Welcome!
I am Associate Professor and Program Head of History at Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio, Texas, where I specialize in the social history of medicine in the Middle East. My research explores how empire, crisis, and public health intersect in colonial contexts, particularly in Egypt during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. I earned my Ph.D. in History from the University of Texas at Austin in 2019.
My current book project, Home Front Egypt: Famine, Disease, and Death during the Great War, investigates how wartime provisioning policies triggered widespread hunger and disease, leading to civilian death tolls that far exceeded those of battlefield casualties. This work draws from archival research conducted in Egypt, the UK, Switzerland, and the U.S., and was supported by a 2022–2023 Fulbright U.S. Scholars grant. I have published peer-reviewed articles on cholera, pandemic flu, and public health policy in leading journals such as Journal of World History and Journal of Colonialism and Colonial History.
I teach a wide range of undergraduate courses, from world history surveys to seminars on the Islamic world, empire, and pandemics. I am committed to inclusive, high-impact teaching practices and have led the design of general education courses that connect historical thinking to contemporary relevance—most recently, Sports and Social Activism in History. I am a certified course designer through Quality Matters and have earned multiple certifications in inclusive pedagogy and digital learning.
My students have received prestigious awards including Fulbright and Boren fellowships. I also serve as OLLU’s campus Fulbright Program Advisor and am active in curriculum reform and assessment, currently as a member of the University College Task Force and General Education Committee.
As a public historian, I have co-hosted the 15 Minute History podcast and the New Books in Middle Eastern Studies podcast, and contributed to media interviews and digital history projects. I frequently deliver workshops and talks for K–12 educators and have organized study tours and teacher training programs across the Middle East, including Egypt, Morocco, Turkey, and Uzbekistan.
I speak Egyptian Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic, and Spanish, and read French and Portuguese.
Beyond the classroom and archive, I enjoy exploring food, history, photography, and the fine art of scratching cats behind the ears.
Christopher S Rose 