduate. Meyer and Renée Luskin Dissertation Prize, June 2004 (presented annually for the best dissertation submitted in history at UCLA; chosen out of a pool of 38 in 2004).
UCLA Graduate Division Dissertation Year Fellowship, 2003-4.
UCLA Chancellor’s Fellowship, 1999-2004.
American Academy in Rome Visiting Scholarship, Fall 2001.
Mellon Foundation Robert F. Goheen Prize in Classical Studies, 2001.
Beverly Walsh Research Scholarship, 2001.
UCLA Graduate Division Summer Research Mentorship Fellowship, Summer 2000.
UCLA Department of History Summer Language Grant, Summer 1999.
Mellon Fellowship in Humanistic Studies, 1998-99.
Other (selected). Harlech Scholarship to New College, Oxford (a one-year scholarship as a non-degree graduate student), 1996-7.
Phi Beta Kappa and Ford Foundation Research Fellowships, Summer 1995.
CONFERENCE PAPERS & PRESENTATIONS
"Whose SPQR? Sovereignty and Semiotics in Medieval Rome." To be presented at the 16th Biennial New College Conference on Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Sarasota, Florida, 7 March 2008.
“Ancient and Most Noble: Tracking Italian Civic Foundation Lists.” Medieval Manuscripts: Their Makers and Users: A Conference in Honor of Richard and Mary Rouse, Los Angeles, California, 6 October 2007 (invited paper).
“Romulus and Remus, Revisited: Civic Identity in Late Medieval Siena.” The 14th Annual International Medieval Congress (Medieval Cities), Leeds, UK, 10 July 2007.
“Populist Savior and Self-Serving Tyrant?: Cola di Rienzo in Retrospect.” The 42nd International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, Michigan, 10-13 May 2007.
“Are You Sure This Isn’t About Dinosaurs? A Case for Palaeography in the Undergraduate Curriculum.” The Medieval Academy of America CARA Meeting, Peterborough, Ontario, 22 September 2006.
“‘For Public Use’: Broadening the Communal Audience for the Classics in Late Medieval Italy.” Urban Witness: Languages of the Medieval Italian Commune, London, UK, 7 July 2006 (invited paper).
“Piranesi and the House of Cola di Rienzo.” The 15th Biennial New College Conference on Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Sarasota, Florida, 9 March 2006.
“An Introduction to the Carmina Burana.” Lecture to Key Chorale, Sarasota, 16 January 2006.
“The New College Battle of Hastings 2005: The Advantages, Disadvantages, and Logistics of Curricular Re-Enactments.” Inaugural meeting of the Florida MedievaList, Tampa, Florida, 19 November 2005.
“Filippo Ceffi: A Late-Medieval Renaissance Man”. Presented at the 40th International Congress on Medieval Studies in Kalamazoo, Michigan, 6 May 2005.
Panelist for “Reflections on the First Year on the Job; or, What I Wish I Had Known While Still in Graduate School”, a roundtable discussion sponsored by the Medieval Academy of America’s Graduate Students’ Committee. Held at the 40th International Congress on Medieval Studies in Kalamazoo, Michigan, 7 May 2005.
“Giovanni Villani and the Late Medieval SPQR.” Presented at the 80th annual meeting of the Medieval Academy of America in Miami Beach, Florida, 31 March 2005.
“On the Shores of the Wild Rhone: The Medieval Church from Rome to Avignon, and Back.” Presented at the Florida Southern College Medieval Symposium on The Fourteenth Century: Crisis and Response, Lakeland, Florida, 5 November 2004.
“Roman Foundations: Constructing Civic Identity in Late Medieval Italy.” Presented at the California Medieval History Seminar at the Huntington Library, San Marino, California, 28 February 2004.
“A Lesser-Known Aeneas and His Aeneid: Civic Ideology in Perugia, 1255-1301.” Presented at the UCLA European History and Culture Colloquium, Los Angeles, California, 12 February 2004.
“The Dukes of Burgundy and the Evolution of the Princely Library in the Fifteenth Century.” Presented at the 29th Annual St. Louis Conference on Manuscript Studies, St. Louis, Missouri, 11 October 2002.
“Petrarch and the Triumph of Death.” Presented at Death and the Hope of Life in the Middle Ages, Princeton University, 27 March 1999.
OTHER PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Academic Service: Chair, New College Student Academic Status Committee, 2006-present.
Committee Co-Chair for the Biennial New College Conference on Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 2005-present (next conference to be held in March 2008).
Steering Committee on Instructional Technology, New College of Florida, 2005-present.
Steering Committee and Program/Local Arrangements Committee, Florida MedievaList. 2005-present.
Search Committee in American History, New College of Florida. 2004-5.
Library Committee, UCLA Academic Senate. Graduate representative to the university-wide steering committee. August 2003-June 2004.
Graduate Awards Committee, UCLA History Department. August 2002-June 2004.
Comitatus editorial board. Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, UCLA. Reviewed submitted manuscripts and advised on journal content. June 2000-present.
Exhibit Curator. “Science, Technology, and Commerce in Pre-Modern Italy: Manuscripts from the Collection of Lawrence J. Schoenberg”, 24 February-15 March, 2006, at the John & Mable Ringling Museum of Art, in connection with the 15th Biennial New College Conference on Medieval and Renaissance Studies. Chose manuscripts, organized exhibit, and supervised two student assistants.
Technical Experience: Copyeditor. Professional copyediting (proofreading, content and style editing, marking-up for typesetting) for journals and individuals. 2000-4.
Technical Consultant. History 1B (History of Western Civilization, ad 800-1750), UCLA. Assembled computer presentations (images and text) for lecture according to professor’s outlines; supervised audiovisual materials during lectures, and advised on course website. Spring 2003.
Computer Technician. AT&T Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, NJ. Ran system backups; fixed hardware and software problems, and reconfigured faulty wiring and cables. Ran statistical analysis of black-hole optical mirroring data. 1990-1992.
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