Directors
Co-Director, High School Teachers Institute
- Sandy Russell Jones
- Position: Associate Teaching Professor of Islamic History and Religion
- Degree: Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania
- at Rutgers: since 2008
- Bio:
Sandy Russell Jones (she/her) has taught courses on Islamic Civilization, Women and Gender in the Islamic Middle East, the history of Islamophobia, and Comparative Religion since 2008. She served as Director of the Middle Eastern Studies undergraduate program from 2010 – 2018, and has lived in Bahrain, Egypt, Morocco, Jordan, and Israel. Russell Jones also consulted on the New York City Department of Education Document project, providing 65 primary sources on Islamic History for use in the High School curriculum. She has had a long-standing interest in online teaching (well before COVID!). In 2014, Russell Jones received a grant to covert the Islamic Civilization survey course to an online asynchronous format, and she continues to seek out and utilize great tools for encouraging online engagement. In her free time, she writes narrative nonfiction, serves on the mental health committee at her church, cares for her backyard chickens, and advocates for a number of causes. She is thrilled to join the team at the Rutgers Center for Historical Analysis High School Teachers Institute and have the opportunity to meet local teachers and learn from her colleagues! If you would like to know more about her or the institute, please contact her at
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . - Phone: 848-932-8701
- Email:
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Co-Director, High School Teachers Institute
- Anthony di Battista
- Position: Lecturer in Medieval and Renaissance History
- Degree: Ph.D., Rutgers University
- at Rutgers: since 1995
- Bio:
Anthony di Battista has taught medieval and Renaissance history at Rutgers University since 1995, and has been the director of the RCHA Teachers Institute since 2014. He was also the project director for a United States Department of Education’s Teaching American History grant and a part of the New Jersey State Standards in History committee. He has served as the president of the New Jersey Council for History Education and on the executive board of the National Council for History Education. He currently chairs the New Jersey History Teacher of the Year selection committee. His efforts as a teachers’ seminar coordinator have also included work with The Gilder Lehrman Institute for American History’s summer seminars at Harvard, Gettysburg, and the University of Southern California. He has taught a variety of courses in European history including Harvest of the Middle Ages, Medieval Italy, The Age of Reformation, and The Medieval City. He is honored to have the opportunity to continue Professor Susan Schrepfer’s work as the founding director of the Rutgers Center for Historical Analysis High School Teachers Institute. If you have any questions regarding the institute or any of its programs, please contact him at
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . - Address:
001 Van Dyck Hall
- Phone: 848-932-8252
- Email:
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.