Ursula K. Heise

Ursula Brigitte Katrina Heise is a German environmental philosopher and literary scholar. Originally a literary scholar, she became interested in environmental humanities after going birdwatching at Central Park, and has written a few books in the field including Sense of Place and Sense of Planet (2008) and Imagining Extinction (2016). She is Distinguished Professor and Marcia H. Howard Chair in Literary Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. She was a 2011 Guggenheim Fellow and served as president of the Association for the Study of Literature and Environment that same year. She was elected Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2026.