William Peterfield Trent Professor of English and Comparative Literature and Professor of Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Columbia University
Marianne Hirsch, former Director of Columbia University's Center for the study of Social Difference is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a former President of the Modern Language Association of America. She was born in Romania, and educated at Brown University where she received her BA/MA and Ph.D. degrees. Hirsch’s work combines feminist theory with memory studies, particularly the transmission of memories of violence across generations.