Kimberly Lynn, PhD
Director Honors College, Professor
About
Education
Ph.D. History, Johns Hopkins University
Dr. Lynn's academic training is in the history of early modern Europe and the early modern Iberian empires (B.A. College of William and Mary; M.A. and Ph.D. Johns Hopkins University). She has taught a broad array of humanities courses, with materials ranging from medieval to modern societies, and drawing on multiple disciplines while emphasizing perspectives from cultural history and the academic study of religion. As a historian, she studies the religious, legal, and political culture of the early modern Hispanic world, focusing on the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Most of her research has centered on the infamous Spanish Inquisition, including her book Between Court and Confessional: The Politics of Spanish Inquisitors (Cambridge University Press, 2013; paperback, 2015). In addition, she co-edited The Early Modern Hispanic World: Transnational and Interdisciplinary Approaches (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2017). She has been awarded Fulbright and Mellon fellowships, and has conducted research in libraries and archives throughout Europe and the United States, as well as in Mexico City. Currently serving as Director of the WWU Honors College, she is also a Professor of Humanities and an Affiliate Professor of History. She was Chair of the Department of Global Humanities and Religions for nine years (2015-2024), before taking on her current role as Honors College Director.
Research Interests
- Early Modern Europe and Iberian World; Mediterranean; Atlantic World; Empire, Law, Religion