I specialize in Ecclesiastical History, Medieval and Modern periods, especially Byzantine and Catholic Church History.

At Seton Hall University I teach undergraduate and graduate courses on Church History and Theology; Mediterranean Christianity; and Eastern Christianity and Ecumenism.

Since 2004 I have been a visiting professor at the University of Bologna Interdisciplinary Master in East European Research and Studies teaching in the areas of Ecumenism; Inter-religious Dialogue; and Religion in Eastern Europe. I have also a visiting appointment at the University of Calabria, Italy, teaching Mediterranean Christianity in the Ph.D. Program in Storia Economica Demografia Istituzione e Societa nei Paesi del Mediterraneo.

I have been awarded a 2006-2007 Fulbright Senior Lecturing/Research Award for Italy.

My first book, Catholicism, Culture and Conversion: The History of the Jesuits in Albania (1841-1946), is published by Orientalia Christiana Analecta. I am the general editor and contributor of Quo Vadis Eastern Europe? Religion, State and Society after Communism, forthcoming by the University of Bologna, Longo Editore in May 2008. The volume analyzes the radically changed religious situation in the former communist countries as well as explores the future religious co-existence in the area.

I am currently working on a monograph on the history of the Greek Abbey of of St. Nilus in Grottaferrata (Rome) entitled Greek Monks at the Gates of Rome forthcoming by ANAΛEKTA KPYΠTOΦEPPHΣ (2009). The study has three foci: the history of the Byzantine Church in southern Italy; the Italian-Albanian contribution to the revival and preservation of Italy’s Byzantine heritage; and the roots of the Greek Monastery of Grottaferrata in Calabria, areas that are underrepresented in the field of Byzantine studies.

I am the vice-president of the Association for the Study of Nationalities (ASN) and a board member of Christians Associated for Relationships with Eastern Europe (CAREE). I am also on the editorial advisory boards of the Bolletino della Badia Greca di Grottaferrata and Religion in Eastern Europe scholarly journals.