Introducing Steven Pitt

Our new faculty member joining us this fall.

Steven Pitt earned his Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh in 2015. He specializes in teaching Maritime, Atlantic, and Early American History but has also taught courses in 20^th Century U.S., World, European, and Environmental History. He is the author of two peered-reviewed articles on seafaring and ship building in colonial Boston entitled, “Cotton Mather and Boston’s ‘Seafaring Tribe,’” New England Quarterly 85.2 (June 2012) and “Building and Outfitting Ships in Colonial Boston,” Early American Studies 13.4 (Fall 2015): 881–907. He is currently working on a book manuscript that details the harrowing experience of colonial American seafarers in the Atlantic logwood (dyewood) trade on the Yucatan Peninsula. In the harsh, alligator-infested lagoons, they confronted threats ranging from pirates, the Spanish Empire, and endemic warfare to shipwrecks, hurricanes, and mosquito-borne diseases. Outside of work, Steven enjoys spending time with his wife, Julia and their two children, Annabelle and Josiah, as well as nature photography/hiking, skiing, and more recently, woodworking.