Associate Professor
marcela.perett@ndsu.edu
Telephone: 701-231-8296
422B Minard Hall

Research Areas:

Late Medieval Europe, Church history, heresy and orthodoxy

Why did you become a professional historian?

I grew up in the Czech Republic in Central Europe, and medieval history was everywhere: castles, churches, palaces, cathedrals, those were the landscape of my childhood and early adulthood. This is where my fascination with old, very old things probably began. I would picture the people who inhabited the castles, palaces etc. that I could see around me and try to imagine how they felt and what they thought about. Different academic disciplines try to get at that, but I found that I loved studying history best. It was through the texts written by people long time ago in their own languages that I could try to understand past peoples and their worlds, and that is what got me started and what has kept me going as a historian.

What makes you excited working with students?

I like a good conversation, and a good class is to me like a good conversation. I enjoy watching students think and be challenged and discover new things. It’s a privilege, really.

Courses Taught:

• HIST 101: Western Civilization I
• HIST 449/649: Ancient Rome: Republic to Empire
• HIST 450/650: Medieval Europe
• HIST 454/654: Renaissance & Reformation
• HIST 465/665: Germany Since 1750
• HIST 702: Historiography
• HIST 760: Readings in European History