Charles Ingrao

Charlie Ingrao, a popular Smithsonian Journeys Expert, is professor emeritus of history at Purdue University, where he has taught a wide range of courses on the European World. He has published thirteen books and given public lectures to academic, governmental, and military audiences across North America and central Europe. Charles has also been a regular commentator for print, radio, and television media, including The News Hour with Jim Lehrer (PBS).  In addition, Charles' family history has inspired a lifelong fascination with the western Mediterranean and the Spanish and Portuguese empires.

George Greenia

George Greenia did his undergraduate work at Marquette University in Milwaukee and Ph.D. at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He is a specialist in the languages, works of literature, and linguistics of medieval Spain and teaches courses on Spanish Language, Epic and Nationalism, Hispanic Folktales, and Love and Prostitution in Medieval Spain. He is the co-founder of the William & Mary Program in Medieval and Renaissance Studies and founder of the William & Mary Institute for Pilgrimage Studies.

His interest in world pilgrimage spans many times, territories and traditions and he is an authority on the legendary Camino de Santiago in northern Spain where he has trekked over 4,000 miles, half on a bicycle, half on foot. Most summers he takes William & Mary undergraduates backpacking on the pilgrimage trails to conduct interdisciplinary field research. For his promotion of Spanish culture in the United States, in 2007 Greenia was knighted by order of King Juan Carlos I of Spain and granted the Encomienda de la Orden de Isabel la Católica.

Sir George Greenia is a co-founding member of the International Fraternity of the Camino de Santiago, headquartered in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, and inducted by cathedral officials as a member of the Archconfraternity of the Apostle St. James. In 2010 the Concejo de la Enxebre Orden de la Vieira, a confraternity of Galicians in the diaspora who support the Camino de Santiago, named him an “Ángel del Camino”. In 2016 Greenia was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award from American Pilgrims on the Camino for playing a “significant role … in building the pilgrim community within the United States”.

Allen James Fromherz

Dr. Allen Fromherz is a Professor of Mediterranean and Middle East History at Georgia State University in Atlanta. He graduated Summa Cum Laude from Dartmouth College in 2002 and received his PhD from St. Andrews University in Scotland in Medieval Islamic History in 2006. His first two books, The Almohads: the Rise of an Islamic Empire (IB Tauris) and Ibn Khaldun, Life and Times (Edinburgh University Press) examine the rise of empire in medieval North Africa and Iberia. Dr. Fromherz's most recently completed work The Near West: North Africa and Europe (Edinburgh – Expected end of 2016), examines the history of Muslim, Christian, and Jewish interactions across the Western Mediterranean, especially in Iberia, Morocco, Tunisia, and Italy.  Dr. Fromherz has held several international fellowships from Fulbright, Gerda Henkel Stiftung, the Sultan Qaboos Cultural Center, and a senior fellowship from NYU Abu Dhabi. Dr. Fromherz has led and organized four study abroads, including the popular Marvels of Medieval Spain: the Culture and History of Muslims, Jews, and Christians. His regular classes on Medieval Spain and the Mediterranean focus on convivencia, how Muslims, Jews, and Christians, living together, created a common culture that still lives on in Iberia to this day.

Aneta Georgievska-Shine

Aneta Georgievska-Shine is a scholar of the Renaissance and the baroque eras, yet as an art historian, her interests range from ancient to contemporary art.  In addition to her affiliation with the University of Maryland, she frequently presents lectures for museums and art institutions in the Washington D.C. area, including the Walters Art Museum, the Baltimore Museum of Art, the Virginia Museum of Fine Art, and the Smithsonian. Her publications include scholarly books and numerous articles in U.S. and international journals, as well as essays in exhibition catalogs.

A popular Smithsonian Journeys Expert, Aneta has led numerous journeys to France, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, as well as Central and Eastern Europe. In addition to her art historical expertise, she brings a deep knowledge of the history, politics, and languages of Central and Eastern Europe. Aneta is a native speaker of Macedonian and has working knowledge of several other European languages.