Ralph W. Mathisen

Ralph Whitney Mathisen (born February 17, 1947 ) is an American ancient historian, specializing in the history of Late antiquity. Currently he is the Professor of History, Classics, and Medieval Studies at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. From 1996 to 2004 he was the Louise Fry Scudder Professor of Humanities at the University of South Carolina. He also has served the founding editor of the Journal of Late Antiquity and one of the editors of Late Antiquity Newsletter, Medieval Prosopography and De Imperatoribus Romanis.

Biography Mathisen graduated from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1969 with a bachelor of science in astrophysics and later graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute–Hartford with a master of science in mechanical engineering. In 1973 he graduated from the University of Wisconsin–Madison with a bachelor of arts in classics. In 1979 he received a PhD in ancient history with the dissertation The Ecclesiastical Aristocracy of Fifth-Century Gaul: A Regional Analysis of Family Structure.

In 1980 Mathisen was a visiting professor in Roman history at the University of Illinois Chicago Circle, and in 2013 a visiting fellow of the University of Leuven. From 1991 to 2004 he was a professor (later the Louise Fry Scudder Professor of Humanities and the Director of Biographical Database for Late Antiquity) at the University of South Carolina.

Member of editorial boards De Imperatoribus Romanis (from 1996). Codex Award from the Council of Editors of Learned Journals (like a Journal of Late Antiquity editor) (2013).