Mike Sewell read History at Cambridge (Christ's College) before undertaking a PhD on Anglo-American relations, 1870-1898. He was successively Mellon Research Fellow in US History in the Faculty of History and Keasbey Research Fellow in American Studies at Selwyn College before his appointment to his current post in 1990 at what was then called the Board of Extra-Mural Studies.
His main areas of academic interest are the history of US foreign relations and the international history of the Cold War. He supervises both undergraduates and postgraduates for the Faculty of History and the department of Politics and International Studies (POLIS), and he has been a Tutor to both undergraduates and postgraduates and a Director of Studies at Selwyn College since 1991.
Mike teaches on a wide variety of ICE courses as well as for POLIS and History. His main areas of activity for ICE are on the non-accredited programme, offering courses on American history and international relations. He has also taught extensively on the short course programme of strategic studies courses for the UK armed forces, on the pre-sessional PREP course on study skills for returners to learning.
His core teaching is also central to the delivery of the Master of Studies in International Relations, of which he has been co-Course Director since the course's inception in 2001. He teaches International History elements of the taught section of this degree as well as supervising dissertations on topics close to his areas of academic expertise and on contemporary American foreign relations. He also supervises Masters and PhD theses for the History Faculty and for POLIS in similar areas.