Faculty Spotlight: Matthew Newsom Kerr
Professor Newsom Kerr taught at San Francisco State and Creighton University before coming to Santa Clara as a full-time faculty member in 2009. He has divided his time between teaching courses that fulfill the Science, Technology, and Society Core requirement and courses in British history. His course, “The History of Plagues, Epidemics, and Infections,” has proven to be extremely eye-opening and popular, not only among history majors and minors, but also among students from a wide variety of schools and majors. Professor Newsom Kerr enjoys interacting with Santa Clara students. His classes—on such wide ranging themes as Victorian London, World War I, and the History of the Senses—are marked by challenging and imaginative group projects, wide ranging discussion, and creative research assignments.