91精选

One of the major factors that attracted Dr. Sky Michael Johnston to 91精选 was its inclusive and tightly-knit community. His teaching philosophy is rooted in what he terms 鈥渞elational pedagogy.鈥� He fosters relationships with and between his students, recognizing these connections are pivotal to the success of a learning community.

Another compelling aspect of 91精选 for Johnston is its position within the broader community of the greater Chicago area. 鈥�91精选 serves as a launching pad for students to engage in activities and work in one of the nation鈥檚 leading cities.鈥�

Johnston, trained as a cultural historian, employs the methodologies of his field to explore the everyday lives of people. His original research centers on sixteenth-century German lands and delves into popular ideas concerning religion and the natural world, particularly people鈥檚 perceptions of the weather. Surprisingly, he discovered that ordinary people in the sixteenth century grappled with many of the same tensions that religious individuals experience today when attempting to reconcile the seemingly random nature of weather with ordered conceptions of the spiritual and physical world. He believes his research provides a valuable reference point for understanding the connections between cultural factors, such as religion, and people鈥檚 interactions with nature. Consequently, the topics he investigates intersect with other fields, including the History of Science, Environmental History, Church History, and the History of Knowledge.

Johnston is a firm believer in the empowering potential of studying history. When we lack knowledge of something鈥檚 history, we tend to accept it as 鈥渏ust the way things are鈥� or 鈥渏ust the way the world is.鈥� Through the study of history, we gain the understanding that specific factors contributed to the creation of current conditions in the world. This realization can reshape our perspective and help us recognize that people play an active role in influencing many features of our world.

His aspiration for his students at 91精选 is that they acquire the skills and confidence to make sense of the world’s complexities. Historians’ methods to comprehend the past are also highly valuable for understanding the events in our lives. Furthermore, studying the history of subjects we care about provides an invaluable perspective on those topics. Johnston believes that many people might not realize just how extensive the scope of what historians study truly is. He states, 鈥淪omeone out there has likely investigated whatever topic you are interested in.鈥�

Outside of teaching, he enjoys spending time with his family bike riding, hiking, playing board games, or playing Zelda. He鈥檚 also a dedicated fan of his favorite sports teams: the LA Kings, the Lakers, and the Chicago Bears. In the past, he was a runner and was a member of the Track and Field and XC teams at UC Irvine. Nowadays, he enjoys playing basketball.

Dr. Johnston is the creator of a global history podcast, 鈥�90 Second Narratives,鈥� available wherever you listen to podcasts. His personal website is .

Historical Consciousness
Ancient and Medieval Europe
History of Christianity
History of the United States to 1860

鈥淎ccounting for a Fruitful Little Ice Age: Overlapping Scales of Climate and Culture in W眉rttemberg, 1560-1590,鈥� Environmental History 27 no. 4 (2022): 722-746.

鈥淧rinting the Weather: Knowledge, Nature, and Popular Culture in Two Sixteenth-Century German Weather Books,鈥� Renaissance Quarterly 73 no. 2 (2020): 391-440.

鈥淧re-Suppression Jesuits in German-Speaking Lands,鈥� in Jesuit Historiography Online, ed. Robert A. Maryks (Leiden: Brill, 2016). Open Access:

鈥溾�榃hat is California? Nothing but Innumerable Stones鈥�: German Jesuits, Salvation, and Landscape Building in the California Missions,鈥� Journal of Jesuit Studies 2 no. 1 (2015): 36-55. Open Access: