Stefan Stantchev earned his PhD in history at the University of Michigan in 2009, joining the faculty of Arizona State University's New College. His research interests focus mainly on the religious and economic factors that shaped human relations in the Mediterranean, c 1100 to c 1600. His work thus engages topics that are often treated separately, such as economic and church history, or foreign policy and religious identity. He has been offered fellowships and research grants from the Social Science Research Council, The Institute for the Humanities at the University of Michigan, the American Historical Association, and the Medieval Academy of America, among others.