Susan Parrish

Susan Parrish is a Professor in the Department of English and the Program in the Environment at the University of Michigan, holding the Arthur F. Thurnau Professorship. She specializes in colonial and early American literature, ecocriticism, and the interplay between race, environment, and scientific knowledge. Her research examines how natural history, slavery, and environmental thought shaped American identities from colonial times to the present.

Education:

• PhD in English, Stanford University (1998)
• MA in Rhetoric, UC Berkeley (1990)
• BA in English, Princeton University (1986)

Research Interests: Parrish’s work bridges environmental humanities and critical race studies, focusing on:

• Colonial natural history networks
• Environmental disasters and media
• Black cultural engagements with nature
• Transatlantic literary exchange

Awards and Fellowships:

• R. Stanton Avery Distinguished Fellow in the Humanities (Huntington Library, 2024–25)
• NEH Fellowship, American Antiquarian Society, and Harvard’s Charles Warren Center Fellowships
• MLA James Russell Lowell Prize Honorable Mention

Leadership: Chair of the Michigan Society of Fellows since 2021, and former Director of Undergraduate Studies in English.