Dr. Molly McClain is associate professor and chair of the History Department and director of Interdisciplinary Humanities Program at the University of San Diego.
She received her Ph.D. from Yale University in 1994. Her biography, Beaufort: The Duke and his Duchess, 1657-1715 (Yale University Press, 2001), tells the story of an aristocratic couple’s efforts to restore their wealth and political fortunes after the English civil war. Lady Antonia Fraser described it as one of the “best history books” published in 2001 (BBC History Magazine: Books of the Year Supplement).
Her work in British history includes articles on Queen Mary II (1662-94), the revolutionary young queen who reigned with her husband as "William & Mary."
She also publishes work on local history. A ninth-generation San Diegan, she co-edits The Journal of San Diego History.
Her next project is a biography of Ellen Browning Scripps (1836-1932), the journalist, suffragette, investor, and philanthropist who became one of the richest women in California.
Dr. McClain is the recent recipient of a University Professorship and the Davies Award for Teaching Excellence. She has been awarded NEH fellowships for collaborative study at Summer Institutes. She also has received several research grants, including a Winterthur Library Research Fellowship. She participates in the Early Modern British History Seminar at the Huntington Library and remains an active member of the Pacific Coast Conference on British Studies.
For more information about the University of San Diego's History Department, please see: www.sandiego.edu/history. The History Department's newsletter is online at history.sandiego.edu/news/