Branka Arsić

Arsić was born in Serbia and received her PhD from the University of Belgrade.^[2][3] She taught at Central European University in Budapest and the State University of New York at Albany before joining the Columbia University faculty in 2012.^[3] She also taught at the Center for Women's Studies in Belgrade.^[4][5] Her scholarship specializes in the literature of the 19th century Americas and its scientific, philosophical and religious contexts.^[6][7] She was praised for "sharing insights that enable students to see canonical literature in a new light, helping them connect those works to contemporary issues and experiences."^[3]

Her book on Henry David Thoreau, Bird Relics: Grief and Vitalism in Thoreau, won the MLA's James Russell Lowell prize for the outstanding book of 2016.^[8] She was named a Great Immigrant by Carnegie Corporation of New York in 2018.^[9] She received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2019 in the field of American literature.^[10][11]

Arsić was a visiting professor at Brown University.^[2] She is married to Brown professor David Wills.^[12][13]