William “Matt” Cavert received his PhD from the University of Hawaiʻi Mānoa in the spring of 2022. His doctoral research focused on the intersection of environment, culture, and colonial development programs in the French colonial Pacific from 1842 to 1931. He has published articles on the Third Plague Pandemic and Spanish Influenza in the colonial ports of Nouméa and Papeʻete, respectively. He currently teaches courses on the history of disease, environment, and empire at the University of Hawaiʻi West Oʻahu.
PhD. History, University of Hawaiʻi Mānoa, May 2022.
M.A. French, University of Hawaiʻi Mānoa, May 2011.
B.A. Political Science, University of Hawaiʻi Mānoa, May 2007.
2009-2011 Graduate Assistant, French Department, University of Hawaiʻi Mānoa
2012-2015 Graduate Assistant, History Department, University of Hawaiʻi Mānoa
2016/2018/2025 Lecturer, History Department, University of Hawaiʻi Mānoa
2016-2019 Lecturer, History Department, Kapiʻiolani Community College
2019 Lecturer, Humanities Division, University of Hawaiʻi West O’ahu
2019-Present Instructor, Humanities Division, University of Hawaiʻi West O’ahu
Note only employment in an instruction capacity listed above.
HIST 151 World History to 1500
HIST 152 World History 1500 to Present
HIST 156 World History of Human Disease
HIST 231 European Civilization, 1500-1800
HIST 232 Modern European Civilization
HIST 288 Survey of Pacific Islands History
HIST 363 20th Century US Pop, Mass, and Counter-Culture
HIST 395 Science, Technology, and Empire since 1700
HIST 433 Medieval Cultures
HIST 436 World Environmental History
HIST/HLTH 453 Colonial Medicine
HIST 469 Cold War
“In the Grip of Calamity: Tahiti & the 1918 Spanish Influenza Pandemic.” Journal of Pacific History 57, No. 1 (2022): 1-20. Doi: 10.1080/00223344.2021.2013724
"Pearl of the Empire: Conservation, Commerce, and Science in the Tuamotu Archipelago.” In Migrant Ecologies: Environmental Histories of the Pacific World, edited by James Beattie, Ryan Tucker Jones, and Edward Dallam Melillo, 154-167. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2022.
Lead Contributor. Islands of French Speaking Oceania. Vol. 5 Teaching Oceania Series, guest edited by Alexander Mawyer. Honolulu: Center for Pacific Islands Studies, Univeristy of Hawaiʻi-Mānoa, 2019. https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/handle/10125/64728
“At the Edge of an Empire: Plague, State, and Identity in New Caledonia 1899-1900.” Journal of Pacific History 51, No. 1 (2016): 1-20. doi:10.1080/00223344.2015.1130121.
2024 “Aroma of Empire: Coffee Failures and Legacies in New Caledonia.” Imperial Failures: Environment and Nature Deconstructed, Gallatin School of NYU and College of Integrative Studies, Singapore Management University, Singapore. 22-23 Aug. 2024
2023 “‘Alors, c’est la ruine…’: Catastrophe and Response after the Great 1903 Tuamotu Typhoon.” 25th Pacific History Association Conference, Deakin University Warrnambool. 31 Oct.-4 Nov.
2023 “Showdown at New Cythera: France, Britain, and War in the Kingdom of Tahiti, 1842-1847.” Society for Global Nineteenth-Century Studies Singapore 2023 World Congress, Singapore. 19-22 June (forthcoming).
2023 “‘A Veritable Plague:’ Invader Species and Disease in France’s Pacific Empire.” Pacific Population: Fertility, Mortality and Movement in Colonial Oceania, Laureate Center for History and Population at University New South Wales Sydney, Australia. 1-2 June (forthcoming).
2021 “Walpole: Life and Labor on an Invisible Island 1916-1942.” 24th Pacific History Association Conference, Suva, Fiji & Online. 18 Nov.
2018 “Environmental R/Evolution : Citizen Jacques Labillardière’s Pacific, 1791-93.” L’Océanie Ensemble Colloquium 2018 : (Re)Reading France and Oceania, University of Hawaiʻi Mānoa. 8-9 November.
2018 “Cultivation & Culture: Migrant Coffees, Planters, & Laborers in New Caledonia.” History Workshop:“People in Motion: Histories of Human Geographic Mobility and Immobility,” University Of Hawaiʻi. 20 April.
2018 “In Sickness & Heath: Plagues, Pandemics, & Health Policy in the French Pacific Empire.” Global and International History : The Pacific in the World, Harvard University, 23 March.
2018 “On Distant Beaches: The Franco-Tahitian War & Empire, 1842-1847.” Forum on European Expansion and Global Interaction (FEEGI) 2018 Biennial, University of Hawaiʻi Mānoa, 24 February.
2017 “Perilous Cargo : Spanish Flu in the Pacific World.” World History Association California, Hawaii, and Northwest Joint Affiliates Conference, Honolulu, Hawaiʻi. 17 February.
2016 “‘We are like the rest of the world:’ Plague, Pandemic, and Identity in New Caledonia.” 22nd Pacific History Association Conference, Guåhan, Mariana Islands. 21 May.
2016 “Ocean Empire: French State Efforts to Integrate the Tuamotu Lagoons 1870-1910.” 22nd Pacific History Association Conference, Guåhan, Mariana Islands. 19 May.
2016 “Language of Nature: French Art and Science in Tahiti.” Oceania Ensemble Spring Series cosponsored by the Center for Pacific Island Studies, Pacific Islands Development Program, East-West Center, French Department, and the Biocultural Initiative of the Pacific, University of Hawaiʻi. March 9.
2015 “Island divers, French Savants, and Rogue Naturalists in the Tuamotus, 1880-1905.” L’Océanie Ensemble Colloquium 2015, University of Hawaiʻi Mānoa. 12-13 November.
2015 “‘Missionary of Science:’ Germain Bouchon-Brandely, Science, and Conservation in the Tuamotu Lagoons.” History Forum Fall Series cosponsored by Center for Pacific Island Studies and History Department, University of Hawaiʻi. 25 September.
2014 “At the End of an Empire; Bubonic Plague, Settler Identity, & Global Community in New Caledonia.” History Workshop:“Roots & Routes: Mobility, Migration, and Diasporas,” University Of Hawaiʻi. 2 May.