World History: Premodern Muslim World, Medieval Spain, and the Crusades
Spencer is a PhD candidate, who specializes in Medieval European history and the premodern Muslim world. Since 2017, he has been a teaching assistant for HIST 100, 125, 301, and 323. Additionally, since earning his MA in 2013, he has been an adjunct professor for J Sargeant Reynolds Community College in Richmond, Virginia, where he has taught American, European, African, and world history.
Before studying at George Mason, Spencer did Teach For America in Dallas, Texas, and he spent a year in China to teach, but he used it as a chance to travel all over Asia. Outside of researching, writing, and teaching, Spencer enjoys traveling, especially to America's national parks, snowboarding, and running. He still hopes to run a marathon in all fifty state, though he has a very long ways to go.
Spencer is preparing to defend his dissertation, Religious Legitimacy and Political Intrigue: The Almohad Caliphate's Contest for Spain in the Writings of Ibn Ṣaḥib al-Ṣalāt. He is interested in how Muslim dynasties established their authority in the wake of the collapse of the politically unified Muslim world, and the interactions between Christian Europe and the Muslim World.
University of Chicago Academic Scholarship, 2012-2013
Brigham Young University-Idaho Academic Scholarship, 2008-2010
Brigham Young University-Idaho Research Scholarship, 2010
George Mason University
HIST 125 Introduction to World History
J Sargeant Reynolds Community College
HIS 101 & 102 History of Western Civilization
HIS 111 & 112 World History
HIS 121 & 122 American History
HIS 203 History of African Civilizations
PhD, History, George Mason University, 2024.
MA, Middle Eastern Studies, The University of Chicago, 2013.
BS, History, Brigham Young University-Idaho, 2010.