Ursula K. Heise

Ursula K. Heise is a Professor in the Department of English and the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability at UCLA, with offices at 149 Humanities Building, Los Angeles, CA 90095. She holds a 2011 Guggenheim Fellowship and previously served as President of the Association for the Study of Literature and Environment (ASLE). Her research bridges environmental studies and the humanities, with a focus on narrative representations of ecological crises.

Her scholarly work explores:

• Global environmental imagination in literature and arts
• Intersections of scientific discourse and cultural narratives
• Science fiction as environmental commentary
• Cross-cultural analyses of environmental thought across the Americas, Europe, and Japan

She has received major honors including the Guggenheim Fellowship and the Biophilia Award for advancing environmental humanities globally. As faculty advisor, she mentors graduate students in environmental narratives and sustainability studies.

Heise co-founded UCLA’s Lab for Environmental Narrative Strategies (LENS), where she leads creative projects like Urban Ark Los Angeles (a KCET documentary) and Grand Theft Eco (films envisioning Los Angeles’ environmental futures using game engines).