Mariana Kellis

PhD Candidate

Biography

I am a historian of emancipation and social change in the 19th-century Russian and Spanish empires. My dissertation offers a conceptual history of freedom in the Russian heartland and the Spanish Caribbean, focusing on the visions and contributions of non-elite actors.  

Research Interests

Emancipation, conceptual history, freedom, imperialism, privilege and obligation 

Education

M.A. in History at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

B.A. in History at the University of Central Florida, Magna Cum Laude 

Grants

Illinois Global Institute Summer Research Fellowship, 2026 (Estonia) 

Tinker Foundation Fellowship, 2025 

FLAS Academic Year Award, 2024-2025: Polish 

FLAS Summer Award, 2024: Russian 

FLAS Academic Year Award, 2023-2024: Russian 

FLAS Summer Award, 2023: Russian 

FLAS Academic Year Award, 2022-2023: Russian 

FLAS Summer Award, 2022: Russian 

Awards and Honors

Frederick S. Rodkey Prize in Russian History

Monterey Summer Symposium on Russia, 2026 Fellow 

Courses Taught

HIST 100: Global History

HIST 104: Black Music 

LAS 291: Global Perspectives for Intercultural Learning 

LAS 292: Global Perspectives in Cross-Cultural Contexts 

Additional Campus Affiliations

Former Editorial Assistant at Slavic Review 

REEEC Executive Committee- Graduate Student Representative, 2025-2026