Kristen Petersen, PhD

Kristen Petersen is associate professor of History and Social Sciences, coordinator of the Women’s Studies Minor and LIB 133 American Culture, Identity and Public Life (Introduction to the Social Sciences). She teaches courses in immigration, social justice activism and women’s studies. In 2000-2001 and 2015 she served as historian and curator for exhibit design of Dreams of Freedom, Boston’s immigrant heritage museum. She was the Polly Logan Scholar at the Center for the Study of Women in Politics and Public Policy at UMASS Boston in 2004-5. Prior to her teaching career, Kristen was executive director of the Waltham Rediscovered Community History Project. She is co-author of the book, Waltham Rediscovered: An Ethnic History of Waltham, MA and As Tough As It Gets: Women in Boston Politics, 1921-2004.